10 Behind-The-Scenes Issues That Could End The MCU
9. What's After Phase 3?
While the 2006 comic book storyline Civil War is obviously cinematic-worthy, decades of prior Captain America stories havent been adapted into films yet. Prior to the MCU, no superhero franchise had ever gone beyond four movies. Both the original Batman and Superman franchises concluded with disastrous fourth movies, and both X-Men and Spider-Man had to change their approaches after poorly-received third films. Even though there are decades worth of comic book stories to base movies on, not every comic book storyline is suitable for a movie. Even good stories might seem tired by the third or fourth solo movie for a particular character.
Similarly, once the Avengers battle Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and whatever Avengers 4 ends up being called, who would be the next big threat worthy of a movie? Thanos has been established as the MCUs biggest villain, so any other villain in big team-up after those would be a step down in scope without significant build. On the other hand, if the Avengers battle Loki, Ultron, or Thanos again it would probably feel like a rehash of the earlier movies. The problem is that Marvel Studios will eventually run out of its best material, and if writing talent can't rise to that level or begins repeating previous material, fans will notice the drop in quality.
According to reports, Disney was disappointed that Avengers: Age of Ultron did not do better in theatres than the original. If the bigger and better Avengers sequel couldn't beat the original's box office, what does that say about the box office potential of movies later down the line?