(Warning: The following article is spoiler heavy for Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War, read at your own risk.)

Last Spring, Marvel released the film “Avengers Infinity War.” The film ends with the villain Thanos achieving all the Infinity Stones and snapping half of the Marvel Universe out of existence. This shift is by far the boldest thing the MCU has done so far and has done the most to affect the MCU as we know it. Following this movie there is the question to ask: where does Marvel go from here and what does the future of the MCU have to offer.
Well before moving forward it is important to look at the movies that are currently in the Marvel pipeline. Currently there is a Captain Marvel film in development that is set to be a prequel set in the 1990s set for release in March 2019, another Avengers film set for release in May 2019, “Spider-Man Far From Home” set to be released in July 2019, and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3” which currently has an unknown release date.

There are also talks of a Black Widow film but it is in the earliest stages of production with no other information other than Cate Shorewood is on board as the director and Kevin Feige has spoken about a Kamala Khan movie but other than speaking of it, there is no other information on the project. This schedule does give some information regarding the future of the MCU meaning that if we are getting another Guardians film at some point and another Spider-Man film, then we can already assume that Avengers 4 is gonna see a return of the titular characters that were snapped out of existence at the end of “Infinity War” such as Spider-Man and Star Lord.

Another thing to note is the involvement of several MCU actors and the future of several characters. Both Chris Evans (Captain America) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) have spoken recently about not wanting to play their characters much longer. With two of the lead actors leaving this may cause some problems but can be easily remedied by following the comics and having either Sam Wilson or Bucky Barnes become Captain America. Thor on the other hand would be a little more difficult unless they can get Natalie Portman to commit to multiple movies or if they introduce Beta Ray Bill to take up the mantle of Thor.

There is also Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer) who, following James Gunn’s firing this summer, has stated that if Gunn’s script is not used he will exit his contract and he has also been attacking Disney on social media. This on the other hand can be easily fixed by leaving Drax dead or recasting the role. Plus, due to Drax being a supporting role as opposed to a main role, changing the role wouldn’t make as big of an impact as some other characters and actors.

Another actor who may cause a conflict is Robert Downey Jr., mainly because Downey is a big name actor, Marvel and Disney might not want to continue to pay a large salary to keep him on. Similar to Evans and Hemsworth, this can be fixed by having James Rhodes pick up the mantle of Iron Man.

Something else important to mention is that recently the US Government approved the Disney buyout of 20th Century Fox who currently hold the rights to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and all associated characters. With this merger, this means the MCU could be expanded to include characters who had previously been off limits. This also means from now on, if Marvel wants to adapt a story in which Mr. Fantastic or Wolverine had a major role in, they don’t have to substitute the role anymore for a character they own. This also means a change in the comics because due to Fox owning several properties, Marvel comics have downplayed the X-Men comic books and keep putting out terrible stories. They have also all but disowned the Fantastic Four, but if they are all under the same roof again, we could get good X-Men and Fantastic Four stories once again.