What will happen to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Endgame? Let’s assume for a moment that Marvel decides to continue making movies after that. It’s a pretty big if. They’ll probably just call it quits and shut down the entire studio. But if they do, what comes next?

Marvel has said almost nothing about their upcoming slate beyond this summer’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and a third Guardians of the Galaxy. There are unconfirmed reports of films like The Eternals (maybe starring Angelina Jolie), Shang-Chi, and the first solo movie for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow. But even if all those movies get made, that’s five titles. Marvel’s so-called Phase Three had 10 titles. So they are going to need some more characters to fill out their lineup. especially if the rumors are true and some long-running heroes (and maybe their franchises along with them) are being retired after Endgame.

This list gives ten examples of new directions Marvel could go. We decided against picking any character who’s never starred in, or even been heavily featured in, any Marvel movie to date. (One of the ten had a very small supporting role in one of the X-Men films, but that’s it.) Some of these characters are pretty obscure, but Marvel’s already proven they can transform relatively unknown heroes like the Guardians of the Galaxy into massive blockbusters. If they can make a talking space tree a beloved pop culture icon, the sky is the limit and any of these characters could headline their own films...

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