The Future of the MCU

If you have somehow been reading my posts and have absolutely no knowledge about me, I like comic books and movies based on them.  I am particularly fond of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The MCU has been around for 10 years and some amazing things have happened.  I don't normally write about films BEFORE they come out, but I wanted to take this opportunity to look at the future of the MCU, post Infinity War.  SPOILERS FOLLOW.  This was written just after Infinity War.

The First 10 Years

Spoiler Warning!

Great!

So, Thanos snapped his big, gold laden fingers, and wasted half the universe including some of our favorite heroes.  This includes heroes that already have sequels on the books.  If they died, how can this be?

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of theories out there.  The most prevalent is that time travel will join the MCU in the untitled 4th Avengers film.  Another popular option is the Quantum Realm, which will undoubtedly be the focus of Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Now I am very familiar with the comic books and the Infinity Gauntlet arc, but the MCU has often changed things up.

Looking at what we know about the real world, Spider-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Panther all have movies being filmed.  With the exception of Rocket Raccoon (and Gamora, technically), all of the major players of those films went bye-bye with Thanos' snap.  So how can they have films coming out?  The assumption is that they will be brought back through one of the theories mentioned above.  That kind of sucks though because it means death has no meaning and without stakes, the films can become boring.

Based on information from directly involved parties:

We know Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place pre-snap.

We know Captain Marvel takes place in the 90's.

We know Captain Marvel will be a major player in the 4th Avengers film and we know she will be the new face of the MCU going forward, taking the reigns from Iron Man.

We know many of the original Avengers actor contracts will lapse post Avengers 4.

We know Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 will close the trilogy and end this iteration of the Guardians.

I offer the following ideas up for your consumption:

Ant-Man and Captain Marvel will be instrumental in accessing the Quantum Realm and the inside of the Soul Stone in Avengers 4.

The original Avengers (Thor, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk, and Bruce Banner [more on that later]) will enter the Soul Stone and battle Thanos, sacrificing themselves to save everyone else.

The Guardians (all currently "dead") will be found in the Soul Stone and will not accept the sacrifice.  They will, in turn, sacrifice themselves because "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy.  If we can't save it, what good were we?".  Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will take place pre-snap, thus making Avengers 4 their final film.  Rocket will be saved from sacrifice by Groot.

Hulk, separated from Banner, will save Black Widow from the sacrifice so she can return to reality.

Black Widow, Spider-man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, White Wolf (Bucky), Falcon, Nebula, Ant-Man, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, and Doctor Strange will form the New Avengers.

Rocket will lead a new team of Guardians of the Galaxy for films post Avengers 4.  This will include Gamora who is the only one truly to come back from death.

Vision is dead.  Forever dead.  Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Loki, Heimdall, and The Guardians are all forever dead.

Spider-Man and Black Panther sequels will take place post Avengers 4 and deal with the aftermath.

There you go!  There's my thoughts on how the MCU will both satisfy and destroy us all.