Avengers: Endgame
brought us the satisfying, highly emotional conclusion to the Infinity Saga that had been a decade in the making. But Marvel’s biggest film yet didn’t deliver the perfect happy end some fans may have wanted. The heroes won, but at great cost. Three of the original Avengers were taken out of commission, including Iron Man and Black Widow who sacrificed their lives for the greater good, and Captain America, who retired unexpectedly. On top of that, the five years between Infinity War and Endgame were not erased, so half of all living things also have to deal with the emotional burden now that their loved ones have returned. Not to mention that the Loki and Gamora in this timeline are also dead for good, and we’re left with replacements from alternate realities. The good news, however, is that one of the biggest MCU losses might be replaced as soon as early MCU Phase 5, if this new rumor is to be believed.
The plot choices in Endgame also let Marvel reset the MCU for the next decade of stories. We already know the names of all films and TV series included in Phase 4, and Phase 5 has no less than eight release dates confirmed. But Marvel has to rebuild the Avengers team before it can deliver the next Endgame type saga, so Avengers 5 might be a lot smaller in scope.
But you know what else Marvel needs to start developing from scratch? A villain as daunting as Thanos. That’s right, Endgame stripped the MCU of its biggest, baddest villain yet. Infinity War and Endgame helped Marvel flesh out one of the best villains in movie history, but he’s gone now. Thanos is as important to the MCU as Darth Vader is to Star Wars, but we had to wait until the late stages of Phase 3 to discover the complexity of this character.
We lost him twice in Endgame, since the Avengers killed both the Thanos in their own timeline and the one who came from an alternate reality to take over this timeline. While it’s a lot easier to mourn Iron Man and Black Widow, Thanos will certainly be missed as well. There wouldn’t have been an Endgame without him.
Fans have been speculating on who the next big villain might be, and Marvel will likely tease him in post-credits scenes in Phase 4, like it did with Thanos. But if this report is accurate, we won’t have to wait 10 years to discover the next Thanos-grade antagonist.
According to Murphy’s Multiverse, Black Panther 2 is the movie where we’ll get our first real glimpse at what this villain can do, rather than the Fantastic Four reboot. Yes, Doctor Doom might be the next bad guy in the MCU.
We have no idea when the new Fantastic Four will hit theaters, but it can’t be sooner than Phase 5. That’s where you’d expect Doom to show up, and he must somehow end up being an antagonist in that movie. But Charles Murphy says he’ll also be the villain in Black Panther 2, which premieres in May 2022 — the film is going to be the second movie of Phase 5, by the way.
Murphy received news that Doctor Doom will appear in Black Panther 2 from a trusted insider, but he wasn’t able to verify the scoop with any other sources.
Victor Von Doom will began expanding his empire, conquering parts of Africa and, ultimately, come into conflict with the nation of Wakanda and the Black Panther.
This is all he was told on the matter, and we have no other plot details — not that it matters, given that nothing can be confirmed at this point. That said, Murphy does have an idea of how Marvel might explain Doom’s emergence as a massive threat to the world:
We don’t know when and where we’ll be introduced to Latveria or Victor, (a post-credit stinger, a solo movie or in another film) but the events of Avengers: Infinity War and the 5 year jump in Avengers: Endgame provide ample opportunities for some exposition on the Latverian Monarch. Given the state of things after Thanos’ snap, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine someone like Victor expanding his kingdom by taking advantage of the absence of world leaders and of most of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. If Victor survived the snap, it’s entirely possible that he could have made his way South through Europe, through the Middle East and into Africa by the time 2023 rolls around.
If Doom will indeed be one of the villains of Black Panther 2, we’ll probably get to meet him much sooner than that in at least one post-credits scene.
