Now, Marvel has released descriptions of Heroes Reborn #1-4 from writer Jason Aaron and artists Ed McGuiness, Dale Keown, Federico Vicente, and James Stokoe, painting a picture of a world where many familiar concepts exist in vastly different contexts – with only Blade having any memory of the world that was.

(opens in new tab)

“Reborn #1 will welcome readers to a world where Tony Stark never built the Iron Man armor. Where Thor is a hard-drinking atheist who despises hammers. Where Wakanda is dismissed as a myth. And where Captain America was never found in the ice because there were no Avengers to find him,” reads Marvel’s official description of Heroes Reborn #1.

“Hard-drinking atheist” might remind some readers of Avengers: Endgame “bro Thor” who was hard-drinking and might not have been an atheist but certainly lost his faith in himself. 

“Instead, this world has always been protected by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: the Squadron Supreme of America,” Marvel’s description continues. “And now, the Squadron faces an attack from some of their fiercest enemies, including Dr. Juggernaut, the Black Skull, the Silver Witch, and Thanos with his Infinity Rings. But why is the Daywalker Blade the only man alive who seems to remember that the entire world has somehow been…reborn?”

The action doesn’t stop there – Marvel’s further issue descriptions bring in even more twisted versions of characters readers know.

“In Reborn #2, make way for the adventures of Marvel’s Mightiest Megastar, the all-powerful Hyperion!” reads the second issue description. “When America’s solar-powered, super-sentinel of liberty looks to return his archenemy Victor Von Doom to the Negative Zone, mighty Hyperion must deal with a breakout of his most powerful enemies, such as Ultron, General Annihilus, and the Immortal Hulk. Plus: a special backup tale starring Blade, Earth’s last living vampire.”

Marvel’s mystery deepens with the description of Heroes Reborn #3, bringing the Phoenix itself into the story (perhaps a key to its resolution, alongside Blade’s awareness of the old world). 

“In Reborn #3, brace yourself for chaos magic at Mach 5! Blur, the swiftest mortal alive, must win a race through the mind-bending Dread Dimension in order to save his soul from the hypersonic hexes of the Speedster Supreme, the Silver Witch,” reads Marvel’s description. “Plus: a back-up tale takes us inside the dark secrets of the Ravencroft Asylum and its newest inmate, the Phoenix.”

Finally, in Reborn #4, the Guardians of the Galaxy seem to get in on the action, with Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord making the scene. 

“In Reborn #4, Doctor Spectrum, equipped with the cosmic might of his Power Prism, has become the most feared lawman in the heavens,” Marvel’s description reads. “But now the dark forces of deep space have sent the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunter to end Spectrum once and for all. That’s right, here comes Rocket Raccoon! Plus: in a backup tale, the all-new Starbrand finds herself alone in a strange new universe.”

It’s unclear if the 2021 saga of Heroes Reborn stops there, or if the tale and concept will continue outside the four initial issues, although the publisher does refer to Heroes Reborn #1-4 as the “first four issues.” Either way, Heroes Reborn #1-4 are due out in May. Look for Marvel’s full May 2021 solicitations later this month on Newsarama.

The new Heroes Reborn is Marvel’s latest foray into what Stan Lee called the “illusion of change.” Newsarama looks at the concept’s history.

The post Avengers: Endgame callback part of Marvel Comics new Heroes Reborn details appeared first on Game News.

Reddit user cbfw86 (opens in new tab) draws attention to a scene which sees Captain America and Iron Man travel back to a S.H.I.E.L.D base in the ’70s. There, Steve Rogers sneaks into a room adjacent to Peggy Carter’s office. While the focus is on Cap’s reaction to seeing his beloved once more, the obscured audio is perhaps more interesting.

“Braddock’s unit has been stopped by lightning strikes,” Peggy is told. She says she’ll “look at the weather projections.” 

“It’s not lightning strikes we’re looking at,” comes the reply.

Short of Thor arriving on Midgard earlier than expected, some of the comments believe it’s an early sign that the X-Men’s Storm is cooking up trouble for some of S.H.I.E.L.D’s agents. Even if it’s not Storm – and the X-Men connection is a little tenuous should they want to be introduced in the MCU’s present-day – then there’s still enough compelling evidence to suggest another new Marvel character is being set up in the scene.

“Braddock” is almost certainly a reference to either Brian Braddock, who would go on to become Captain Britain, or his father James Braddock. Either possibility would allow for the introduction of Captain Britain into the MCU proper at some point in the near future.

It’s not the first time Endgame has laid breadcrumbs for Marvel’s expansion, either. Okoye’s pointed reference to underwater earthquakes during her Black Widow debrief had some at the time believing it was a tease for Namor. Marvel, meanwhile, has often teased things years in advance, such as Wakanda’s on-screen mention during 2010’s Iron Man 2, eight years before the fictional nation was introduced in Black Panther (opens in new tab).

Whether it’s Storm, Captain Britain, or something else entirely – it’s almost comforting to know that Marvel is still skilled enough to hide teasers in the biggest movie of all time without anyone discovering it until now.

• Marvel Phase 4 (opens in new tab) 
• MCU recap (opens in new tab) 
• MCU timeline (opens in new tab) 
• New Marvel TV shows (opens in new tab) 

The post Avengers: Endgame Easter egg is either setting up a new MCU superhero or an unlikely X-Men reference appeared first on Game News.

For an even deeper dive into the past post-credits of the MCU, we’ve put every Marvel post-credits scene (opens in new tab) all in one place. Take a look.

No shawarma meet-up, no Big Bad tease, and definitely no X-Men cameo. We all had different things in mind for a potential Avengers: Endgame post-credits scene, but Marvel Studios had another one entirely. Nothing. This was the end in so many ways, and that extends to the movie itself.

Once the end scene has finished, there’s a roll-call of all of the main actors who appear in the movie, complete with a really cool tribute to each, that is well worth staying for. It’s also as close to an Avengers: Endgame post-credits scene as you’ll get.

That’s because, after that, you get your traditional long (and I mean long: rumour has it you’re never more than six feet away from someone who worked on Avengers: Endgame) list of staff credits before the Marvel Studios logo hits.

Then, there’s a small audio cue that comes with the final Marvel Studios logo. The noise is a callback to Tony Stark hammering away, constructing his very first Iron Man scene back in 2008. It’s not setting up anything, nor does it seem to be a hint at a future character arriving in the MCU, but it serves as a nice bookend for Robert Downey Jr.’s contribution to the franchise as a whole. 

To recap: there’s no Avengers: Endgame post-credits scene, the actual credits are super long so you can go for a bathroom break, and there’s one tiny moment to listen out for at the very end – but don’t expect anything too shocking.

The post Avengers: Endgame post-credits scene explained: what the final sound means appeared first on Game News.

I recently got a chance to talk to the co-writer of all three Back To The Future movies, Bob Gale, as part of a promo tour for Framing John DeLorean, a documentary on the creator of the movies’ famous car (out now on Digital Download) and I asked him how he felt about seeing his work in the MCU? 

“I’m amazed,” he laughs. “You can’t be more flattered than to know that the biggest movie ever depends on Back to the Future for the audience to understand what the heck is going on. That’s pretty cool.” However, while Endgame uses Gale’s work to explain its time travel plot, the Marvel movie actually has a totally different take on how time travel works. In Endgame, when you go into the past, that past becomes your present. The future you just came from then becomes your past relative to you. So characters can make massive changes – like killing people and stealing things – without breaking the future; a big difference from Back To The Future’s take on time travel. 

“We said if you can change the past, you change the future, and we stuck with that,” explains Galel. “Ray Bradbury did it in his famous short story A Sound of Thunder, which was the story that gave us the idea of the butterfly effect. That was one of the greatest time travel stories ever [and] was a big influence on us.” Endgame, on the other hand, has a version of time travel that allows the changes its characters cause, and experience, to coexist. 

For example, Nebula kills her past self but continues to exist; Captain America and Tony Stark trample all over the end of the first Avengers movie without anyone fading from a photo. It might fly in the face Gale’s original work, but it’s not something he hasn’t considered: “People wonder [about] the end of Back to the Future – Marty comes back and the world is a little different for him. His father is a famous author, not the nerd that got picked on. What does Marty remember about his past? Does he remember the past where his dad was a nerd? Does he have new memories of this?”

More interestingly, are there other versions of Marty McFly? “Are there infinite universes?” muses Gale. “Sure. Why not? That’s the definition of infinity, right? It can just go on and on and on and on. Is it possible that there’s an entire universe and the only difference between that universe and ours is that I’m wearing a black t-shirt right now instead of a grey one?”

The idea of multiple universes leads neatly into another connection between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Gale’s previous work. Gale has previously written for comics like Ant-Man and Spider-Man, as well as working on a script for a Doctor Strange movie that never came to be. “I grew up reading Marvel comics in the ‘60s,” he says. “They were the best. So when I had the opportunity to sign on and do a couple of drafts of Doctor Strange and Stan Lee was involved in it, I said there’s no way I’m not going to get involved in a project where I get to work with Stan Lee’.” He has fond memories of the man, too. “It turned out that he was just an absolute joy to be around, and he had great ideas, and was just a great man.”

While it was a different story to the eventual MCU version starring Benedict Cumberbatch, there were similarities according to Gale. “We had Dormammu coming over to our universe, and trying to subjugate everybody with the assistance of Mordo, who was always depicted in the comics at that time as the villain.” If you think it sounds familiar to the movie Marvel eventually made, so does Gale. “There were elements of my script that ended up in the movie [but] the Writers’ Guild decided there weren’t enough of them that entitled me to get a screen credit on it.” Aside from that, however, Gale thought “the first half of the movie was really accurate to the comics”. Although he’s not, ironically, a fan of the time travel at the end. “Once they start using time travel to solve problems, I have a real problem with that [laughs]. That’s lazy. Figure out another way.”

Framing John DeLorean, featuring Bob Gale is out on Digital Download on Monday 29 July.

The post Back To The Future’s co-writer on *that* Avengers: Endgame reference, and the 1980s Doctor Strange movie he never made appeared first on Game News.

First, a bit of context to the line just in case your memory has been wiped by grief and that incredible finale: Tony Stark has a daughter and, in a case of one-upmanship with his wife, Pepper, takes pride in the fact that when he tells his daughter he loves her “To the moon and back,” she replies “I love you 3000.” D’aww. Those Starks always have a one-liner handy, don’t they?

According to super-sleuth AshBoio on Twitter (H/T Metro (opens in new tab)), tallying up all of the Marvel run-times from 2008’s Iron Man, all the way up to this year’ Spider-Man: Far From Home means you’ll arrive at a grand total of, well, 2,998. But, if we do a bit of rounding-up (and, to be fair, even the Russos said Endgame was a minute longer than what the table has below), then we get to 3000.

Look at the total run time for all the MCU movies. “I love you 3000”. Can’t cope… #AvengersEndgame pic.twitter.com/A6nj6bGaNdMay 2, 2019

See more

So, “I love you 3000” is also code for I love ALL of the Marvel movies, right down to the last second. Yes, even Thor: The Dark World (opens in new tab).

Not to go all Lost, but there are even more Marvel-related secrets found in another number that Tony mentions during Avengers: Endgame.

Remember when Stark is adrift in space during the movie’s opening minutes? His message to Pepper explicitly references that he’s been in space for “21, no 22” days. Guess how many movies there are if you count Avengers: Endgame?

Exactly. 22. MIND. BLOWN.

Unless the Endgame writers are secret Taylor Swift fans, there’s every chance they’ve laced the script with even more of this little winks and nods to Marvel history. If you ask me, that’s just another reason to go and re-watch Avengers: Endgame for the 439th time.

Who would be the next Iron Man (opens in new tab) after Robert Downey Jr.? We look at some of the most likely candidates.

The post The Avengers: Endgame ‘I love you 3000’ line might also be a secret tribute to the MCU appeared first on Game News.

There was no traditional Avengers: Endgame post-credits scene (opens in new tab), but some secret direction for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may still have gotten a sneaky nod just minutes before the credits rolled. Reddit user teegrez (opens in new tab) made a compelling observation about one of the background characters seen when Peter Parker returns to high school.

It’s difficult to say for sure, but it looks quite a bit (opens in new tab) like the man standing and high-fiving students in the background of the scene is Ben Mendelsohn – the stature, the hair, and what we can see of his face all line-up. Mendelsohn played Talos, the leader of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel who (spoiler alert) ended up being good guys when we learned that they were refugees trying to find their families. Talos used his Skrull shapeshifting powers to take the form of Nick Fury’s boss Teller, who also happens to look a lot like the guy in the background of the scene. He could even be wearing the same suit.

But wait – Talos left Earth on good terms by the end of Captain Marvel in the ’90s. Why would he be back on our home planet and once again infiltrating human society in 2023? There are a few potential explanations: he could have taken a heel turn (his comic book counterpart skews toward the villainous side) and is helping to set up an invasion of the planet. Or perhaps he’s helping SHIELD keep an eye on Peter Parker by posing as a member of his high school’s faculty.

Either way, the secret presence of Skrull on modern-day Earth could be a big teaser for the next potential movie-spanning MCU plotline: a late 2000s comics crossover event that set the Marvel heroes against each other as Skrull used their shapeshifting powers to cause chaos and distrust across the Earth called Secret Invasion. Think all the internal conflict of Captain America: Civil War (opens in new tab) with an extra layer of “they might actually be an alien”. With Spider-Man: Far From Home (opens in new tab) now all set to give us some post-Endgame closure, we may be seeing more of Talos soon.

See what else is on the way with our detailed look at new Marvel movies (opens in new tab). Or watch the video below for some questions we had after the end of Endgame.

The post Avengers: Endgame fan spots a background character that may set up the next phase of the MCU appeared first on Game News.

So we’ve chosen five Avengers: Endgame moments liable to unite cinema audiences in a collective cheer, and five more that are likely to make them weep. 

Spoiler warning! If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet, please click away now! 

We’re about to talk about some of the biggest moments in the movie – moments you’d probably prefer to learn in a cinema.

Five Avengers: Endgame moments that made us punch the air…

Korg is alive!

After all Thor’s hard work saving Asgardians at the end of Thor: Ragnarok (opens in new tab), it was something of a kicker when Thanos wiped half of them out at the start of Avengers: Infinity War (opens in new tab). We never did find out what happened to Valkyrie, Korg and Miek, of course, and while the Endgame poster showed that Valkyrie had definitely survived, the fate of the solid-as-a-rock revolutionary with a Kiwi accent was still unknown.

Until we discovered Ragnarok’s breakout star was hanging out with Thor’s new Big Lebowski incarnation in New Asgard, playing Fortnite and getting abuse from angry gamers. Welcome back, sir – you still rock.

Hail Hydra!

Endgame revels in rewarding knowledge of the 21 MCU movies that came before it. In fact, when Steve Rogers, Tony Stark and Scott Lang head back to 2012 and the infamous Battle of New York, they bring with them the hindsight that SHIELD has been infiltrated by the Red Skull’s old outfit, Hydra – something we didn’t find out until 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier (opens in new tab).

Cue Steve Rogers stepping into an elevator with Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow and a bunch of other SHIELD/Hydra heavies, all of them reluctant to hand  Loki’s Infinity Stone-powered staff to Cap. Just as you’re expecting it to turn into a The Winter Soldier-style elevator rumble, however, Cap turns round and says, “Hail Hydra!” It’s amazing how quickly everyone can be friends again…

Hammer time

The good thing about timey-wimey plotlines is that you can resurrect the dead – and Loki isn’t the only product of Asgard given an unexpected comeback in Endgame.

Having been unceremoniously destroyed by the Thunder God’s bad egg of a sister, Hela, in Thor: Ragnarok, cosmic hammer Mjolnir comes back into play when Thor grabs it during his trip to the Thor: The Dark World (opens in new tab) era. And seeing as Thor’s already replaced his old hammer with magical axe Stormbreaker, there’s now a spare magical weapon for Captain America to brandish after his shield is all but destroyed by Thanos. If you’re watching Endgame in a cinema where the audience don’t cheer when it turns out Cap is worthy (like we didn’t know…), look around to check the person next to you hasn’t been turned to dust.

“On your right…”

Even Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have their limits. Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have done their best to keep Thanos at bay, but as his vast forces assemble it looks like game over. Until, that is, Cap hears a quiet “On your right” in his earpiece. 

Not only is it a subtle echo of his first meeting with Sam “Falcon” Wilson in The Winter Soldier, it’s the precursor to a load of Doctor Strange-instigated magic portals opening, bringing with them the entire undusted MCU cavalry: the Guardians of the Galaxy, the military might of Wakanda, several sorcerers supreme, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man and the Wasp… not to mention finger snap survivors Valkyrie, and Pepper Potts in her new-look “Rescue” armour. The gang’s all here, setting the scene for one of the most epic battles in blockbuster history.

“She’s not alone”

The early years of the MCU were not characterised by their diversity – this was a franchise massively dominated by white men. Indeed, it still is, but one moment in Endgame suggests that the Marvel Universe will be a much more inclusive place in Phase Four and beyond. 

As Spider-Man hands the makeshift Infinity Gauntlet over to Captain Marvel and wonders how she’ll make it through the melee by herself, Shuri repeats Black Widow’s “She’s not alone” line from Infinity War before the camera pans round to reveal Nebula, Okoye, Valyrie, Mantis, the Wasp, Scarlett Witch and Pepper Potts, all ready for action. It’s been a long time coming but change is afoot in the MCU.

Five Avengers: Endgame moments that made us cry

Scott finds Cassie

There are plenty of references to the impact Thanos dusting half the population has had on planet Earth – everything from Captain America running a support group to Black Widow stuck behind a desk as director of SHIELD. But few deliver the emotional punch of Scott Lang, freshly returned from five years in the Quantum Realm, sifting through the memorial plaques in a San Francisco park, desperately hoping daughter Cassie’s name isn’t among them.

Lang Sr’s name is there – clearly nobody thought to look for him at the sub-atomic level – but crucially hers isn’t, and his reunion with a daughter he knows but barely recognises is a rare moment of light in the darkest segment of the movie.

Black Widow’s sacrifice

There’s a strong argument that Black Widow – one of the founding members of the Avengers – should have survived long enough to face Thanos in the climactic battle. But coming before the final act has properly kicked into gear, her sacrifice has genuine emotional power – particularly as it’s a rare of example of death in a superhero movie being for keeps. 

And it arguably wouldn’t have worked with any other character. As we learned to Gamora’s cost in Infinity War, taking the Soul Stone from Vormir exacts a terrible price. Sadly for Ms Romanoff, no other pair of Avengers share the BFF bond that Hawkeye and Black Widow do, that sense that each would do anything to protect the other. Fate ultimately decrees it’s Black Widow who must take the fatal plunge, but ask yourself this: would anyone really have cared if it had been Hawkeye who’d bought the big one? Even with that cute family potentially waiting for him at home? 

As Joss Whedon shows have frequently proved, sometimes you have to kill off characters you love – though Black Widow is tragically underserved by a pitiful memorial at the end of the movie.

Stark contrast

Whether it’s Nebula desperately trying to impress her father or Hawkeye turning brutal vigilante after losing his family, Endgame is entirely driven by the relationships between parents and their children. So it’s no surprise that many of the film’s most emotionally resonant moments concern that bond.

Thor’s reunion with his late mother, Frigga, in The Dark World era Asgard is moving –turns out all he needed was a loving arm around his shoulder – but it’s Tony Stark’s 1970 encounter with his father, Howard, that carries the real power. After an entire life spent intimidated by his old man’s shadow, Tony belatedly learns how much his dad loved him. 

Stark has two memorable hugs in the movie – his embrace of surrogate son Peter Parker is sweet, but this is the one with the real emotional heft.

I can has cheezburger?

You could easily weep through the whole of Tony Stark’s funeral – it’s such an impressive reunion of MCU stars past and present that you can forgive the hint of The Return of the King-style “too many endings” syndrome. But the real tearjerker comes in a smaller moment, when Stark’s long-term assistant Happy Hogan asks Stark’s young daughter Morgan if she likes cheeseburgers, like her dad. His promise to make sure she gets all the cheeseburgers she wants is an eloquent way of saying he’ll always be around. Beautifully played.

We’ll meet again

We’ve long suspected that Steve Rogers would be bidding farewell to the MCU in Endgame – long-running contracts wrapping up will do that – but only in our wildest dreams could his departure have been so perfect. 

Technically he does come back from his trip through time to return the Infinity Stones to history, but he’s taken the long-way round – and the old man we meet on a bench has lived the life Steve Rogers never thought he’d get. Turns out he’s spent it with the love of his life, Peggy Carter, and that shot of the pair of them dancing in the past is one of the most beautiful  moments in the whole of the MCU. 

Even better, the Captain America name will live on through Sam Wilson – Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV show (opens in new tab) is starting to look very exciting indeed…

Avengers: Endgame is in cinemas now. Here’s where the Marvel Phase 4 (opens in new tab) Cinematic Universe could go next…

The post 5 moments in Avengers: Endgame that made us punch the air… and 5 more that made us cry appeared first on Game News.

Speaking of which, beware of Avengers: Endgame spoilers in the rest of this article! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you’ll probably want to just mosey right along. Might I recommend our Endgame-spoiler-free list of every new Marvel movie (opens in new tab) coming in the years ahead?

I remember being blown away in this moment on the @avengers set. Nobody was allowed to film anything on their phones. I said screw it. No rule was going to stop me from seizing this once in a lifetime opportunity to capture this collection of stars, a groupthat likely will never be in the same room again. We are so blessed. chris pratt (opens in new tab)

A photo posted by @prattprattpratt on Apr 29, 2019 at 12:57am PDT

Pratt’s video appears to have been taken prior to filming the big final battle, but after when Hulk snapped back and returned the Avengers (and everyone else turned to dust by Thanos) to life. There’s Dave Bautista in a comfy hoodie over his grape-purple dyed skin, Jeremy Renner absolutely getting into character as he lurks moodily over everybody else, Chris Evans hamming it up for the smartphone camera, and a ton more.

There will be many more Marvel movies, and chances are whatever new storyline follows the Infinity Saga will lead up to its own thrilling “everybody’s here” conclusion (before starting over again once more). However big it goes, it won’t be the first. Whether you’re looking forward to another 22 Marvel movies or if you’re ready to retire along with Dr. Banner, it’s been a hell of a trip.

Wondering where it could all go from here? Us too – and we laid out some possibilities in what’s coming in Marvel Phase 4 (opens in new tab). Or check out a video guide to some of the questions we still had after the credits rolled.

The post Chris Pratt shares “illegal” behind the scenes video from major Avengers: Endgame plot point appeared first on Game News.

Spoiler warning! If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet, please click away now! 

We’re about to dive deep into spoiler territory to talk about the future of the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame. 

MCU Phase Three isn’t technically over yet

Spider-Man: Far From Home (opens in new tab) is actually set to be the final film in Marvel Phase Three. Released on July 2, the film looks to be a pretty stand-alone story of Tom Holland’s Spidey on a school trip to Europe, meeting Nick Fury and encountering Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio (and no, we still haven’t got used to that particular bit of casting). We now know, however, that Far From Home will be the first film to explore the fall-out from Infinity War’s snap and Endgame’s subsequent five-year time jump. How will Peter, and the world, react to the fact that half the global population vanished for five years?

Marvel Phase Four movies

We might have to wait a while for phase four to get underway, because nothing is in production yet. The long-awaited Black Widow movie looks like being the first one on the slate. Scarlett Johansson will be returning in this prequel (well, it has to be a prequel now, doesn’t it?) focusing on Natasha’s time as a spy. Whether this will cover her time with the KGB or with SHIELD remains to be seen, although the story of how she switched sides would surely be the most compelling. Florence Pugh is playing a spy who is her ‘moral opposite’, and Rachel Weisz, David Harbour and O.T. Fagbenle have also joined the cast, with Cate Shortland directing.

After Black Widow, a few sequels are in the works. Ryan Coogler is returning for Black Panther 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will be moving forwards as soon as recently reinstated director James Gunn (opens in new tab) is finished with The Suicide Squad. The big question now, though, is whether Thor will be in Guardians 3, seeing as the Avengers: Endgame ending (opens in new tab) left him on board The Benatar with the rest of the Guardians, suggesting that they were going off in search of Gamora-from-the-past. Whether Thor is now a Guardian, or if they’re just giving him a lift somewhere, remains to be seen.

Doctor Strange 2 is going ahead with director Scott Derrickson returning, but sequels for Captain Marvel (opens in new tab) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (opens in new tab) have yet to be confirmed. Captain Marvel 2 would potentially be another prequel to Endgame, as her first film ended with her vowing to take on the Kree Empire. Would her follow-up film see that plot strand through, or jump ahead to her present-day return to Earth? On the confirmed end of the scale, though, are a couple of new arrivals to the MCU – The Eternals has pegged Chloé Zhao as a director, and a Shang Chi film is on the way from Destin Daniel Cretton.

Who are the Avengers now?

With half of the original Avengers either dead or old enough to be dead, the MCU is going to need a new team of headliners. The obvious ones are those who already have a film or two to their name: Ant-Man (and Wasp), Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther (opens in new tab) and Doctor Strange. With Cap passing his shield onto Sam Wilson, we’re likely to see him take on a more integral role going forwards, and Thor made Valkyrie the ruler of New Asgard, so she may be filling Thor’s position on the team. Depending on how the TV show WandaVision turns out, Scarlet Witch could still be a key Avenger. And don’t be surprised if Shuri replaces Tony and Bruce as the resident genius on the team – and perhaps even dons a supersuit of her own. Ironheart anyone?

Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye may have survived Avengers: Endgame, but they all gave off strong ‘retiring from Avenging’ vibes at the end, as did Rhodey – and if Thor is sticking around, then he’s likely to be off with the Guardians, who rarely team up with the Avengers.

Which new characters could be introduced?

We already know that Shang Chi and the Eternals are on their way, but frankly there are bigger unused Marvel characters out there. The likes of Ms Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Spider-Woman and Miles Morales deserve live-action debuts, and who knows what Marvel plan to do with Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones et al now that their Netflix series’ have wrapped up? It seems unlikely that Daredevil and Luke Cage, in particular, will go unused for long. Marvel has also long been keen on bringing Nova to screens, and a return for Blade is a long-running rumour.

The ageing-up of Cassie Lang, teamed with the rumours of a Clint Barton/Kate Bishop TV show, also leave the door wide open for the Young Avengers, which includes the likes of half-Kree half-Skrull Hulkling and future Sorceror Supreme Wiccan, who is also Scarlet Witch’s sort-of son.

How will Fox’s Marvel properties fit in?

Marvel has repeatedly told us not to get our hopes up for X-Men immediately popping up in the MCU. The deal between the studios might be done, but there are still details to hammer out. However, while the Deadpool/X-Force films seem to be moving ahead, and Disney is promising a release for New Mutants, Fox has been hinting that Dark Phoenix could be the end of its X-Men films. Which means that X-Men and Fantastic Four characters are just sitting around, ready to be used.

Introducing the Fantastic Four into the MCU is the easier proposition – introducing the X-Men means you need to introduce mutants. How would they justify mutants existing in their universe, and yet not showing up to help the Avengers with any of their world-ending problems? Will mutants have to spontaneously spring into being at some point in the MCU, as Inhumans like Ms Marvel did in the comics? Which, ironically, was done so that Marvel could create a bunch of superpowered characters that they held the on-screen IP for.

Currently, it looks like the Fantastic Four characters might actually be of more use to Marvel in the short-term than the X-Men – with Thanos (literally) done and dusted, surely Galactus is a strong contender for the MCU’s next big bad?

Want to get excited for more related content? Here’s how Avengers: Endgame could influence the new Marvel TV shows (opens in new tab), and below our spoilerific chat about the ending:

The post Where will the MCU go next after Avengers: Endgame? appeared first on Game News.

Whether you want to get ahead of the (End)game, or just fancy re-living (poor choice of phrase, sorry), some of the most brutal goodbyes in MCU history, here’s the full list detailing every Avengers: Endgame death. It goes without saying: MASSIVE spoilers follow. You have been warned.

Seriously, from now on it’s spoiler town, so scoot if you haven’t seen the film.

>

>

>

Thanos

Now this one was a shocker. The first Avengers: Endgame death was one nobody could have predicted. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes track The Mad Titan down to The Garden, the farm planet where Thanos put his feet up after snapping away half of the universe’s population. Their goal? To retrieve the Infinity Stones. Easy-peasy, right?

Surprisingly… yes. The Avengers proceed to lay the smackdown on Thanos, with Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Iron Man getting in a few blows for good measure. Once he’s defeated and brought to his knees, Thanos then explains how he destroyed the Infinity Stones, which leads to an enraged Thor aiming for, you guessed it, the head. Thor swings Stormbreaker, Thanos loses his head, and that was that. For now. Cue five-year time skip…

Black Widow

Acting as a mirror to Gamora’s death in Infinity War, Ronin and Black Widow’s attempt to retrieve the Soul Stone comes at a grave cost. One of the pair, according to the Red Skull, would have to lay down their lives to claim the orange-hued rock. Ronin and Black Widow both, incredibly, attempt to sacrifice themselves with the other trying to stop them, but Black Widow ‘wins’ and falls to her death. A less than satisfying ending for one of Marvel’s original Avengers, that’s for sure.

Nebula

This is where it gets confusing. Nebula dies in Endgame, but not our Nebula. No, the Nebula of Endgame’s present – who turns to the side of light after the events of Guardians of the Galaxy – is very much a big part of helping with the Time Heist.

But, thanks to the timey-wimey nature of the movie, her attempt to go back to the planet of Morag in 2014 leads to that timeline’s version of Nebula to pursue her and eventually take her place. Evil Nebula helps Thanos destroy Avengers HQ back in the present day but is eventually stopped in her tracks and shot dead by the Good Nebula we know and love after she grabs the Infinity Gauntlet. Yay!

The Black Order

The Black Order – Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Cull Obsidian, and Corvus Glaive – return during the final battle at Avengers HQ. Unfortunately for them, things don’t go too well. The overall fight is probably one of the best in MCU history, but the quartet of Thanos’ henchmen take their fair share of licks and bruises, with Ebony Maw being stabbed by Danai Gurira’s Okoye towards the climax of the scrap over the Infinity Gauntlet.

But that’s not how The Black Order dies. No, in a fantastic twist of fate, they quite literally perish at Iron Man’s hand. Tony Stark wears the Infinity Gauntlet, snaps his fingers, and they all turn to dust.

Thanos (again)

The last of the dusted to fall. Thanos from the Guardians of the Galaxy (opens in new tab) era manages to travel across timelines to Avengers HQ, five years after the events of Infinity War.

With the knowledge of Good Nebula’s memory banks (as well as being shown his own death from Endgame’s first act) firmly at the forefront of his mind, he intends to put a stop to the Avengers once and for all.

In a long-winded, epic final showdown, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America duke it out with Thanos, with the likes of Captain Marvel getting her hits in on the Mad Titan too. But he just doesn’t stay down.

Instead, it’s left to Iron Man, now wielding his own version of the Infinity Gauntlet, complete with all six Infinity Stones from the Time Heist, to put an end to things for good. He snaps his fingers, Thanos’ forces turn to dust before the big man himself finally crumbles and is scattered to the wind. Talk about poetic justice. But, of course, it comes at a cost…

Iron Man

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Iron Man was found keeled over and barely breathing in the moments following his own version of the snap. It’s clear that man, even Iron Man, wasn’t meant to wield such power, and so it proved. Using the Infinity Gauntlet effectively kills him.

Tony Stark got to say goodbye to Pepper Potts, as well as Doctor Strange, and an understandably teary Peter Parker. But this wasn’t his final moment on-screen. Sure, his Arc Reactor gives out and he dies slumped over in the battleground outside Avengers HQ, but he has one more scene. He records one final goodbye for his daughter Morgana, which is played at his funeral.

It’s at once touching, moving, and funny but, crucially, a pitch-perfect goodbye to the man who kickstarted the Marvel boom. He goes out on his own terms – and saves the universe in the process. Not bad for a man who was stuck in a cave with nothing but a pair of welding tools all those years ago.

Want more Avengers: Endgame gossip? Why not listen to our discussion on all the biggest questions that remain after the Avengers: Endgame ending (opens in new tab) below:

The post Avengers: Endgame deaths revealed: Who died and how they were killed appeared first on Game News.