When is endgame coming back

The potential is there," Feige later added in regards to whether or not consumers can expect more solo-prequel adventures for Samuel L. Jackson's "Nick Fury" character. There is some precedent and reason to be concerned about the box-office potential for prequels: 's "Captain America: The First Avenger" was set predominantly in the World War II era, showing how soldier Steve Rogers became Captain America. Though that marketing tease tactic isn't new.

Everything that will come after that will fail in comparison," said Daniel Richtman, a media influencer who specializes in big blockbusters. The box-office standard-setting in prequels is the other Disney blockbuster franchise: "Star Wars. This is long-term high-stakes chess, not checkers for Marvel. The acquisition of 20th Century Fox assets was finalized by Disney in late March and that brings in even more characters for Marvel Studios, among them, Ryan Reynolds' "Deadpool" and the X-Men franchise.

There has been no official word from Marvel or Disney on when consumers can expect the Fox characters to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Which, by clunking segue, brings us on to the Avengers Initiative itself.

An "Avengers 5" has not been confirmed; whether we'll get one in Phase 4 is the biggest question currently hanging over the MCU. If the initiative is to move forward, they need a new leader, that much is clear. Iron Man is toast and Captain America has walked off into the sunset. Black Widow, who helmed the Avengers during the dark post-snap years, sacrificed herself so that Hawkeye could claim the Soul Stone as part of "Endgame's" time heist.

The family man now has 1. His family back and 2. That would be character over-saturation. So, the original six look like they're out of the picture. Doctor Strange and Black Panther have the power and the charisma, but the former wouldn't make a good leader. Plus, they have standalone films to occupy. Instead it's Nick Fury's proto-Avenger Captain Marvel, back on the scene -- and back in the right galaxy -- who leads the pack.

It might seem a small thing, but the Avengers are "Earth's Mightiest Heroes. She may have Kree blood running through her veins, but "Captain Marvel" the film was a mission in humanizing a character that herself felt alien. Carol Danvers is also arguably the most powerful superhero in the MCU so far.

It's hard to see her taking orders from anyone else -- her single-mindedness was made clear in "Endgame. But given Feige's comments, don't expect Danvers to be on the outside looking in during Phase 4.

Ronan, played by Lee Pace, featured briefly in "Captain Marvel" and could return for a sequel. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Significant spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame and Agents of S. Even Loki, a villain turned semi-hero, seemingly died in Thor: The Dark World , came back for Thor: Ragnarok , died again in Avengers: Infinity War , and is back in play due to time-travel shenanigans as of Avengers: Endgame.

So how would Marvel handle bringing her back from the dead? In Endgame , Natasha Romanoff and Hawkeye are tasked with retrieving the Soul Stone from Vormir, which requires one of them to sacrifice themselves. She survives because she time travels from the past, skipping around the part of her history where Thanos sacrificed her. And it would be depressing to have the series casually forget her, while resurrecting so many other people over the years.

Sure, it would be cool to explore her time escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, or growing up in Russia as Natalia Romanoff, but her drama potential is extremely limited as solely a prequel character. In one comics plotline, Black Widow is infected with a molecular poison, but is later revived by Stone, a ninja who can wield mystic energies.

In the Secret Empire series, she dies — but it turns out a secret program has repeatedly cloned her, and one of the clones ends up with her memories, effectively rebooting her character. Other MCU characters have been brought back in creative ways as well. Phil Coulson, for instance, was resurrected by having his corpse injected with an alien serum. One fan theory suggests that if Black Widow had to die to prove Hawkeye was worthy to take the Soul Stone, Cap could broker her resurrecting by giving the Stone back at Vormir.