So far, the MCU has teased out some large over-arching plot involving infinity gems and Thanos and is being rolled out in distinct phases to tell some larger story. Has Marvel ever revealed if there’s a defined endpoint to the MCU or are they planning to stretch it out for as long as it’s profitable?
“My Dinner With Galactus”.
It would be ridiculous not to stretch it out as long as possible. The current arc is leading towards Thanos and the infinity gems, i would be incredibly surprised if there weren’t plans beyond that already.
I believe that’s the business model the comic book industry has been following for the last 80 years, yes.
No, they are planning to stretch it out until it snaps, and then stomp it into the ground, and then dig up the rotting pieces and make a series of zombie movies about them.
Inhumans (already introduced in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television show) is sequenced after The Avengers: Infinity War, Part II, so yes, Marvel Studios is planning to extend the MCU for essentially as long as they can keep printing money. Given the inevitable aging of the actors involved (Robert Downey, Jr. has already indicated that he can’t continue playing playboy extraordinaire indefinitely, and Mark Ruffalo already appears to have aged about twenty years in the last decade, et cetera) they’re going to have to transition to new characters or actors in the existing character roles, but that is honestly nothing novel for the comics.
Speaking for myself, I’ll keep watching Guardians of the Galaxy sequels for as long as they can keep Rocket and Groot rapping and blowing shit up. It’s the Shakespeare of the 21st century.
Stranger
So, they’ll be doing this then?
There are formally announced films going out into 2019. However, last year, Kevin Feige (president of Marvel Studios) indicated that they, at least at that point, had a roadmap which went all the way out to 2028. :eek:
And note that they are actually planning on phasing out actors and characters. In some cases, this means someone else takes over the costume, and in others, it’ll mean completely different heroes.
Make a ton of money, license properties out to make more money, pass the keys over to the next generation, and retire happily to a tropical island.
The endgame is for the studio heads and shareholders to retire in luxury with solid gold mansions and rocket cars.
Well, that’s certainly never been done before.
A strategy that has worked out reasonably well for Paramount Studios (Star Trek), LucasFilm Ltd. (Star Wars), and Eon Productions (James Bond) to name the most prominent. However, aside from the unfortunate Hulk films and the inexplicably execrable Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios has managed to maintain consistently high quality on both a critical and popular level (not counting the ABC series that are essentially being produced by a separate studio, and the as yet unproven Netflix series, although Daredevil was an audacious beginning).
One potential benefit is that the MCU is not centered around a single character or core cast (RDJ aside) and has allowed individual directors to place their own imprint on films to a significant degree as long as the storyline supports further development of the MCU as a whole, so instead of getting either a series of films that are essentially repetitions on a theme (the Bond films, especially of the Brosnan era) or trying to come up with increasingly strained explanations for why the same small group of people are in the center of some world or galaxy spanning story, the individual components of the world are developed on more or less their own lines, and yet, still woven into a tapestry of the overarching story arc.
The test will really be to see what Marvel does with Doctor Strange, which is the most outlandish of the planned MCU new entrants, and how it deals with the ultimate defeat of Thanos without simply resorting a deus ex machina solution. The films so far are typically strongest when dealing with internal conflicts, e.g. Stark being undercut and betrayed by Obadiah Stane, Thor having to overcome his own youthful tendency to violence and manipulation by Loki, Captain America discovering that SHIELD is a cover for HYDRA, et cetera, Stark (again) learning the true meaning of Christmas. (Guardians of the Galaxy was never really about plot but rather creating humorous situations for the characters to interact against the backdrop of iconic science fantasy milieus accompanied by an awesome soundtrack, so while it technically fits the bill as a tea conflict-and-resolution despite its “pulled from the screenwriter’s barrel of cheap tricks” solution, it really succeeds on the basis of being so extraordinarily fun that you forget about the gaping plotholes and just enjoy the ride.)
So, in other words, I hope there is no endgame. There certainly isn’t a need for one, and in fact, trying to build one in artificially risks the studio trying to build up to an inevitably disappointing resolution, a la Matrix Revolutions, the Star Wars prequel films, et cetera. However, I would definitely watch My Dinner with Galactus, especially if it had a scene with Tony Stark, Thor, and Peter Quill comparing notes on pick up methods while Romanov, Lady Sif, and Carol Danvers wondering why they put up with this nonsense, and Groot dancing to Eddie Kendricks “U Need a Change of Mind” while Rocket assembles a starbreaker gun out of random pieces of Star-Lord’s Walkman.
Stranger
In this context, I suspect he means something more like this. Which would be pretty novel in a film franchise.
I think the MCU will “end” with the last Avengers/final defeat of Thanos.
However I think Marvel will still make superhero movies that (probably) reference the other movies and have easter eggs and all that jazz, but I think that this Iron Man-Thanos arc is the one-and-true MCU masterpiece
Funny part is, it might literally be considered such a few centuries hence. We don’t know what the tastes of people several centuries from now will be. Just like the “postings of 4chan 2005-2006” might become required reading in some literature study a few centuries from now…
More like legacy heroes - like Miller’s Flash example, but to stick to Marvel, there’ve been a whole bunch of Captains Marvel (7 listed on Wikipedia), and multiple Ms Marvels (4, thus far). As well as the Captain America and Spider-Man names juggling through a few different characters. (Looks like Steve and Peter are retired for the long-haul, this time.)
We are just about to enter the endgame for the Infinity Gauntlet story, where most of the initial Avengers will be phased out, leaving it open for the recent and upcoming Avengers to take the mantle. The end scene of Age of Ultron was all about that. The potential continued storylines are neverending, of course, but the bubble might burst before that.
I would watch My Dinner With Galactus, especially if it riffed off of HiSHE’s Super Cafe.
Last I’d heard, Peter Parker was still going to be in the red and blue tights after Secret Wars wraps up, with Miles Morales also going under the same name, in his black and red version of the suit. Has that changed recently?
Sleeping on a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.