What's Next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

With The Avengers on its way to a possible $100 million second weekend (which would shatter Avatar's record of $75.62 million), it seems like an appropriate time to look ahead at what's next for the members of the Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. (SOME THE AVENGERS SPOILERS AHEAD.)

Iron Man/Tony Stark

The founding franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will return with another installment on May 13, 2013. Iron Man 3 is the furthest along production-wise when it comes to movies in the MCU. Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) replaces Jon Favreau in the director's chair this time around. Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce have signed on for the sequel. Jessica Chastain was committing to the movie, but backed out due to schedule conflicts.

The movie's casting news has hinted that Iron Man 3 will focus on the comic's Extremis plot line, seeing Tony Stark replace his armor with a new version that's made of nanotechnology, stored in Stark's bones and controlled by his nervous system. Kingsley's role is currently unknown, and while Marvel has denied that the Mandarin will be in Iron Man 3, rumors persist that Iron Man will finally face one of his most well-known foes. In a recent interview with Empire, Marvel producer Kevin Feige offered a few hints at the Iron Man 3 plot.

"So Iron Man 3 has been structured specifically to be the antidote to The Avengers... Circumstances in the story separate Tony from having access to anything.  

"We wanted to take Tony back to, metaphorically speaking, the cave from Iron Man, the first half of Iron Man, when he's cut off from the world and needs just focus on his intellects to get himself out of his situation. 

"So he's not calling Thor, he's not calling Captain America, he can't press a special button to have the helicarrier come rescue him, so I think that'll be a nice complement to the team up of Avengers."

Thor

The God of Thunder returns with is own sequel on Nov. 15, 2013. Marvel chose to not bring director Kevin Branagh back for Thor 2, instead going with Alan Taylor, who's directed episodes of Game of Thrones. Monster director Patty Jenkins was originally Marvel's pick to replace Branagh, but she left due to "creative differences." Thor 2 will reunite the original movie's cast, including Tom Hiddleson's Loki. Whether or not Loki plays the villain role is up in the air.

One of the most popular Internet searches of the past week has been "Who is the villain at the end of The Avengers?" By now, everyone has probably at least read the Wikipedia article about Thanos or even read The Infinity Gauntlet. As Thanos appeared at the end of The Avengers, the popular idea is that the Eternal will be The Avengers 2's villain, but there's a good chance Thanos will face Thor in Thor 2. We've already seen the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's vault. Marvel has promised that Thor 2 will explore the larger universe. If there's one place for the guy who wants to actually court the female embodiment of Death to fit in, it would be in an intergalactic Thor 2.

Captain America/Steve Rogers

Very little is known about Captain America 2 at this point. We know that Chris Evans will return as Captain America on April 4, 2014. Disney and Marvel have shared a brief synopsis of the movie:

“The second installment will pick-up where … ‘The Avengers’ leaves off, as Steve Rogers continues his affiliation with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D and struggles to embrace his role in the modern world.”

Captain America: The First Avenger wisely left large chunks of the Captain's World War II story open, turning to a montage to show Steve Rogers battling the Red Skull and HYDRA. While Captain America 2 may take place in present day, it's likely that the movie will employ flashbacks to show events that the original movie skipped over. We already got a taste of this in The Avengers, with Steve flashing back to crashing into the arctic and being discovered alive. It's unclear what kind of contract Hugo Weaving was under with Marvel, and many expected the Red Skull to make an appearance in The Avengers, but it's likely that Marvel isn't done with one of its most iconic villains.

One likely plot of Captain America 2 is the Winter Solider storyline, which would revive Bucky Barnes as a Soviet super solider and villain. If the movie goes in this direction, the Winter Soldier has shared space with the Black Widow, giving Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff another movie to appear in.

The Hulk/Bruce Banner

Before The Avengers, Marvel was preparing to banish the Hulk to TV, giving up on a film franchise. This move made sense at time as both Hulk movies had been box office disappointments. Thanks to Mark Ruffalo and the Hulk's breakout role in The Avengers though, Marvel is once again looking to kickstart a Hulk franchise. It turns out that Ruffalo signed a six-movie deal with Marvel when he joined The Avengers, setting the studio up perfectly for future films.

Going back to 2008's The Incredible Hulk, threads have been set up for to use the Leader as a villain in a potential sequel. Most of the cast, including Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson, has options for a sequel. Director Louis Leterrier is under contract for a sequel to. Marvel hasn't announced an official Hulk sequel yet, but all of the pieces are in place if they give it the green light.

Of course, some of those movies in Ruffalo's deal could be cameos in other MCU movies. Not only did we see Tony Stark invite Bruce Banner to swing by Stark Tower during The Avengers, we saw Stark and Banner drive off together. If Iron Man 3 is going to be science heavy, who better to have drop in to give Iron Man some advice but Banner?

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and Hawkeye/Clint Barton

Like the Hulk, Marvel hasn't announced any plans regarding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assassins. Director Joss Whedon moved Johansson's Black Widow from a one-dimensional character in Iron Man 2 to a multi-layered and key character in The Avengers. Several references were made to not only her backstory, but also to the backstory that she shares with Hawkeye. If we see a spinoff featuring these two characters, odds are they'll be in the same movie.

Nick Fury, Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D.

On several occasions, Samuel L. Jackson has mentioned that Marvel plans to make a moving featuring Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., but this movie doesn't exist on Marvel's schedule right now. Like Jackson, Cobie Smulders have a multi-picture deal to play Maria Hill, so we'll probably keep seeing these two agents pop up in the MCU. With Agent Phil Coulson dead (yes, I'm going with his death being real until Marvel proves otherwise), Hill will now be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top non-eyepatch wearing agent.

In the comics, Hill became director of S.H.I.E.L.D., running the organization in Fury's absence and eventually butting heads with Captain America over the Superhero Registration Act. Hill is a fairly new character (introduced in 2005), but she already has a lot of story that Marvel could mine for a S.H.I.E.L.D. move or The Avengers 2.

The Avengers
While we don't have a date for The Avengers 2 yet, the movie's definitely happening, with Disney CEO Bob Iger confirming a sequel to box-office behemoth this past week. What can we expect in The Avengers 2? Any big surprise departures aside, we'll likely see the original's cast reunite, all wiser and probably a bit more roughed up from their additional cinematic adventures. With Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 coming out in 2013 and 2014, a 2015 release would be a good guess for The Avengers 2. There's the chance, though, that Marvel might want to launch another franchise before returning to The Avengers, a move that would probably push the sequel back to 2015. Marvel has generally put two to three years between installments of franchises.

This far out, it's hard to predict what the plot of The Avengers 2 would be or which villain the team would face. Based on that credits scene, Thanos is still the best guess, but that could be nixed if Thor 2 takes the villain. When it comes to big-name villains, Marvel still has Captain America's Red Skull to challenge the Avengeres. If Disney could get film rights back or cut a deal for Spider-Man before The Avengers 2, the Green Goblin would be a powerful foe. Norman Osborn has been threatening the Marvel world for decades.

I'd be shocked if Marvel hasn't introduced a new superhero or two (or three?) by the time The Avengers 2 comes around. Which leads us to ...

Expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Between 2008 and 2011, Marvel launched four superhero franchises to lead into The Avengers. Iron Man established the universe, The Incredible Hulk showed that these characters know each other and Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger fleshed out the team and brought in two classic members. Like I said above, I would be shocked if Marvel doesn't bring a few more heroes into the fold. Marvel has a secret movie set for a May 2014 release date, which they've promised to unveil during this summer. So who could be joining the Avengers next?

Ant-Man/Henry Pym and the Wasp/Janet van Dyne

This one might be the best guess as to which franchise Marvel will launch next. Director Edgar Wright has had plans to make an Ant-Man film for several years now, even tweeting out some art that could be taken as a tease for the film last week.

Received this in the mail. What can it mean? twitpic.com/9hnn6t
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) May 5, 2012

If Henry Pym gets his own franchise, the character girlfriend/wife Janet van Dyne could be included too. It would only be appropriate for the Wasp to join The Avengers, seeing as how her character was the one who originally coined the team's name in the first place.

Namor the Sub-Mariner

The Sub-Mariner is one of Marvel's oldest characters, and has served as both a hero and a villain. His home of Atlantis can be seen on the S.H.I.E.L.D. map in Iron Man 2. In The Avengers, we saw that the Iron Man suit works underwater — any chance Tony Stark might want to start poking around in the ocean depths?

Doctor Strange

Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey has expressed interest in this role, but don't let that scare you away from the Sorcerer Supreme. If Marvel wants to bring Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet storyline to the big screen, they're going to need Doctor Strange. With Thor, the MCU established that magic exists but it's really just super-sophisticated science, clearing the way for a character who deals with magic.

The Black Panther/T'Challa

Like Namor and Atlantis, the Black Panther's home of Wakanda was on the S.H.I.E.L.D. map in Iron Man 2. With Joss Whedon bringing a strong female character to The Avengers, the Black Panther would be the perfect opportunity to launch a franchise featuring a black superhero.

The Punisher/Frank Castle

Marvel reacquired rights to the Punisher in 2010, making Frank Castle's entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe completely possible. I brought this up in my guide to the Avengers, but the Punisher might not really fit with what Marvel has established now. After seeing The Avengers, an angry vigilante with a lot of guns might not be the best fit for the team.

The Inhumans

Last year, some websites started reporting that Marvel was prepping an Inhumans film. No further news has come out regarding the possible film, but if it did happen, it would be a significant expansion of the MCU. The Inhumans come from the moon and were created by Kree alien genetic experiments. Black Bolt is the race's most prominent member and was even a member of Marvel's Illuminati with Professor X, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Namor and Doctor Strange.