Though the term superhero fatigue gets thrown around a lot these days, the studios don’t seem to be taking notice of it. 20th Century Fox, Marvel and DC, among others, continue to push forward with ambitious and extensive plans for massive cinematic universes featuring all your favorite comic book characters. And while it’s hard to imagine a world without superhero movies at the moment, that may one day become a reality. But thanks to Marvel, such a thing won’t happen for at least another few decades.
We already know of the many, many MCU films currently in development, with release dates staked out all the way up to 2020, but if recent comments from James Gunn are to be believed, the franchise will continue on long after that. Talking to fans via a Facebook Live session, the director spoke about his plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, saying that the threequel will set up the next “10-20 years of Marvel movies.”
“Yes, definitely. Nova comes up occasionally as someone we might use. One of the things I’m doing with creating Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it will take place after the next two Avengers movies and it will help to set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies. It’s going to really expand the cosmic universe. We’re going to be setting up new characters. It will be the last movie of this version of Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Gunn’s comments are certainly encouraging to hear for devoted followers of the House of Ideas, and what’s particularly exciting to learn is that the franchise is going to change in new and exciting ways. As we’ve already heard, and as the director re-iterates here, the studio is planning to really go all in on their cosmic universe, which means there’s no reason to worry about the movies getting stale or old. Tons of new characters and settings will continue to pop up in the MCU for years to come, ensuring that things feel fresh and exciting even 10-20 years down the road. Or at least, that’s the hope.
Staying in the here and now, though, there’s much to look forward to from the franchise, as the God of Thunder descends into theatres this November and then next year, we’ll be getting Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp and, of course, Avengers: Infinity War. After that, the fourth, so-far untitled Avengers movie will then release in May of 2019, by which point viewers will be acquainted with Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers and her ’90s-set origin story. March 8th, 2019 is the date for your diaries for that one.
