MCU Phase 4: 8 Major Comics That Could Inspire Its Story
5. Annihilation
Marvel Comics
Although everyone seems to be dead set on Avengers 4 being called Avengers: Annihilation (and it could certainly come true, given talk of there being another threat besides Thanos appearing), it's far more likely that Marvel are saving the actual Annihilation Wave for Phase 4, or perhaps even for a later one down the line.
For those unaware of what Annihilation is all about, the story basically reset Marvel's cosmic comics and introduced several influential redesigns for characters. This was the arc where Drax got his green and red, knife-wielding makeover, Richard Rider became Nova, and the galaxy encountered its worst threat yet in Annihilus.
It's one of the few comics in Marvel's library that can rival Infinity War in terms of scale, and though it's looking as though the Guardians of the Galaxy will be taking a backseat for the foreseeable future, Marvel are still evidently keen on the cosmic corner of their universe, and with Thanos inevitably set to depart at one point or another, it makes sense to replace him with someone just as - if not more - formidable than him.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
