Warning: Potential Spoilers
While Avengers 4 (which presumably is not the final title) will not be out until May next year, anticipation for it is certainly at an all-time high, following the astronomical success of Avengers: Infinity War.
While the ending of the last film seemed like the proverbial nail in the coffin for many characters – after Thanos slapped the fire out of half the MCU (without breaking a sweat) – several characters have already been confirmed to make their comeback next year.
The follow up to Infinity War will also serve as a resolution to the damage done by the Mad Titan, bringing a conclusion to the 10-going-on-11 year storyline and introducing a new one for a post-Thanos MCU.
Josh Brolin is already set to return as the uber-villain. Last time we saw him he’d completed his random, non-biased genocide, and is now peacefully sitting on a farm somewhere basking in his work.
Making their Avengers debut will be the Wasp alongside Ant-Man. While Scott Lang was present for Captain America: Civil War it resulted in him being placed under house arrest (as mentioned by Black Widow).
He’ll be joined by the Wasp in their upcoming film in August, which is believed to be a segue to Avengers 4.
Also making their big crossover debut is Captain Marvel, who was initially meant to turn up in Infinity War, but the Russo brothers felt it was much more appropriate for her to debut in a solo film first, which will be in UK cinemas on March 8 next year.
However, she was teased in the Infinity Wars post-credit scene when Nick Fury sent her a distress message (via pager) before fading out of existence. ‘Motherf…’
One character suspiciously missing from the biggest Marvel movie so far was Hawkeye. He hasn’t been seen since the events of Civil War, which left him under house arrest too.
However, knowing Clint Barton, he won’t be sitting out the fight for too long, expect to see him back in action next year – possibly as Ronin.
Also returning are those who survived Thanos’ mass genocide, including Captain America, Iron Man, War Machine, Rocket, Black Widow (who is getting her own solo movie soon), Nebula, Thor and Bruce Banner (and possibly The Hulk – providing he’s got over his stage fright).
What’s interesting is the characters who apparently died in Infinity War, particularly those who are are getting solo sequels post-Avengers 4.
The most surprising to bite the proverbial dust were Spider-Man and Black Panther. Both characters already have confirmed sequels in the works, with the next Homecoming 2 set to take place directly after the events of Avengers 4.
As for Black Panther, a sequel was confirmed following its outstanding success at the box office.
We should be seeing the return of the Guardians of the Galaxy as well, as they have a third film set to come out in 2020.
However, it’s doubtful Gamora will be back considering she actually died at the hands of Thanos – as opposed to being finger snapped out of existence like the rest of the MCU.
Expect to see the likes of Dr Strange, Bucky and Falcon return for round two with Thanos in some sort of capacity as well.
One character who won’t be making their debut is Adam Warlock, who’ll presumably make his debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The news was confirmed by the Russo brothers themselves, with Joe Russo telling ComicBook:
Yeah, [Adam Warlock]’s not showing up in our stories. Look, our job as we said a million times is to tell the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to do direct adaptations of the comics because we’re comic book fans.
I have no interest as a director in telling a story that’s already been told or in seeing one that’s already been told.
If I know all the events as they’re going to happen then what’s the point of going to the film? We want to keep surprising audiences and continue the story that started with Iron Man a decade ago.
Avengers 4 will be released in UK cinemas on May 2019.
