10 Ways That Avengers: Infinity War Sets Up The Future Of The MCU

Perhaps moreso than any movie in the MCU so far, Avengers: Infinity War is more than the sum of its parts as it pulls together all the different plot threads from the sub-franchises of the series to form an exhilarating final chapter of the story. Or at least, of the first 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the same time, though, it also looks to the future. It's just half of a grander whole, for one, with the narrative set to be picked up in next year's Avengers 4. As such, it obviously ends on a huge cliffhanger that will be addressed in the next film. More than that, however, Infinity War also looks further into the future, treading the path for storylines that could potentially play out in Phase Four and beyond. So on that note, here are 10 ways in which we think the MCU's most recent effort sets the scene for further developments in the franchise. If you have any ideas of your own, we'd love to hear them, so be sure to share your thoughts in comments section down below. Paving The Way For Nova There are so many Infinity Stones for Thanos to get hold of in Infinity War that, to save on time, he already has one when the film begins. We're briefly told by Thor that Thanos snatched the Power Stone when he "decimated" Xandar last week. The Guardians look particularly hurt by this, as they previously saved the planet from devastation back in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. What's significant about Thanos' attack on Xandar is that it's home to the Nova Corps, the interplanetary police force. Seeing as they're nowhere to be seen in Infinity War, we imagine the Mad Titan has severely depleted their numbers. Which means that the film might just provide the perfect origin story for Richard Rider AKA Nova. In the comics, Rhomann Dey - played by John C. Reilly in GotG - travels to Earth after the Corps' destruction and gives the Nova Force, their power source, to Rider. Nova has frequently been teased by MCU filmmakers over the years, too. Most interestingly, Kevin Feige recently said that Nova has "immediate potential" in the franchise. As such, we really wouldn't be surprised to see a movie revolving around him on the Phase Four slate. Ant-Man And Hawkeye's Absence Infinity War unites pretty much every MCU hero - except for two of them. OG Avenger Hawkeye and recent recruit Ant-Man are nowhere to be seen in the movie. The only hint we get as to their whereabouts is a brief statement from Black Widow about how Clint Barton and Scott Lang managed to make a deal with the government that let them return to their families. Scott's absence obviously sets up his starring role in the next MCU movie, July's Ant-Man and the Wasp. The sequel to the 2015 solo film appears to be set closer to Captain America: Civil War than Infinity War, so there might be a reason that's revealed in the upcoming pic which explains why he isn't free to help out with the battle against Thanos. Hawkeye, meanwhile, might be unavailable in this movie, but we know he'll be involved in Avengers 4 thanks to set photos and videos that reveal that the character will sport a new look. That confirms that Clint survived the climactic events of Infinity War. Perhaps we'll find out if Scott did, too, in Ant-Man and the Wasp. The Fate Of The Eternals Recently, rumours started appearing about the possibility of an Eternals movie coming out as part of Phase Four. This was somewhat confirmed by Feige himself. Seeing as the Eternals are the species that Thanos belongs to, we were expecting to see some sort of set-up for this in Infinity War. And, as it turns out, we actually did get a few hints at the Eternals' society. Chiefly, Iron Man's team traveled to the devastated planet of Titan, which was once inhabited by Eternals. With the help of a vision of the world in happier times created by the Reality Stone, Thanos explained that the once affluent planet ran out of resources due to its ever-growing population. In an attempt to avert this, he'd suggested wiping out half of the population. This was obviously rejected, leaving the Mad Titan ostracized from his own people. The film doesn't clarify if Thanos is a Deviant, as in the comics - a mutant strain of the humanoid Eternals noticeable for their disfigured appearance - but it does namecheck his father A'Lars. If you'll recall, Red Skull identifies him as "Son of A'Lars" when they meet on Vormir. So, this suggests that Thanos' comic book backstory is intact in the MCU. Whether the Eternals movie would explore it or not, though, we don't know. A Proper Return For Red Skull Speaking of Red Skull, the fan favourite Marvel villain finally makes his long awaited return to the MCU in Infinity War - in a very unexpected way. It turns out that he's the keeper of the Soul Stone on Vormir. He explains that he was teleported there when he held the Space Stone at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. We don't know quite what happens to Johann Schmidt after Thanos wipes out half of the universe, but if he's still around, the consequences of his return could potentially be big. Having Red Skull back on Earth and once again going face to, er, skull with his old enemy Steve Rogers would be great to see, so maybe he could reappear in a possible fourth Captain America movie. Alternatively, he's big enough to be a threat to all the Avengers, too. There's not much history of this in the comics, but seeing as Red Skull's currently in space, the Guardians of the Galaxy films could find a place for him instead. Really, the possibilities of the villain's return are huge and we hope that Marvel capitalizes on the character in the future. Doctor Strange Sees The Future There's a curious scene that's almost glossed over in Infinity War which we imagine will prove to be of huge importance in Avengers 4. In order to see how they could defeat Thanos, Doctor Strange uses the Time Stone to view millions of alternate versions of future events. We learn that in just one of these do things turn out in the heroes' favour and Thanos is defeated. Soon afterwards, it looks certain that the Avengers are living in one of those Thanos-winning timelines, as the villain gets hold of the Time Stone - after Strange gives it to him in order to save Iron Man's life. Tony can't understand why the sorcerer would do this. But Strange, shortly before he disappears along with half of the universe, assures him that it was "the only way." Though Strange made it look like he was rather stupidly sacrificing the universe for Tony, we're pretty sure that the Master of Mystic Arts actually knew what he was doing here when giving Thanos the Time Stone. Presumably, this has to happen for the Avengers to eventually win, even though they're currently in the worst situation possible. “She’s Not Alone” Fans have really gotten behind the talk of an all-female MCU team-up movie ever since it came out that some of Marvel's actresses had pitched the idea to Kevin Feige. As it happens, recent comments have played down the chances of this happening. But that hasn't stopped fans from wanting it - and one scene in Infinity War gives us a brief tease of what such a movie could look like. When Proxima Midnight corners Scarlet Witch on the Wakandan battlefield, she taunts her for being alone. "She's not alone," says another voice. It's Black Widow, who's arrived with Okoye to aid Wanda. What follows is a three-against-one fight featuring some of the toughest women in the MCU. This doesn't exactly set up an all-female team-up movie, but it definitely feels like it's testing the water for one. And going by the huge interest in the idea, and the way this scene is being picked out by viewers as a highlight, we'd say it makes clear that Marvel should get their skates on and turn this casual suggestion into a reality. Last (And First) Avengers Standing Of course, the most direct way in which Infinity War sets up future movies is the climactic events which provide the most dramatic cliffhanger for Avengers 4 that you could possibly imagine: Thanos has won and half of all life in the universe, including many of the superheroes, has blinked out of existence. The process is ostensibly random, but once you dry your eyes and inspect the heroes that are left, it suggests what the thematic core of the next Avengers film might be. With the exception of Rocket, War Machine and supporting characters such as Okoye and M'Baku, the surviving heroes are Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Banner and Black Widow. In other words, five of the original six Avengers. And, as we've said, Hawkeye is sure to be alive, too. After the "everyone's invited!" party of Infinity War, then, it seems that Avengers 4 will bring things full circle by focusing on the first generation of the MCU's heroes. And, as we know that many of these actors' contracts are up, just because they survived Thanos' attack doesn't mean they're guaranteed to survive through the next film. Nebula Survives Someone else who survived the finger snap of doom is Nebula. At first, this seems strange, as the rest of the Guardians - minus Rocket - were disintegrated and she obviously doesn't fit with our original Avengers theory. Once you look at The Infinity Gauntlet comics storyline, however, the potential reason for her survival becomes a lot clearer. In the source material, it's actually Thanos' wayward daughter and not one of the Avengers that stops the Titan's reign of terror. Nebula is able to sneak the Gauntlet off his hand while he's on the astral plane and resets the universe to before Thanos tampered with it. After being tortured by the villain, however, she's very unstable and Thanos has to team up with the heroes to get the Gauntlet off her instead. It's tough to say whether any part of this will be adapted for the screen, but Nebula's survival clearly hints that she'll have some significant role to play in Avengers 4. We at least suspect that we might get some exploration of her familial relationship with Thanos, much like how we got that between him and Gamora in Infinity War. Dealing With The Aftermath The single post-credits scene of Infinity War sees Nick Fury and Maria Hill witness firsthand the effects of Thanos' snap as they watch life in New York descend into chaos - cars suddenly stop in the street, causing crashes, and helicopters hurtle into buildings and explode. Thanos might have only killed half of humanity, but it looks like many more will die from the aftermath of this world-changing event. As such, it would be fascinating to see the full effect of how the Earth adjusts to having only half its population. Both in the short term, but also socially, politically, ecologically, etc. We assume that Avengers 4 will be too busy being a fast-paced action movie to explore this too much, but it could jump forward in time somewhat, allowing us to see how the wider world has changed. If the aftermath of the event is not explored in the movies, though, there's always the MCU's TV wing - specifically, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We've been teased that the series would deal with the fallout of Infinity War a few times now. So, imagine if season 5 ends with half of Coulson's team just blinking out of existence... Captain Marvel Is Coming Before he turns to dust himself, Nick Fury is able to send an S.O.S. on his old-fashioned pager. The emblem and colour scheme on the screen tells us everything we need to know about who he's contacting: Captain Marvel's coming! Though we don't get to meet Brie Larson's superheroine here, these final moments of Avengers: Infinity War do a nice job of teasing Carol Danvers' arrival in the MCU next year, as Captain Marvel is released in March of 2019. It also leaves us with many questions: we know that the movie is set in the 1990s, so where has Carol been all this time? If Fury still has a way of contacting her, why didn't she help out with the Chitauri invasion or Ultron's attack? Apart from setting up her own solo movie, this scene also suggests that Captain Marvel will have some sort of role to play in Avengers 4 as well. We've been told that Carol's power set will be pretty incredible, so she could prove to be a key weapon against Thanos, much like the role Adam Warlock played in The Infinity Gauntlet comic.