AFTER AVENGERS ENDGAME: 5 STORYLINES WE WANT TO SEE IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

After Avengers Endgame hit theaters last year, a lot of Marvel fans found themselves in a delirious state of fatigue. Who can blame them? Endgame pretty much cemented the Marvel Universe as the biggest film franchise there is. In one of the most iconic final battle sequences, widely known as 'Portals', we saw all of our favourite heroes side by side in a battle cry against Thanos. By the time the credits rolled, it seemed as if there wasn't any other way to move forward. The death of Iron Man, fat Thor accepting his new image, Black Widow's death, Captain America ageing away and a talking as well as a less troubled Hulk seemed like a mighty final goodbye.

It's easy to see, even if one is not a comic book fan, that there can't possibly be anywhere else to go with the franchise, that perhaps we have reached peak MCU/Avengers greatness with Endgame. Who could be a greater threat than Thanos? How could you top Endgame's timeline experimenting plot? And that final battle, how can you beat that? With Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow out of the picture, can we have a really great Avengers movie? The answer is yes, here are five storylines that can easily beat Endgame...or at least live up to it.

5. Fantastic Four and The Coming Of Galactus

The brainchild of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, it was in fact Galactus that proved to be the first major cosmic threat to the Marvel Universe and not Thanos. This was also the first storyline to introduce The Silver Surfer. Now that all Fox assets belong to Marvel and Disney, it seems that this would be the perfect time to incorporate the Fantastic Four into the universe whilst also introducing the Surfer.

How Can It Work In The MCU?

Perhaps this could be something that is gradually set up in the next phase of Marvel. Once we introduce The Fantastic Four, who are given super powers from a cosmic blast of rays, there can be the showcasing of Galactus' connection to Silver Surfer who becomes an ally to the four. However, the Surfer has links with The Skrulls and this could easily incorporate Captain Marvel and make her a mightier force in the MCU. Going intergalactic again could mean adding the element of wormholes and alternate realities into the mix, this could shake things up. It could even lead to an alternate mirror planet that has Tony Stark in it, well and alive, but perhaps not a billionaire playboy but instead a cowardly peasant farmer? Perhaps we can have a Steve Rodgers as the president of The United States?

4. House Of M

It's widely known that X-Men didn't really interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe in comic book form, this being said they didn't do this either with the film universe for ownership reasons. Now that they are back in the hands of Marvel, perhaps this would be the prime time to set up the next phase or two leading up to the House of M. This could be very exciting.

How Can It Work In The MCU?

We already have The Scarlet Witch in our universe; we already know that her abilities involve altering the concept of reality. In the House of M comic run by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel, Scarlet Witch has a mental breakdown in which she tries to alter the concept of reality in order to re-create her lost children. Perhaps this is a fine way of introducing the X-Men? Since mutants have not been mentioned in the MCU , we could use the altered timelines created by The Avengers in Endgame to re-construct history, what if because of the time travelling seen in Endgame, an alteration in structure caused a mutant gene to begin around the 60s? This would easily explain why we suddenly have mutants in our current universe, this would also allow Magneto to exist and be Scarlet Witch's father!

Over the course of a few films , including the MCU's single X-Men movie, we could see The House of M concept being built up for an epic Marvel showdown involving Mutants, Avengers and Scarlet Witch as a super powerful deity and villain. Once again this can experiment with alternate timelines and realities which can allow for us to see characters like Black Widow, Captain America and Iron Man all making appearances in different forms.

3. Civil War (Take 2)

I know what most readers are thinking, we already had that with Captain America: Civil War, didn't we? Technically yes, however the film version was noticeably a loose adaptation. Marvel's adaptation focused primarily on the relationship between Iron Man and Captain America, it did also give us a great showcase on Falcon and Black Window not to mention a fun introduction to an MCU Spider-Man. That being said, it didn't live up to the full scale epic it could have been.

In Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Civil War, the superhero registration act did indeed pit Tony and Steve against one another much like the film had done, however we also had The X-Men involved and in this version they took a neutral stance. Not to mention the fact that we also had The Fantastic Four and Ms Marvel siding with Iron Man. There is clearly a lot going on there which could be perfect for an Avengers film.

How Can It Work In The MCU?

Now that the X-Men have found their way back into Marvel's hands, it's pretty easy to see how they can be involved. Perhaps, upon the discovery of their existence and a series of violent terror incidents led by the Brotherhood, there can be an anti-mutant registration act, this way you can incorporate some of 'The Cure' storyline from the X-Men comics. You could then have Spider-Man, The Falcon and Captain Marvel all for it because they have lost loved ones to some of the Brotherhood's attacks. On the other hand you could have Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Scarlet Witch and Vision on opposing ends; this could be because they feel that they associate with the mutants more because of the current state of humanity, there could be a moral and ethical conflict going on here. That being said, you could also have Doctor Strange and Black Panther taking on neutral stances. Let's not forget Black Panther and Storm fall in love in the comic books and this could be a chance to see that on screen, not to mention explain T'Challa's bias towards mutants. Let's not forget T'Challa has learnt about forgiveness in the past and the pointlessness of conflict as seen in the last Civil War.

With so much political and social aspects here, this would perhaps be the first time the MCU addresses things like race, gender and equality which they have never done before!

If done right, and with enough back stories and a comforting run time, this could be something that can match up to Endgame, at least on a much more visceral and social level.

2. Doctor Strange: A Separate Reality

Okay, so I've clearly been trying to get the X-Men into the next phase with this fan manifesto. I think I have a valid reason purely based off the fact that it's probably on all MCU fans' minds right now. I mean how can you not think about it? We have seen the X-Men for 20 years on screen in their own fantastic cinematic universe. Above, I have suggested both Civil War and House of M as great ways to introduce them into the universe, purely because those storylines incorporate alternate timelines or in the one case an anti-mutant stance which would either serve for viable and plausible intros into the MCU.

However, one other alternative is once again steadfast in alternate realities and dimensions, and whilst at the same time giving one Marvel character more of a tremendous role in the MCU...Doctor Strange.

We already know that we will be getting a Doctor Strange: Into The Multiverse Of Madness film directed by Sam Raimi, and this already sounds like it's going to be an exciting and phenomenal mind bender considering that the first film was a satisfying entry into the MCU.

How Can It Work In The MCU?

After Doctor Strange and Far From Home, we have already established the concept of alternate dimensions. In the comic run A Separate Reality by Steve Engelhart and Frank Brunner, Doctor Strange and several other characters find themselves stuck in Strange’s Eye of Agamotto and must battle with a time travel plot schemed up by Baron Mordo. Perhaps this could be a way of Mordo's role in the MCU expanding as its main baddy? There's also the case of Dormammu, perhaps he brainwashes Strange into sending the Avengers into a dark reality where they are all villains doing his biddings? In this case, only Scarlet Witch, Vision and Captain Marvel are unaffected and must alone venture into this world and undo the madness.

I think this could work as a mini-Avengers movie, much like Captain America Civil War was before Infinity War and Endgame. Regarding the X-Men and how they find themselves in all this, in phase 4 and 5 of the MCU it could slowly be established in post credit scenes that Mordo is bit by bit rebuilding an alternate darker world. However, since we're dealing with alternate dimensions, we could so happen to introduce one that has only Mutants and no heroes, these two worlds can clash after this storyline and set up a newly existing world where mutants are the norm.

1. Secret Wars (obviously!)

Last but not least and expected by most, especially after all the recent fanfare, it seems as if the most logical place to go, and most likely the only way to surpass Endgame's magnitude would most likely be with Secret Wars. The Russo Brothers have expressed interest in Secret Wars, going as far as saying that they would love to do it as a film. Recently, Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin discussed some pretty neat ideas including, once again, alternate realities on The Fatman on Batman podcast.

That being said, there are a lot of pros and cons to doing Secret Wars as a film. The pros are that it involves the Marvel Universe pretty much battling each other nonstop in a Battle Royale,/Most Dangerous Game fight to the death which would probably be every fan boy's dream. The other pro is that it involves, once again, the cosmos which could allow for big bads like The Beyonder and Galactus to play roles. That's pretty much like having two Thanos level villains in one movie.

The cons of doing a Secret Wars film is that there isn't much room for drama and characterisation which is very important for narrative, and considering there is already some backlash towards comic book films for lacking that at times from certain filmgoers and filmmakers, it is best not to prove them right. Civil War had a valid reason, but in Secret Wars the reason is more down to that the Marvel Universe are pretty much set up like action figures by The Beyonder, more or less, and are forced to fight each other. As a video game, this would work great, as a film not so much. However there are always ways...

How Can It Work In The MCU?

The limited series, written by Jim Shooter and penciled by Mike Zeck, sees the Avengers being transported by a cosmic villain called The Beyonder to 'Battleworld' (yep, that tells you everything!), to fight against each other against their will. That's it, that's the story. That being said, it really is one of the best comic runs in the Marvel Universe, it actually reads really wells with panels that pop.

The problem is it translates to film with little coherency. This could work if characters from several multiverses somewhat are transported to the current real world in the MCU wrecking havoc. A sort of clone war affair, you could have a resurrected but villainous Iron Man, a Peter Parker who's mutated into Man-Spider and a Hulk who is now an emperor in his world and stages coliseum fights with human slaves (sort of like Planet Hulk). It should also be mentioned that the X-Men are very much involved with Secret Wars, it could be interesting to introduce them in this film and reveal that they have been operating in silence since the events of Endgame as a sort of vigilante unit, but now that their presence has been revealed they find themselves facing danger from some skeptical superheroes and the government, this could up the stakes.

Lastly, Doctor Doom plays a rather strong role in the limited series. If done well, assuming that we'll have a Fantastic Four film before Secret Wars, we could see Doctor Doom turn into a sort of anti-hero in the MCU. Perhaps we could see him redeem his name, as he works to find a way to defeat The Beyonder and save the Avengers, as well as the world, from annihilation. Who knows, we might even see Doom get his own film afterwards and be a major character in his own right.

IN CONCLUSION:

At this point the MCU can go anywhere; with cosmic worlds and alternate realities, the possible introduction of Mutants and the Fantastic Four. Things are about to get bigger and more fantastic, excuse the pun, than they ever have been. It brings with it challenges, and with Endgame pretty much being a perfect end to a long line of films, whatever Marvel Studios does next, they will have to try their best to match that in some way. And if they can't, we can all be a bit forgiving knowing that Endgame is a pretty tough act to follow.