Annie Get Your Gunn: James Gunn Plays Down A Full MCU Reboot After 'Avengers 4'

There could be trouble ahead, and I don't mean from the Mad Titan Thanos. If your surname is Stark, Rogers, or Banner, better get writing your resumé because it sounds like the whole state of Marvel's Cinematic Universe is up in the air. As we gallop toward the #MCU's 10th anniversary and a celebration with Avengers: Infinity War, it is only right that fans of the highest-grossing franchise in cinema start looking to the future.

However, with the current slate of movies set to end in 2019 with the (still untitled) Avengers 4, we are still in the dark about exactly what Phase 4 and beyond could look like. However, there is a worrying rumor that the fourth batch of hero features won't involve anything at all, so, is the #MCU heading for a full reboot?

An Uncertain Future

Of course, all this is #KevinFeige's fault. The MCU bigwig recently sat down for an interview with Collider and seemed a little too sketchy on the future of our heroes:

“Certainly as we get to Infinity War there is a sense of a climax if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled Avengers 4, the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU. And what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.”

We already know that Chris Evans will likely depart from his role as Steve Rogers after #Avengers4, but what about other fan-favorites like #RobertDowney Jr., #ChrisHemsworth, and #MarkRuffalo? We'll already have a trilogy of Thor films once #ThorRagnarok hits cinemas later this year, and Ruffalo has said there will never be a Hulk solo film, so what is left for our veteran Avengers?

Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy director #JamesGunn is on hand to clear this whole mess up. When a fan took to Twitter to ask Gunn if we were heading toward the end of the MCU, the Marvel director clarified it with a single tweet:

While it still doesn't look particularly good for the more established superheroes, we at least know that Phase 4 (if it is called that) will likely still hold the Guardians of the Galaxy at its core. Certainly, the ragtag band of space outlaws are only just getting started, and Gunn is hard at work bringing the likes of Adam Warlock in for #GuardiansoftheGalaxyVol3.

Give it the (re)boot.

A full MCU reboot would be nearly impossible anyway — we are only one film into Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy, and we can't see Disney throwing a cash cow like that away so soon. Sure, a soft reboot may be on the horizon to introduce more diverse heroes, but I doubt we will be saying goodbye to the whole gang.

Anyway, are reboots really that bad? We saw Fox reboot its X-Men series back in 2011 with X-Men: First Class. While those movies are now as messy as the original trilogy, the studio hopes that the likes of Dark Phoenix and New Mutants can bring the mutants back from the brink of bombing. Not that there is anything wrong with the likes of RDJ and co., but after a decade of seeing them don their spandex, perhaps some new blood would be well received.

That being said, we saw Hugh Jackman carry the Wolverine mantle for a full 17 years, which led to a performance in Logan that was arguably his best Wolverine yet. Personally, I think there is still enough juice in the Arc Reactor to keep the likes of Stark in the game for a little longer, but there is no denying that the superhero retirement home is in sight for some. While we may no longer rest the MCU on the shoulders of Captain America (in his current form), we have the likes of the Guardians and Spidey to power us forward into a new era and another decade of brutes in suits.

(Source: Collider)