MCU Phase 4: 10 Biggest Challenges Facing Marvel Studios

Avengers Endgame ended the stories of some of its biggest characters: Tony Stark sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos, Steve Rogers got old and handed his shield over to Sam Wilson, and Black Widow threw herself off of a cliff. Along with these, Thor handed his kingdom over to Valkyrie, Gamora has none of her memories with the Guardians, and Hulk & Bruce Banner are now one entity.

Such major shake-ups in the MCU landscape obviously leaves the door open for new heroes to step into the spotlight - a trend that is set to start with The Eternals at the end of this year - but it's not as though Marvel is simply going to neglect the legacies of characters as iconic as Iron Man or Captain America.

That doesn't necessarily mean they are going to do right by them either, as Sam Wilson seems set to retain his Falcon moniker rather than calling himself Captain America. Furthermore, with Iron Man it looks as though Spider-Man will straight-up replace him or no one will.

Clearly, the higher-ups at Marvel don't want to risk anything when it comes to their biggest names - so a balance must be struck between that policy and the surviving characters carrying on these gigantic legacies - particularly when one of those legacies provided the entire basis for the MCU's existence.