‘The Avengers 3’: How Marvel Might Split It Into Two Massive Movies

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been awash in rumors over the possibility that Avengers 3 will be split into two movies. A new set of rumors emerged Sunday that might explain how Marvel Studios will pull it off.

Previous rumors originating from The Daily Marvelite stated that The Avengers 3 will hit theaters in May 2018. It’s expected to be followed by something else involving the Avengers for the May 3, 2019. How Marvel will that work has been an open question. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth are quickly running to the end of their contracts with Marvel Studios, among others.

That means negotiations for new contracts or renegotiations for existing contracts, and that could get all terribly expensive. That could be a problem unless some of the actors don’t appear in The Avengers 3 at all.

Dean Faraci at Badass Digest was initially skeptical of the idea that The Avengers 3 will somehow be two movies. The contractual obligations will obviously be a big hurdle. However, he changed his tune Sunday. After “doing some digging on this rumor,” he discovered that The Avengers 3 isn’t being split into two movies, according to his sources. Instead, Marvel is using it as a lead-in to something even bigger, and it’s going to be thanks to the expanded list of characters brought on by Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange films, plus a possible guest appearance at the end of Avengers 2.

“Imagine an ‘Avengers 3’ without Thor or Captain America, maybe without Black Widow. It’s a movie where the secondary characters from the MCU get to stand up and prove their worth, possibly even setting up their own spin-offs.”

Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. would not be able to sit out Avengers 3. As pointed out by Faraci, Downey’s current contract specifically calls out the film as his next and last film for Marvel. Still, the biggest challenge for any film with a large ensemble cast is getting all the characters enough screen time to ensure that they are properly developed and the actors are happy.

Sidelining Thor, Captain America, and possibly one or two more will help director Joss Whedon give newcomers like the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver some development, along with whoever else may be added to the roster. It also sets up this bit of speculation from Faraci that I can’t find a reason to disagree with.

“What if the big guns sit out ‘Avengers 3’ so that Marvel can bring them in for a crossover movie? A huge, all-franchise crossover that could be called ‘Marvel’s Infinity Gauntlet’ or ‘Marvel’s Secret War’? What if ‘Avengers 3’ isn’t the conclusion of the Thanos story but just the spark that ignites it in the massive crossover film that brings all the Marvel characters — TV included — together in one film? That’s the sort of next-level thinking we expect from the House of Cinematic Ideas at this point.”

The Avengers roster has constantly been shuffled over the years in the comics, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the same thing happen with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. What do you think? Is this plausible enough to get excited about? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

[Images via The Avengers, Marvel]