The Disturbing Truth Behind Avengers: Infinity War

3. How Can They Possibly Go Bigger?

And there's another problem with the aftermath of Infinity War and Avengers 4: whisper it, but how the hell do they escalate beyond a villain whose plan literally involves wiping out half of existence?

Now, that isn't to say that Marvel will solely focus on the agenda of everything being BIGGER and MORE TERRIFYING for their future movies (especially in terms of Avengers 5 and beyond, if they happen). But equally, that's part and parcel of making sequels and - crucially - feeding fan expectations of those sequels, so it has to be part of the conversation.

They do now have the blue chip of Galactus now that the Fox properties are back with Disney (and Annihilus as a secondary possibility), but it's hard to see how even Marvel would manage to get a literal world eater into a movie without it being a little bit ridiculous. Doctor Strange limited Dormammu to an elevated cameo and even that creaked a little: having Galactus in a movie - though perfect for the escalation agenda - comes with fairly unprecedented logistical concerns. But you have to feed the fandom what they want and what they want - particularly for Avengers movies - is more, bigger, sillier, deadlier. It's as simple and as complicated as that.

The alternative, of course, is not to make Avengers movies anymore - which might be the agenda, given Kevin Feige's frankness about the changes to the format of the MCU in the future, but that's also a huge gamble. Do they really want to wipe that much potential earning power (and stock value) off their future plans? Of course not. It's a difficult prospect, to say the least.