Marvel Studios
Following the ultimate fate of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe found itself in a position it has never been in before: they needed a new “big bad”.
Warning: this article will feature spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel Studios
After Iron Man heroically snapped Thanos and his otherworldy forces into oblivion at the climax of Avengers: Endgame, for the first time since its inception, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was without the looming presence of a massive villain lurking in the shadows to eventually challenge the Avengers.
However, if these latest 4chan leaks are to be believed, then Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have already made up their mind when it comes to who will be the next world-threatening villain in the MCU.
Earlier this week, in a massive leak on 4chan (it’s since been deleted), it was revealed that Marvel Studios has identified classic Spider-Man foe Norman Osborn as the next major threat to the Avengers.
Not only did the leak reveal the future plans for Norman Osborn, but they also essentially laid out the entire immediate future of the franchise.
While the 4chan post has since been deleted, the fine folks over at Marvel Studios Spoilers Reddit compiled all of the must-see facts before the post was taken down. There’s a lot of info in there, so we’ll just throw it down on the bottom of the post.
Now, as for Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. While he’s a significantly more “Earthly” villain than the Mad Titan Thanos, Osborn’s reach, influence, and money will present an entirely new challenge for the Avengers.
While no official casting announcements have been made at this time, names being tossed around amongst fans to fill Norman Osborne’s psychotic shoes include Collin Farrell (who would be an excellent choice) and — this one’s a doozy — Tom Hanks.
And, well, let’s just put it this way: if Marvel can somehow figure out a way to cast Tom fucking Hanks as a major MCU villain, we may as well stop making movies forever, because Marvel will have perfected the art form.
Full Marvel Cinematic Universe Leaks
>Black Widow, The Eternals, Black Panther 2, Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are in active development and there are plans for Thor 4, Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, New Avengers, Young Avengers and Dark Avengers.
>Falcon & Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki and Hawkeye are being developed for Disney+, but the characters will still be featured in the movies. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four will not appear until Phase 5.
>There won’t be another decade-spanning overarching storyline like the Infinity Saga, but there will be overarching “mini-arcs” spanning 3-6 films.
>There will be a clearer divide between grounded MCU and cosmic MCU going forward, each having their own core casts, specific tones and overarching storylines.
>Norman Osborn will be the main antagonists of grounded MCU and is expected to appear in several movies provided Marvel and Sony renew their contract.
>Chris Hemsworth renewed his contract for several more Marvel movies and is expected to appear in both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Thor 4.
>Chris Pratt also has several movies left in his contract and is expected to continue even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is intended as the team’s final appearance in the MCU.
>SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME – Mysterio is from a parallel dimension, but is a criminal there and is controlling the Elementals in order to masquerade as a hero and usurp Iron Man. OsCorp is revealed to have purchased Stark Tower.
>BLACK WIDOW – Florence Pugh is introduced as Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow.
>THE ETERNALS – Richard Madden is playing the main character, Ikaris. The Eternals will pivotal to cosmic MCU.
>BLACK PANTHER 2 – Killmonger will appear in the spiritual plane. Queen Divine Justice will be featured. Movie will be political.
>SHANG-CHI – The Mandarin is rumored to be Shang-Chi’s father.
>DOCTOR STRANGE 2 – Christine Palmer, Wong, Mordo and the Ancient One will appear. Lord Nightmare will be the villain. Mordo will be a complex, sympathetic antagonist like Loki. Clea and Brother Vodoo will be featured. Asian actresses eyed for Clea. Parts of the movie will be set in the 1980’s.
>GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 – The High Evolutionary will be the main villain and Rocket’s creator. Rocket will fall in love with another of the High Evolutionary’s experiments, Lylla. Drax will find out that his daughter is still alive. Star-Lord and Nebula will become closer as they search for Gamora. Thor will be in the movie and meet Beta Ray Bill, who might be another of the High Evolutionary’s experiments. Quasar and Adam Warlock also rumored to appear, with Zac Effron reportedly eyed for Adam.
>LOKI – Anthology chronicling how Loki shaped human historical events.
>HAWKEYE – Hawkeye has to come out of retirement (again) when troublemaker Kate Bishop begins running around claiming to be the new Hawkeye and gets into trouble with the mob. Ends up training her to take his place. Supernatural mobster The Hood and Hawkeye’s evil brother Trickshot might appear.
>FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER – Falcon and Bucky have to work together with a new government-sanctioned Captain America to stop terrorists from destroying the United Nations. New Cap eventually goes psycho and they have to stop him. Seems like it’ll lead to Sam becoming the new Cap after all.
>WANDAVISION – Vision gets rebuild, Wanda tries to give him a soul and he instead gets possessed by a dark force. Allegedly it’s more of a psychological thriller with a 1950’s aesthetic. Wanda and Vision end up living in the suburbs where the neighborhood is racist against Wanda’s robosexuality. The witch Agatha Harkness might appear.