The Marvel Cinematic Universe will never be the same.
Massive spoilers for "Avengers: Endgame" below. Do yourself a favor and go see the movie before you venture further into this post. (But then do come back. We have so much to talk about.)
Avengers: Endgame has massively, irreparably changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, serving both as a culmination of the 21 movies that came before it and a jumping off point for any number of MCU films to come. As the dust settles on the second Snappening, ridding the universe of one (1) genocidal Mad Titan and his countless evil minions, I have some thoughts and feeling and a few lingering questions I need answered.
Is it called Endgame because Steve and Peggy have always been...endgame?
"Endgame" is a word that's been kicking around the MCU since Age of Ultron, most notably opined by Doctor Strange in Infinity War and thus giving the follow-up its title. It's also a term that's been used in shipper culture since Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) first met in Captain America: The First Avenger. This list could be comprised entirely of questions about the finer points of Steve's final travel through time, but the ending is clear: Steve and Peggy finally found their happy ending together.
What happened during the five years that Wakanda had no Black Panther?
T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) was dusted at the end of Infinity War and a poster for Endgame eventually revealed his younger sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), was snapped up too, leaving Wakanda without a Black Panther for half a decade. I assume this is why Okoye (Danai Gurira) was absent for most of the film, despite being featured on all of the posters: Someone had to watch the throne. I do wish Shuri had not been raptured, which would have allowed Endgame to include a cool Easter egg of her becoming the interim Black Panther (like she does in the comic books). Alas, maybe we will learn more about those five years come Black Panther 2.
Won't half of Peter Parker's classmates be five years older than him now?
This is one I'm expecting will be addressed in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Endgame's five-year time jump -- for only some of the characters -- would appear to complicate Peter's (Tom Holland) timeline more than any of the other heroes: Was it dumb luck that every Spider-Man character we care about (Ned and M.J. and Flash) was also snapped? Otherwise, some of those kids would be in college by now.
Will we see Cassie Lang suit up in Ant-Man and the Wasp 2?
The Ant Family? Whatever the inevitable threequel in the Ant-Man franchise is called. Five years later, Scott (Paul Rudd) meets his now-teenage daughter (played by Emma Fuhrmann), perhaps priming Cassie to adopt her own superhero mantle as either Stinger or Stature soon enough, as she does in the comics. The time jump also leaves the option open for The Young Avengers.
How long will Thor be part of the Asgardians of the Galaxy?
One of the few titles confirmed for Marvel's post-Endgame slate is a third Guardians of the Galaxy, which will be directed by James Gunn, after all. Considering the God of Thunder hitches a ride with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and company with no specific destination of his own, will we see Chris Hemsworth play a role in Guardians 3? Otherwise, what will his future adventures hold? Tessa Thompson recently revealed director Taika Waititi has officially pitched a Thor 4.
And can we finally get Valkyrie, the new King of Asgard, her own movie?
Maybe the aforementioned Thor 4 is actually Thor and the Valkyrie and would further reveal the ways of New Asgard. (Which is now in Tønsberg, Norway.) I would also accept her being a leading member of an A Force movie -- that is, Marvel's all-female Avengers team -- which has seemingly been tipped to in both Infinity War and Endgame. (You know the moment, which upped the ante and then some after Black Widow, Okoye and Scarlet Witch teamed up to take down Proxima Midnight in the last film.)
What happens with a Gamora out of the timeline?
Present day Gamora is, indeed, dead. But a Gamora from 2014 (Zoe Saldana) remains in our main timeline...somewhere. She's aboard the ship when Thanos time travels forward but then goes MIA after the battle. Seemingly, the search for 2014 Gamora will be part of the storyline of Guardians 3, but what happens to that alternate timeline that's suddenly missing a Gamora? (Not to mention, a Nebula and Thanos.)
And where in the timeline even is Loki now?
Similarly, main timeline Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is dead, killed off by Thanos in Infinity War. But when Tony and Ant-Man travel back to the Battle of New York, they inadvertently give Loki a chance to flee with the Tesseract and portal off to...somewhere. That's a major retcon heading into the events of what would be Thor: The Dark World and beyond. Will we ever see how this alternate timeline plays out? Perhaps on Loki's Disney+ series?
When will Falcon officially assume the title of Captain America?
Speaking of Disney+, Marvel had previously announced Falcon and Winter Soldier, centered on Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes. The ending of Endgame sees Steve pass his shield on to Sam, though, meaning the series would actually be Captain America and Winter Soldier. (Maybe that's why Mackie said there won't be a Falcon series.) And while Bucky felt content with Cap's decision of successor, that's a thread that I need to be carried over into the series.
And how will Vision come back for the WandaVision series?
We know we're getting a streaming series centered around Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff and her onscreen android love, Vision (Paul Bettany). Or, her late love, that is, considering that Vision is still very much dead after Thanos ripped the Mind Stone from his head, with Steve returning the Mind Stone from Endgame back to its rightful place in time. So, how will Vision come back? If he comes back... The show could always be set before the events of Infinity War, but considering Wanda's mind-bending powers, maybe WandaVision will be something much more complicated than that.
Will the Black Widow movie introduce a new Black Widow?
Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff is now very much dead, sacrificing herself for the Soul Stone, yet there's a solo Black Widow movie arriving in Phase 4. That movie was always rumored to be a prequel that will further explore her time in the Red Room and shortly thereafter, but will it also be used to introduce another Black Widow into the Avengers fold, one who could take up the mantle now that Natasha is no longer with us?
Will Captain Marvel ever return to Earth, permanently?
Fitting Carol Danvers into Endgame was a complicated process, to say the least, and ultimately she is a major player in the first and final battles with Thanos, but is otherwise elsewhere in the cosmos. I predict the Captain Marvel sequel will remain in the past, filling in the years between her origin story and Iron Man, but Carol is now cemented in the present-day timeline too -- and the other Avengers know just how powerful she is, which means she can't be conveniently MIA anymore. So, where will Carol's story pick up next? And when will we meet Maria and Monica Rambeau in the present day?
How will the world react to the death of Iron Man?
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been presumed dead before and it's encouraged the villains to come out of the woodwork. Now that he is dead, what will happen? Will there be a new Iron Man? With Captain America, Black Widow and Iron Man out of the picture, what sort of big bad will rise in their absence? And who will lead the new team of Avengers against whatever threat that might be?
Is Fury a Skrull?
Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury has the briefest of appearances in Endgame, standing at the end of the processional at Tony's funeral. But the internet has not forgotten that he said, during his Skrull text in Captain Marvel, that he cannot eat toast that's been cut diagonally, which makes a diagonally-cut sandwich he ate in Age of Ultron that much more suspicious. You've still got some explaining to do, Mr. Fury.
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