With Captain America: Civil War not just dominating the box office but easily passing the one billion dollar mark in doing so, I thought now would be a good time to discuss the health of the universe going forward and take a look at where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be in five years. I previously looked at where I envision Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Inhumans and The Avengers will be in five years time. You can find that here. In my second and final part of my look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I will look at the cosmic side of Marvel, as well as looking at some fresh faces to come, and possibly some friendly faces that could be leaving us sooner than we’d like. So where will the Marvel Cinematic Universe be in five years?

Guardians of the Galaxy

Though the Guardians of the Galaxy are the dark horses of the MCU, I just don’t see them continuing on past a personal trilogy and a presence in Avengers: Infinity War. They could potentially move forward by rotating in and out heroes but the success of Guardians hinged too much on the performance of Chris Pratt for me to think it’s a great idea to continue without him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Guardians series culminates with a final movie spinning out of Infinity War in 2020 before the franchise being shelved for the foreseeable future. Could Rocket and Groot carry a movie of their own? Possibly. Though, I do get the feeling that three movies featuring the loveable duo would be more than enough and any more would see them overstaying their welcome. Does this mean Marvel will be abandoning the cosmic side of their universe? I don’t think so, and in fact I have an idea where they could very well go.

Nova

This one seems like a no-brainer to me, though not in the way the majority of comic book fans would look at this one. If my predictions are remotely close to the truth, we could be looking at an influx of young heroes in 2021 such as Miles Morales and Kamala Khan. It would make sense then that we would see Sam Alexander as the movie universe Nova. It would rub a lot of Richard Rider fans the wrong way but it makes sense for the cinematic universe and would revitalise the cosmic side of Marvel. This would put a fresh perspective out in the stars and caters to a new audience that, shock horror, might have been in diapers when the original Iron Man was released. Giving Nova the ability to travel between Earth and the cosmos would create a story we have yet to see and could see him joining up with the potential New Avengers as well as having his own adventures with the Nova Corps. You never know, we might even see another massive Thanos-style arc featuring the Annihilation Wave.

Amadeus Cho

Speaking of youth, there is one other character that I would love to see entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with good reason too. The big highlight for most people in the first Avengers movie was the fun version of The Hulk, something that isn’t entirely possible to keep going when Bruce Banner is such a downer on the other side of the relationship (and that’s coming from a Banner fan). Joining the youth revolution that I envision for the Marvel Universe with Miles, Kamala and Sam, we could see the arrival of the embodiment of a fun Hulk: Amadeus Cho. Recently taking up the mantel of the “Totally Awesome Hulk”, Cho has become The Hulk that cinema fans want in the pages of his own monthly book. Seeing as Marvel have taken their inspiration for their cinematic universe from the pages of their modern comics, it is very possible Cho takes up the Hulk mantel post-Mark Ruffalo. The real question here is where do you have Cho debut? He can’t appear in a Hulk movie as they are all but shelved because of rights issues. For me, I’d introduce him in the new Spider-man series as a possible new classmate for Peter in the second or third of his solo movies.

Dr Strange

Doctor Strange is the epitome of a wild card. His movie could be the next Guardians or it could be an absolute flop. Seeing as flops don’t seem to be in Marvel’s DNA, I’d be surprised if it’s the latter, but I’d be equally as shocked if it’s the former. In the end, I think it will be on the same level as Thor, though that isn’t really the thing that makes Doctor Strange a wild card. He will be literally opening up a whole new dimension and poses the greatest threat to every single notion I have here. He truly makes the future of the Marvel Universe unpredictable. He could create a universe-wide reboot or he could fade into insignificance. He has THAT wide of a variety of possibilities. If I was to predict where he’ll be in 2021 and how his presence will affect the Marvel Universe as a whole, I get the feeling his movies will fall into a similar line as those of Ant-Man. They’ll be so weird that they’ll create a fresh side to the universe but they’ll never be vital and ultimately he’ll be an Avenger with no massive effect on the overall universe. He’ll probably be lucky to get a trilogy of his own movies, or you never know, he could get six solo adventures. Doctor Strange’s potential is that unpredictable.

Ant-Man

Speaking of small corners of the universe we have Ant-Man, the ultimate underdog hero. Everything about Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man screams flash-in-the-pan for me. His 2015 solo adventure was a lot more enjoyable than expected and I’m looking forward to the sequel but there’s something niggling at me with the character and I’m starting to feel like I know what it is: I think his death is too perfect for it not to happen. Think about it for a second. He is the only true everyman on the team. He has no skill, no powers and he has a family that will miss him. He is not even well-trained like Hawkeye or Widow. He is a fan of all the characters around him, and he has no business being in the fight he is going to get himself in the middle of in Infinity War. He kind of has to die. Paul Rudd is the audience’s avatar on screen, fighting with characters they wish they could fight with. His death would be the biggest gut-punch the creators could give the audience. I think I’m starting to realise what I don’t want to be true: Ant-Man should be killed, and it will be painful to watch if it happens, especially with Wasp at his side. If he does go it will be in the second Infinity War of course, as Marvel has allowed him one more movie to win us over and make his possible death even more painful to watch.

Captain Marvel

Remember when I said I envisioned Spider-man as the flagship hero ready to take over for Iron Man and that Black Panther was ready to fill the void left by Thor? Well Captain Marvel is the character I feel will take up the gap left by Captain America. A lot of fans are of the opinion that Bucky will one day pick up the shield and take over as Cap, and that could still happen with Bucky filling Steve’s shoes but he can’t replace his presence in the overall universe. There is too much tension for the rest of the heroes to get behind him. That’s why I think Captain Marvel will be the leader of the New Avengers post-Infinity War. She may not be cast yet but there has been enough of a push in the comic book universe for Captain Marvel to ascend to a prominent position, and it is hard to ignore the impact a female superhero being so prevalent in the Marvel Universe could have. Black Widow has only ever been a supporting character. So, Carol Danvers leading the charge would be massive for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

New Avengers

In 2021 The Avengers will be dead. Long live The New Avengers. It is entirely possible that in five years the Marvel Universe will look entirely different and I hope it does, because it needs to. As great as the current crop of heroes are, they can only remain interesting for a certain period of time before they have done everything they can do to surprise the audience. I’m certainly not a prophet but I do believe the healthiest version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021 will feature a team of New Avengers lead by Captain Marvel, Spider-man and Black Panther, with a supporting cast of Amadeus Cho’s Hulk, Nova, Kamala Khan and Miles Morales. A Bucky version of Captain America could even be present to round out the team, with Doctor Strange a possible inclusion as well.

We might no longer have the presence of the true big three to support the overall universe, but there are plenty of quality heroes ready to step in and fill the gap, bringing the Marvel Universe back to what makes it great: the little guy fighting for their own corner of a wide universe.

So that’s part two of my look at where I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be in five years. If you liked my thoughts why not check out my opinion on The Five Greatest Things Captain America: Civil War Got Right, comment below or follow me on twitter for updates on my other articles. Thanks.