End (of the) Game

[Flash525]

More speculation than anything else, but when do you guys and girls think the MCU will come to a natural end?

Ironman, Captain America and Thor set things in motion along with the threat from Thanos, and with the introduction of countless other characters since then, Endgame has wrapped up quite a bit, and has concluded the character arcs for many characters - although there are spinoffs to come, be them warranted or not, they're bound to be watched.

The likes of Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel will undoubtedly get their trilogy, as will Spiderman, and Thor will likely continue on for a Hexalogy. Chris Hemsworth seems happy to continue on with the role, and Thor 4 isn't likely to wrap up the mythology arc.

Then we've got the new blood; the likes of Shang Chi, Blade, Namor (eventually) and the Fantastic Four, all of which are bound to get trilogies of their own, in addition to appearances in future Avengers films. And then you've got the X-Men, however they're going to spin that - and the Inhumans, and the Eternals (although I imagine the latter two will be more GotG type trilogies, not having much to do with Earth and our Terran heroes).

This goes without mentioning all the Disney shows too, which one way or another will likely be linked to the bigger cinematic future, but just how long can they go on for? How many mainstream characters are there left to introduce that could hold their own trilogy, or be significant enough to introduce at this point in the game?

 

[SirStrangefolk]

This is a very good question and not an easy one to answer. For FOX there had been 19 years between their first and last main X-Men movies on that franchise alone, though they didn't have the amount of output the MCU has. I don't know how much significance really matters anymore to be honest. We'll see how Eternals does I guess, but at this point if they did a reimagining of Firebird with an origin story or a movie about one of the Korean characters from Marvel Future Fight I could still see it doing well enough for a sequel or trilogy. It's not like most people who went to see Guardians or Ant-Man knew who they were in advance. Will we get to the 2099 universe in real time? Probably not, but I can see them keep it going for a long time.

 

[psylockolussus]

2038.

30 years of Mcu-goodness.

Even though they are almost scraping the bottom of the barrel. There are still plenty of characters to adapt for the big screen. The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Nova, Iron Fist, the Punisher, Ghost Rider could have a trilogy within the MCU. While the Inhumans, Namor, Cloak & Dagger, the Silver Surfer, Luke Cage, Elektra, Hercules, Swordsman, Tigra and Jessica Jones can be used in plenty of mcu films even if they don't headline their own film. While the Mutants should give them plenty of options. Several mutant films under the name of the X-Men. Then spin off films for the New Mutants, the X-Factor and the X-Force. And they could always get someone uneXpected or very obscure to headline a film just like the Eternals and those Guardians of the GalaXy.

 

[Charzhin0]

There is no precedent to predict this so it is anyones guess. I don't think X-men franchise is a correct comparison, it was never as big as MCU.
It depends mainly imo on how society and pop culture continues to evolve. Superheroes and geek culture is quite dominant and popular today and has been for a decade, but in another 5-10 years it may return back to being unfashionable thus decline of MCU as the flag bearer of that fandom. It also depends on what competition there is from other forms of entertainment. So it could either last a very long time and end up involving D/E list characters or it could abruptly end when the last original Avenger hangs up his cape in the next 5 years.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Never?

Maybe soft reboots, but it might be like the James Bond franchise and just evolve with the time and new actors coming and going kind of thing.

 

[Stormborn]

Almost every Marvel team and every character popular enough to have a solo comic has either been adapted already or will have been by the mid 2020s so there's definitely an expiration date.

I guess exactly when it ends will depend on how long the writers can keep telling quality stories, how long the actors for big characters want to keep going and whether Disney choose to end on a high or scrape the bottom of the barrel with C list heroes and legacy characters.

I wonder if they'll ever reboot it all and give us an Ultimate MCU.

 

[Mandon Knight]

There’s a long way to go with the characters they have or (potentially) have. There’s at least another 10 years left on what they have currently.

 

[InCali]

It will end when superhero fatigue sets in. Wasn’t that about three or four years ago?

 

[Fincher]

whether Disney choose to end on a high or scrape the bottom of the barrel with C list heroes and legacy characters.

If there's money to be made, they'll keep making it.

 

[Zorro]

Not any time soon and that's how I like it. I'm 34yo and want to grow old still being hyped the MCU

 

[Stormborn]

I guess the real question is whether fans of the current MCU characters will be fans of future MCU characters.

Downey Jr. and Evans are done. Johansson will be soon.

Hemsworth, Cumberbatch, Boseman, Pratt, Saldana, Ruffalo, Olsen, Hiddleston, Renner etc won't stick around forever.

I'd guess Marvel can keep things going until 2030+ if their versions of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer etc are popular and they can hang onto Spider-Man long term.

After that, they'll be into adapting purely C list heroes and legacy characters. That's a tougher sell.

 

[Fincher]

After that, they'll be into adapting purely C list heroes and legacy characters. That's a tougher sell.

Or reintroducing (and recasting) old characters, whether through parallel universes, time travel, cloning...

 

[Stormborn]

Or reintroducing (and recasting) old characters, whether through parallel universes, time travel, cloning...

If the MCU's writing ever gets that bad it deserves to die.

 

[Zorro]

If comics doesn't deserve die when they do that stuff all the time then why would the cinematic universe? I mean those stuff would be bad but "deserve to die"? Nah

 

[InCali]

I guess the real question is whether fans of the current MCU characters will be fans of future MCU characters.

Downey Jr. and Evans are done. Johansson will be soon.

Hemsworth, Cumberbatch, Boseman, Pratt, Saldana, Ruffalo, Olsen, Hiddleston, Renner etc won't stick around forever.

I'd guess Marvel can keep things going until 2030+ if their versions of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer etc are popular and they can hang onto Spider-Man long term.

After that, they'll be into adapting purely C list heroes and legacy characters. That's a tougher sell.

Ten years down the road, you can do a reboot. Hell, SM has been rebooted over and over. It's sure to be a little more complicated in an interconnected universe, but, if we have another IM in 10 years, it's not the end of the....game.

 

[Iceman]

I think it's going to keep going. This is the first super-franchise, and even some duff films here and there won't hold it back as they are only going to be a small part of it in the long term. The universe isn't dependant on any particular characters or stories. I think global audiences always wanted something like this.

 

[Bayne]

I guess the real question is whether fans of the current MCU characters will be fans of future MCU characters.

Downey Jr. and Evans are done. Johansson will be soon.

Hemsworth, Cumberbatch, Boseman, Pratt, Saldana, Ruffalo, Olsen, Hiddleston, Renner etc won't stick around forever.

I'd guess Marvel can keep things going until 2030+ if their versions of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer etc are popular and they can hang onto Spider-Man long term.

After that, they'll be into adapting purely C list heroes and legacy characters. That's a tougher sell.

This is the 'common sense' consensus, but I remain unconvinced it's at all true. They already are adapting utter unknowns with the Guardians and Ant-man and Hawkeye and Black Widow. Even most of their better known characters (including Iron Man) were already nobodies to start with in the eyes of the General Audience, because Marvel Comics have never been this huge before outside of the X-Men and Spider-man.

And just because some elements of the comic book fandom developed an irrational hatred for legacy characters (never mind the fact that some truly classic characters of the silver and bronze age are legacy characters themselves), that doesn't prove that the global cinematic audiences will follow suit.

We'll see how things turn out with the Eternals and Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk and Natalie Portman's Thor, etc. But right now it's *far* too soon to be stating definitively that the MCU can't survive on 'c-list heroes and legacy characters'.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

This is the 'common sense' consensus, but I remain unconvinced it's at all true. They already are adapting utter unknowns with the Guardians and Ant-man and Hawkeye and Black Widow. Even most of their better known characters (including Iron Man) were already nobodies to start with in the eyes of the General Audience, because Marvel Comics have never been this huge before outside of the X-Men and Spider-man.

And just because some elements of the comic book fandom developed an irrational hatred for legacy characters (never mind the fact that some truly classic characters of the silver and bronze age are legacy characters themselves), that doesn't prove that the global cinematic audiences will follow suit.

We'll see how things turn out with the Eternals and Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk and Natalie Portman's Thor, etc. But right now it's *far* too soon to be stating definitively that the MCU can't survive on 'c-list heroes and legacy characters'.

I absolutely agree. I think they could absolutely still thrive on unknown characters. I think Eternals will be interesting to look at as it's the most unknown property so far, as will Morbius with a lesser known character that's also handled by Sony. In fact I hope that they will use relatively unknown characters as I'm infinitely more interested in getting to know new heroes I'm not as familiar with yet than infinitely rehashing the same characters and powers. Also hopefully that will lead to more character variety in the comics. I don't really have a hatred of legacy characters, but in the comics it has got to a point where almost everything "new" isn't actually new but just a remix of something old. Where the main Iron Man, Thor, Cap and Hulk all were someone else simultaneously, every year they have another Spider-Person with their own book. It's why I stopped reading most books. Yesterday I saw an announcement of a new Avengers book and it had Brood Thor and "War Widow", Natasha in the War Machine suit. I don't want the MCU to just be that with nothing new. It's why I'm glad that characters like the Eternals, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, etc. will soon get more attention.

 

[InCali]

This is the 'common sense' consensus, but I remain unconvinced it's at all true. They already are adapting utter unknowns with the Guardians and Ant-man and Hawkeye and Black Widow. Even most of their better known characters (including Iron Man) were already nobodies to start with in the eyes of the General Audience, because Marvel Comics have never been this huge before outside of the X-Men and Spider-man.

And just because some elements of the comic book fandom developed an irrational hatred for legacy characters (never mind the fact that some truly classic characters of the silver and bronze age are legacy characters themselves), that doesn't prove that the global cinematic audiences will follow suit.

We'll see how things turn out with the Eternals and Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk and Natalie Portman's Thor, etc. But right now it's *far* too soon to be stating definitively that the MCU can't survive on 'c-list heroes and legacy characters'.

Agreed. I recall some people early on saying Marvel couldn't compete with top tier DC characters with C list players like IM and we all saw how that turned out. Remember how no one was going to watch a movie with a talking tree and a raccoon? That ended up being, uh, WRONG. If you make a movie the public likes, it appears that they don't have to be that well known after all. A lot of those old "C" listers have moved up a couple of spots in the alphabet.

With X-Men and FF in the fold, they've got a better start than they did pre-IM. They're bringing some new characters in (as they should), but, basically, they've got 4 groups they can easily build around instead of 2. I'd prefer to explore X and FF rather than go on some weird Avengers journey (not saying Avengers should be discarded, but they've got fertile ground to plow).

 

[psylockolussus]

At some point, it would have to end and characters like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark would be rebooted for the newer generations. They can't just keep the continuity going for the next 50 years especially all of the actors in the mcu will age out of the role as they aren't immortal.

 

[Stormborn]

This is the 'common sense' consensus, but I remain unconvinced it's at all true. They already are adapting utter unknowns with the Guardians and Ant-man and Hawkeye and Black Widow. Even most of their better known characters (including Iron Man) were already nobodies to start with in the eyes of the General Audience, because Marvel Comics have never been this huge before outside of the X-Men and Spider-man.

They weren't Spider-Man/X-Men level popular but Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, Doctor Strange etc have been major characters in the comics and in animated shows for decades and they have classic storylines/rogues galleries for the MCU to adapt.

Hawkeye, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch and Vision are usually only supporting characters in the comics and the MCU has handled them the same way. It's taken years of being in the MCU for them to gain fans and get spin off TV shows.

Turning obscure characters that even most Marvel comic readers aren't fans of or haven't even heard of into the future main characters of the MCU will be a lot more challenging.

And just because some elements of the comic book fandom developed an irrational hatred for legacy characters (never mind the fact that some truly classic characters of the silver and bronze age are legacy characters themselves), that doesn't prove that the global cinematic audiences will follow suit.

There are a few exceptions (Miles Morales, Jane Foster Thor, Scott Lang, She Hulk) but most of the time legacy characters just make me want the original heroes back. An MCU full of legacy characters would feel second rate.

 

[Flint Marko]

It really depends on Fiege’s successor. If things keep going the way they are now our grandchildren will be going to the theaters at least twice a year.

 

[psylockolussus]

I just can't see it by 2050, that the films in that period/decade are part of the continuity that started with Iron Man 2008/phase 1. For every beginning, there's an end. And who knows if by the end of the 2029, if Marvel is still as strong as it was in 2019. A lot of the characters in the future, would be need to rebooted and given a fresh take and be portrayed by someone else, similar to Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and the Wolverine.

Personally, I would like to witness the end of the mcu while I'm still alive or still strong enough to go to the theaters. I couldn't do that by 2070, and the 100th mcu film is about to be released.

 

[Bayne]

They weren't Spider-Man/X-Men level popular but Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, Doctor Strange etc have been major characters in the comics and in animated shows for decades and they have classic storylines/rogues galleries for the MCU to adapt.

Hawkeye, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch and Vision are usually only supporting characters in the comics and the MCU has handled them the same way. It's taken years of being in the MCU for them to gain fans and get spin off TV shows.

Turning obscure characters that even most Marvel comic readers aren't fans of or haven't even heard of into the future main characters of the MCU will be a lot more challenging.

They did it quite easily with the Guardians. They're set to do it again this year with the Eternals. I'd say Shang-Chi is a lot closer to that level than to the main Avengers, as well.

If the movies are good, the audience will not care whether the character is familiar or not. And you don't need classic comic book storylines/rogue galleries to make good movies. (And you also don't need everything to happen exactly like the comics, so you can always just use a classic villain from a different character's rogue gallery that hasn't been used yet or tell a story inspired by some other character's classic storyline that didn't make it into the MCU before.)

There are a few exceptions (Miles Morales, Jane Foster Thor, Scott Lang, She Hulk) but most of the time legacy characters just make me want the original heroes back. An MCU full of legacy characters would feel second rate.

Them being there doesn't have to mean them being the only ones there. It isn't that way in the comics and it won't be in the movies. Ms. Marvel is debuting before CM2, even, and the rumor is Carol will appear on her show.

 

[InCali]

They did it quite easily with the Guardians. They're set to do it again this year with the Eternals. I'd say Shang-Chi is a lot closer to that level than to the main Avengers, as well.

If the movies are good, the audience will not care whether the character is familiar or not. And you don't need classic comic book storylines/rogue galleries to make good movies. (And you also don't need everything to happen exactly like the comics, so you can always just use a classic villain from a different character's rogue gallery that hasn't been used yet or tell a story inspired by some other character's classic storyline that didn't make it into the MCU before.)



Them being there doesn't have to mean them being the only ones there. It isn't that way in the comics and it won't be in the movies. Ms. Marvel is debuting before CM2, even, and the rumor is Carol will appear on her show.

Agreed. Not every character is going to knock it out of the park and there will be some unexpected breakout hits. Disney/Marvel is more than sitting pretty. I remember when I first saw BP and GotG in IW. It was so cool. Like seeing old friends.