While basically every other attempt to forge a proper cinematic universe is faltering, failing or getting savaged by critics, Marvel is somehow pumping out films which make bucketloads of cash, are generally enjoyed by critics and manage to stay cohesive to a broader series arc. By the time Avengers 4 drops in 2019, there will have been a staggering 22 Marvel Cinematic Universe films release – and now they’ve confirmed they’ve got 20 more lined up.
In a long profile in Vanity Fair, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige outlined in very broad terms the future of the wildly successful franchise, and what it might look like after the as-yet untitled Avengers 4.
According to Feige, Marvel is “22 movies in, and [they have] got another 20 movies on the docket that are completely different from anything that’s come before—intentionally.”
He also made a somewhat tantalising suggestion which might satisfy the fans and critics who think the MCU as a whole is getting a little bit stale and loaded up with character like Iron Man and Captain America, who we have now seen in multiple films.
There will be two distinct periods. Everything before Avengers 4 and everything after. I know it will not be in ways people are expecting… [it will] bring things you’ve never seen in superhero films: a finale.
It’s surely not coincidental that Avengers 4 – which is, to clarify, the followup film to Avengers: Infinity War – marks the end of contract for a number of the stars who have carried the MCU since its inception with Iron Man back in 2008. Yes, it was that long ago.
We’re probably looking at a changing of the guard from the first generation of Marvel heroes to the next, like Spider-Man and Black Panther. And we’ve got twenty bloody films to work that transition out.
Definitely check out the rest of the profile, which dives pretty deep into how Feige has managed to pull together the most successful cinematic universe in history.
