The Russo Brothers and Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Markus & McFeely held a big Hall H panel yesterday in SDCC, where they celebrated the success of the movie and shared tidbits about their creative process. Among the many ideas they threw out during the development of both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, Thanos decapitating Captain America was one of them.

Another #AvengersEndgame idea: Before traveling to 2023, Thanos from 2014 would go to Earth, kill the Avengers, and bring Steve's decapitated head with him to 2023 to taunt Steve with

— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) July 19, 2019

Holy shit. That’s a pretty horrifying scenario to imagine. The idea of a Cap we’re somewhat familiar with – the 2014 Steve Rogers we all fell in love with in Captain America: The Winter Soldier – gets brutally decapitated just like that. Then again, it’s the perfect summation of 2014 Thanos’ brutality in his relentless quest to get the stones. If they actually did, it’d be one of the MCU’s most talked about moments.

The screenwriters also played with the idea of Cap being tasked to go to Vormir instead of Natasha and Clint to encounter an old nemesis.

One idea Markus and McFeely had: Steve would be the one going to Vormir have to work with Red Skull as a sort of Gollum figure. #ComicCon2019

— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) July 19, 2019

So interesting to imagine how they’d react to each other in present day. Would Schmidt even recognize Steve? How would they even work the sacrifice out? Of course, having Steve in Vormir would mean we wouldn’t get his moment in the 70s when he comes across Peggy. Still, a pretty cool idea nonetheless.

Source: Twitter

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Some breaking bittersweet news. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is finally ending with the show’s upcoming seventh season. This announcement just comes a few houws before the show’s first-ever Hall H panel today in San Diego Comic-Con. Deadline spoke with Marvel TV exec Jeph Loeb who spilled the deets on such a decision.

Well, the bitter side is nobody ever wants anything to end, but it’s going to be amazing, and here’s the best news: Season 6 isn’t over, and you’ve seen none of Season 7. That’s the celebration, there’s still more. It’s not as though we’re going to walk off the stage and say goodbye, you’re never going to see another one of these new stories again. You have to see how this ends, you have to.

Loeb also revealed that Season 5 was also supposed to be the show’s ending and that the production wasn’t anticipating a renewal. Season 5 as we all know, is probably one of the best, if not the best, seasons Marvel TV has ever done.

How many shows do you know that just suddenly ended, and you feel like, but wait a minute, there was more. Yes, in the chronology of this is we thought Season 5 was the end. If you go back and you look at the end of that season, it is written that way. Actually, the last episode of that season is called “The End.” Honestly, we thought we were turning out the lights and going home when we got a call from ABC that said, the material is so strong, do you think you have another season, do you think you have another 13 because we sort of like this idea of doing it again.

As always, Loeb was mum on what plans they have in store for the final season of Marvel TV’s flagship show, saying:

I don’t think we want to get into specifics, yet, I just know that it’s coming. When Season 7 comes, and that’s the other thing, all I can say is that seven is sometime next year, and we’ll see what ABC does with scheduling. But. we’re pretty close to done, and so that’s the other reason for Hall H is that this is a chance for our actors to really say thank you to the fans.

Source: Deadline

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Some breaking bittersweet news. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is finally ending with the show’s upcoming seventh season. This announcement just comes a few houws before the show’s first-ever Hall H panel today in San Diego Comic-Con. Deadline spoke with Marvel TV exec Jeph Loeb who spilled the deets on such a decision.

Well, the bitter side is nobody ever wants anything to end, but it’s going to be amazing, and here’s the best news: Season 6 isn’t over, and you’ve seen none of Season 7. That’s the celebration, there’s still more. It’s not as though we’re going to walk off the stage and say goodbye, you’re never going to see another one of these new stories again. You have to see how this ends, you have to.

Loeb also revealed that Season 5 was also supposed to be the show’s ending and that the production wasn’t anticipating a renewal. Season 5 as we all know, is probably one of the best, if not the best, seasons Marvel TV has ever done.

How many shows do you know that just suddenly ended, and you feel like, but wait a minute, there was more. Yes, in the chronology of this is we thought Season 5 was the end. If you go back and you look at the end of that season, it is written that way. Actually, the last episode of that season is called “The End.” Honestly, we thought we were turning out the lights and going home when we got a call from ABC that said, the material is so strong, do you think you have another season, do you think you have another 13 because we sort of like this idea of doing it again.

As always, Loeb was mum on what plans they have in store for the final season of Marvel TV’s flagship show, saying:

I don’t think we want to get into specifics, yet, I just know that it’s coming. When Season 7 comes, and that’s the other thing, all I can say is that seven is sometime next year, and we’ll see what ABC does with scheduling. But. we’re pretty close to done, and so that’s the other reason for Hall H is that this is a chance for our actors to really say thank you to the fans.

Source: Deadline

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Kevin Feige has described Avengers: Endgame as “a definitive ending” to the series of movies we’ve been watching for the past 11 years with Spider-Man: Far From Home acting as its epilogue. If you stopped watching these movies after that though, there’s still a handful of unresolved plot points. 

So, I’ve decided to compile some of the most prominent ones yet to see any closure in the movies. Even the newer ones which are much more likely to be followed up on far quicker than the rest.

What Happened to Samuel Sterns?

The Incredible Hulk really is the black sheep of this franchise, isn’t it? The fact that Edward Norton was quickly replaced with Mark Ruffalo, the less humorous writing, and finally, a massive tease of The Leader amounting (thus far) to nothing. When Blonsky begins transforming into The Abomination, he knocks Samuel Sterns into equipment; cutting his head open. As Abomination begins his rampage, a leaking vial of Bruce Banner’s blood begins dripping directly onto his open wound. His head begins to pulse and a smile growing on his face. 

Since then, we haven’t seen or heard a single thing about the character for 11 years.

Where is he now? Is he a prisoner of the military? Did HYDRA get to him? Is he in hiding? Who knows! The closest thing we have to a resolution to this plot point is a non-canonical tie-in comic called Fury’s Big Week in which he was captured and studied by SHIELD.

Kevin Feige was actually asked about the character two years ago and whether or not they would return.

“It is an embarrassment of riches of places we could go or characters we could reprise or bring back now that we’re… I think Ragnarok is our seventeenth MCU film. And you would be surprised how many… it’s come up. It’s come up. Just finding the right place. And as I said, if you can’t do it right, don’t do it or do it later, and the notion of ‘Hey, I’m here too! Next!’ is not interesting to us. Abomination is in a prison somewhere too.”

So, it isn’t like they’ve forgotten about him. Just that they haven’t found a time or place to properly reintroduce him. Who knows – maybe he’ll come back in a Thunderbolts movie down the road.

Where Is The Real Mandarin?

We all initially thought that this plot point was resolved with the reveal of The Mandarin being a fake in Iron Man 3. But, fans were…unhappy to find that Ben Kingsley was not actually playing Iron Man’s arch-enemy from the comics, but a washed up English actor named Trevor Slattery. 

In response, Marvel Studios released the One Shot All Hail the King with the DVD release of Thor: The Dark World, which revealed that there is indeed a real Mandarin. The last we hear of him is one of his followers kidnapping him in order to meet the man himself. Otherwise, we haven’t heard a peep from the character or organization. Except for a subtle appearance as one of Darren Cross’ potential buyers in Ant-Man.

However, in an AMA on Reddit, Kevin Feige has implied that Marvel Studios plans on reintroducing The Mandarin in a future movie. The most likely case being in Shang-Chi as the evil father of the titular character.

What Will Mitchell Carson Do with Stolen Pym Particles?

Speaking of which, at the end of Ant-Man, Mitchell Carson seems to just disappear with a vial of Pym Particles. In fact, in the original ending, Carson was meant to be caught by Scott, but they left it out to deliberately leave it open.

“At the end of the movie he gets away and has these Cross particles, and there was a sequence where Ant-Man has an encounter with him. But then for a couple reasons, it felt like maybe we should leave those particles out there. In that original thing, he took Martin Donovan out and got the particles.”

It was stated in the movie that Carson was working for HYDRA. So does that mean HYDRA had Pym Particles this whole time and never use them? Maybe Carson keep them for himself and left HYDRA shortly after? 

We’ve seen in Avengers: Endgame that it is possible to duplicate the formula once you have a sample of it. So, maybe whoever he works for now has mass produced it and have been trying to recreate the suit this whole time? We could potentially then see Eric O’Grady in the future wearing his own shrinking suit supplied to him by Carson and whatever organization he’s working for now.

What is Mordo’s Plan?

In the second end-credits scene of Doctor Strange, we see Mordo pay a visit to Jonathan Pangborn. After he takes away Pangborn’s magic that allowed him to walk, Mordo explains to him his revelation about the world – “too many sorcerers”. Obviously, he plans on either removing the magic from as many sorcerers as possible or maybe even killing them.

However, as we saw at the end of Avengers: Endgame, he has either been doing a pretty piss poor job culling these sorcerers or he was turned to dust for the past five years. Another possibility is that he’s biding his time. Maybe he couldn’t accomplish this task by himself and would need the aid of another. Possibly a much more powerful being like Nightmare, who is rumored to be the villain in the sequel to Doctor Strange.

Who Bought Avengers Tower?

One of the biggest surprises in Spider-Man: Homecoming was that Tony Stark sold Avengers Tower. While it likely written into the story to explain why Peter couldn’t just swing to The Avengers for help, it seems like they’re building to something more. Marvel Studios is obviously intending to make the identity of the buyer a big reveal in a future movie. Since we even get a quick glimpse of some of the renovation done to the building in the ending to Spider-Man: Far From Home, but we still don’t know who bought it. Fans quickly narrowed down the buyer down to two possibilities: The Fantastic Four or Norman Osborn.

The primary reasons being that they both operate in New York and have yet to be introduced in the MCU. While, it’d be a cool way to introduce The Fantastic Four, Marvel Studios only just got them back. It’s more likely that it will be revealed that Norman Osborn is the one that bought it, considering this plot point was introduced in a Spider-Man movie and he is a Spider-Man character.

Who Were Sonny Burch’s Buyers?

Throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp, a criminal named Sonny Burch and his goons are attempting to steal Hank Pym’s lab for prospective buyers. These buyers are characterized as obscenely wealthy and people who don’t take no for an answer. They wouldn’t be noteworthy, except that, like in Ant-Man, there were also multiple buyers for the Pym Particles created by Cross. Not to mention whoever bought Avengers Tower from Tony Stark.

Are these the same buyers? Sonny actually rules out HYDRA as a potential buyer, claiming that they no longer exist. Which leaves the fate and whereabouts of Mitchell Carson even further up in the air.

So, who is buying up (or attempting to buy up) all this technology? Is it perhaps the same organization that has bought Avengers Tower? What do they plan on doing with all this Quantum Technology? Could this be the rumored “Benefactor” character working behind the scenes? Honestly, the dangling plot points in the these two Ant-Man movies have the most potential for something bigger on the horizon.

When Does Ronan Pursue Carol?

Probably the oddest one on this list is Ronan (and the movie) blatantly alluding to him pursuing Carol Danvers at the end of Captain Marvel. What’s odd about it is that Ronan in the present timeline…is very dead having been blown up by the Guardians of the Galaxy. This lends more credence to her sequel being another prequel set in the past. Potentially with Ronan being a more prominent character and antagonist.

This sequel would likely be about Carol Danvers taking down the Supreme Intelligence and freeing the Kree from its control. Which would also explain its lack of mention in Guardians of the Galaxy whenever the peace treaties were brought up. This movie could even show how exactly Ronan ended up parting ways from the Kree Empire.

Where is Time Displaced Gamora?

What will likely be one of the major plot points in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is their search for the now time displaced Gamora. While it was left ambiguous at the end of Avengers: Endgame whether or not she was turned to dust like Thanos and his army, I think we all know she wasn’t. She’s still very much alive somewhere in the universe and the Guardians are going to look for her.

Now, this is a Gamora who has never met the Guardians or been in a relationship with Peter Quill. In her first meeting with Quill, she expressed disbelief in ever falling in love with him. Which could mean that this version of Gamora won’t fall in love with Quill. That might be a sad prospect, but it would give more meaning to Peter’s relationship with the original.

What Will Peter Parker Do Now?

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, in the most shocking end-credit scene in the entire franchise, Mysterio reveals to the world that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This is huge for a variety of reasons, but the biggest is that Peter and everyone he loves is now in grave danger.

At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Mac Gargan even confronts Toomes to ask if he knew Spider-Man’s true identity so that he and his “friends” could kill him. So, what will happen now that everyone knows his biggest secret? Will he have to prove to the world that Mysterio is a liar and fake? Somehow prove to the world that Peter Parker isn’t Spider-Man? Or will it be resolved within the very first ten minutes of the movie?

After all, the ending to Spider-Man: Homecoming was quite similar, down to Aunt May dropping an F-bomb. This could very well be resolved completely off screen, which would be quite a disappointment, but Jon Watts would like to have Kraven as the villain for the sequel above anyone else. Which indicates that the reveal of Peter’s identity will be a major plot point in the sequel. I’ll actually be discussing this in greater detail later this week in another feature about Peter’s identity crisis.

What plot points do you wish were followed up on? Do you think they ever will be? Tell us in the comments below!

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If there ever was a character that deserved more screentime it would be Frank Grillo‘s Crossbones. After making a great first impression during Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we even got a great recreation of his comic book movie in the sequel Captain America: Civil War. Sadly, his story ended there as he sacrificed himself to take out Captain America. While he did not manage to accomplish his goal, he did leave quite an impact afterward.  That wasn’t the last time we saw Grillo in the MCU. He had a cameo in Avengers: Endgame where they recreated the iconic elevator scene from Winter Soldier. Well, looks like there are still five more films on his contract even if his character has officially died in the current continuity according to the actor himself.

“I got five more movies that I’m obligated to do for Marvel if they ever call me.”

It seems like there might be some plans for the character if they would give him a nine-film contract. The upcoming Black Widow film will explore a story that took place before the events of Avengers: Endgame. If it takes place between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Civil War, they could bring him back as one of the adversaries that Natasha has to take down. They have hinted on some of his activities as Crossbones so it would be fun to explore how the Avengers had to handle him before they finally were able to take him down.

There are also rumors that they are developing a Thunderbolts film that focuses primarily on villains. Crossbones could be used as one of the masterminds behind the idea. We had small hints that he worked alongside Zemo in Civil War so he may have left some technology that a villain team-up could make use of. Perhaps he even has a follower that takes over his iconic outfit and becomes the next-generation incarnation of Crossbones that is part of the team. Hell, I would love an entire film focused on the iconic Captain America villain that would offer us some more insight into what drove Brock Rumlow to blow himself up just to prove a point.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Would you want to see Frank Grillo return? How and where do you think he could make an appearance?

Source: ComicBook.com

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San Diego Comic-Con is right around the corner and, after last year’s absence and no other major studio to compete with, Marvel Studios is eyeing to make an enormous splash in the biggest pop-culture event in the world. Though nothing has been officially confirmed, expectations are high that we might just get to see what the next few years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would look like. Thinking of the many possible and speculated announcements, MCU Exchange has prepared a wish list of everything we’d like to and may see when our lord and savior Kevin Feige takes the stage on Saturday afternoon.

SUREFIRE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Take these predictions to the bank. With one film already in the midst of filming and two about to enter production within the next 6 months, these films have guaranteed presentations this weekend.

Black Widow

Most likely the next MCU property to hit the screens, Natasha’s solo outing is already being filmed in Europe and production is expected to wrap soon. Scarlett Johansson will probably be at the Hall H, giving us our first glimpses into the project. Expect a logo, premiere date, and official synopsis, first looks and, if we’re lucky, a sizzle reel. Some casting announcements and confirmations are likely as well.

The Eternals

The MCU’s new team is getting revealed at SDCC, and we should expect to see some of its stellar speculated cast to be there as well. Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, and Richard Madden have all had their names attached to the project at some point. The official casting will likely be announced as well as the premiere date, official logo, and, maybe, some concept art. This one is further away than Black Widow, so it won’t have as much content.

Shang-Chi

Marvel’s master of martial arts is coming to the MCU sooner rather than later, though it’s not clear how far along with production the project is. Being officially announced is a given, a logo is likely and hopefully, we’ll find out who is going to play the title role. Speculation on names for the position have been rampant, so it’ll be good to finally put a face to the name. The same way Feige announced Brie Larson and Chadwick Boseman as Captain Marvel and Black Panther previously, we could see him bring out the next big MCU star. As with The Eternals, anything beyond a date, concept art, and synopsis is very unlikely, as these projects are still quite far away and no footage has been shot yet.

LIKELY SEQUEL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

All these sequels are inevitable. If Marvel Studios is feeling extra generous this weekend, maybe we get a complete slate unveiling as they did at the El Capitan Theater in 2014, where Feige unveiled all their dates and films from 2016-2019.

Thor 4

We just learned yesterday that Taika Waititi was returning to the Thor franchise, making the God of Thunder the first MCU character to get a fourth solo film. The news of Taika’s return is very timely. We’re just days away from Marvel Studios’ biggest panel in their SDCC tenure and we get this bombshell of a report.

Black Panther 2

An enormous success both in the box office (US$1.3 billion) and among critics (nominated for 6 Oscars), a sequel to Black Panther is as given as any MCU sequel has ever been. The doubt is when is it coming. If we get anything, a title, logo, release date and confirmation of some stars returning for the sequel. As the film is in early stages of development, a synopsis is unlikely. We could see them bringing out director Ryan Coogler and some cast members as a way of celebrating the success of the movie.

Captain Marvel 2

Just like T’Challa’s debut solo film, Carol Danvers’ on-screen debut made an absolute killing in the box office so you know they’re bringing their game face for her sequel. As the most recent solo entry in the MCU, it’ll be unlikely to see the sequel come out in the 2 years but if they’ve got something to share about the movie, it’ll be this weekend.

Doctor Strange 2

A Doctor Strange sequel IS in the works and we know Scott Derrickson is coming back to direct it, but we still need official word on writer C. Robert Cargill’s return and an idea of the overall plot of the film. Perhaps SDCC is the place to do it. There’s a small chance of a premiere and title announcement as well, of course, but it seems unlikely. Out of all the sequels, movement on this movie has been the most silent.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Another given due to the franchise’s overall success, this is the most complicated film to come to fruition. The whole issue with James Gunn and his later involvement with DC’s Suicide Squad caused the third Guardians installment to be delayed for a while. Among these three, it’s probably the one furthest down the line. Total silence is a possibility, but there’s also a chance of a logo and premiere date.

Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man: Far From Home just premiered to great success so Sony would be crazy not to ask Marvel to at least announce plans for a sequel. Not that we need any assurance that there will be a sequel. It’s simply a guaranteed way to get fans more exciting for the wallcrawler’s future following the film’s crazy post-credit scene. Heck, an appearance from J.K. Simmons saying that he’ll be a main character in the third movie will drive everyone crazy.

Dark Avengers, Young Avengers, and Iron Heart

Long speculated and talked about by fans, these three movies could end up being part of the MCU’s future. Recently, some Facebook error page mumbo-jumbo showed that Marvel has inactive pages for Black Widow and Eternals, two surefire announcements, alongside Dark Avengers, Young Avengers, and Iron Heart. Those could be related to comic projects, of course, but given the speculation constantly surrounding these we should consider an SDCC announcement a possibility. We’ve been hearing about these projects over the course of the year so don’t be surprised.

ANNOUNCEMENTS THAT ARE UNLIKELY:

As much of dreams as these have been for MCU fans, this is not yet the time to do them. They’re surely being planned, but are far too early on the production process to have anything announced. We all want them and we all know they’re coming, but we’ll have to keep on waiting for now.

Fantastic Four

Fox properties have recently come into Feige’s grasp, and Fantastic Four is probably the one getting its MCU debut first. The last (bad) film was four years ago, and a franchise with such potential will not go too long without a new entry. Expect something about the first family to be announced in the next few years, but this year’s SDCC won’t be the place to do it yet. Plus, we imagine any sort of Fantastic Four announcement would instantly overshadow any of their announcements.

X-Men

Another Fox gold mine turned into an embarrassing failure over time, the mutants will surely be pivotal to the far future of the MCU. A lot has to happen before the next X-film arrives in theaters, as the final Fox-produced one is still showing, but we’ll definitely be seeing them in the universe. An SDCC announcement could happen someday, just not this time.

A new Avengers movie

Let’s face it, folks: it’ll be a while before we see another Avengers film. After the massive successes of Infinity War and Endgame, the MCU needs a little time to develop its already existing characters and the new ones before they bring them all together for one more hurrah. The Infinity Saga is done, so we need a breather before we enter another huge, God knows how many-films long arc. We are getting a fifth Avengers someday, of course, but we’ll have to wait.

There could be completely new projects that we haven’t heard a thing of, which be as crazy as it would be neat. Let’s hope for a long, shocker-filled Hall H panel that keeps us dreaming about the universe’s future as much as the Phase 3 announcement did in 2014.

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Breaking news! The MCU continues to get crazier as Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has officially signed on to return to helm the God of Thunder’s fourth outing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Waititi signing on to helm the fourth Thor film came at Akira‘s cost, a live-action adaptation of one of the most beloved animated films.

Bad news for Akira fans but good news for MCU fans. Thor: Ragnarok blew audiences and critics away with its zany distinct tone and visuals. Visionary director Quentin Tarantino even describes it as his favorite Marvel movie ever. Also worth noting is Marvel’s willingness to move beyond film trilogies. Overall, this is simply fantastic news! Maybe we get an official announcement this weekend at SDCC!

Source: THR

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