Thanos spent years lurking in the shadows before fully establishing himself as the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s ultimate threat in the Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame double-header, but ever since the Mad Titan was vanquished to draw the Infinity Saga to a close, the rumor mill has gone into overdrive over who the next big bad could be.
While you could make the argument that Marvel don’t need to take the same approach throughout Phase Four and beyond, the success of the MCU has largely been based on the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ formula and it seems more than likely that somebody is going to emerge as the next major adversary for the reassembled Avengers in the future.
Given the vast amount of iconic characters that the studio have at their disposal, there have already been countless candidates named as potential successors to Thanos, and now Marvel have taken the interesting step of putting the question to fans on social media about who they want to see as the next Avengers-level threat.
Unsurprisingly, the answers include plenty of names that have already been touted at various points, and you can check out some of the reactions from the fanbase below.
Thanos is dead! So what's the next worst threat for the Avengers? pic.twitter.com/nZING45Xq6
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/Hector_Mallet/status/1282034721292087296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1282034721292087296%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Fmarvel-avengers-thanos-fans-villain-after%2F
Kang the Conqueror…there is a consequence for messing with time. pic.twitter.com/nBMiYNnCvy
— Drew Jackson (@oldhickory1313) July 11, 2020
It should be Doc Doom. They got his rights back with the Fox acquisition. Why wait for the FF, when you've got Marvel's great villain ready. And a terrestrial threat would be interesting after cosmic Thanos.
— William B McCormick (@WBMCAuthor) July 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/WhiteNavee/status/1282036069387534336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1282036069387534336%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Fmarvel-avengers-thanos-fans-villain-after%2F
Kang… And he could create Wonder Man (or use Baron Zemo too since he did create him in Avengers #9) if you were interested in bringing him in. With Kang there's about 6 ways to go, Kang, Immortus, Nathaniel Richards, Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion & Iron Lad!
— afroginatent (@afrog69) July 11, 2020
With SHEILD, Loki, Runaways, X-men and Deadpool all messing around with time if the next biggest bad isn't the High Evolutionary I'll be disappointed. pic.twitter.com/8whmwUxMkw
— Coffee Talk (@JesusLovesMeIW) July 11, 2020
The MCU must make several solo films to find the direction of the new Avengers
Ironman was a lighthouse and you have to find a new lighthouse— Pablito #TodosSomosIvana (@10Pablito) July 12, 2020
Graviton
Onslaught
Beyonder— Marxi Marcello (@MarxiMarcell) July 11, 2020
Galactus
— Lux (@LuxOnFiyah) July 11, 2020
— Birdy (@stealthynoodle) July 11, 2020
It seems like a foregone conclusion that we’ll be seeing both Doctor Doom and Magneto in the near future to cause problems for the rebooted Fantastic Four and/or X-Men, but we’ve seen multiple versions of both villains before. If the MCU wants to go down the route of using someone like Thanos that had never been seen in live-action, then Kang the Conqueror already appears to be a popular choice, and one that’s already been rumored to be on his way to the big screen.
