'Avengers 4' will be a 'finale' for the MCU, Marvel boss says

By Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly

After Avengers 4 hits theaters in 2019, some of Marvel’s most beloved heroes may be putting away their spandex.

A new Vanity Fair cover story takes a deep dive into the past and present of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from the first Iron Man to this year’s Thor: Ragnarok. Marvel has plenty of high-profile projects on the horizon — Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, the superhero-stuffed Avengers: Infinity War — but one of the most intriguing films is the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4.

Now, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is opening up about the film to Vanity Fair, teasing that Avengers 4 will “bring things you’ve never seen in superhero films: a finale.”

For many of the franchise’s most beloved actors — including Chris Evans as Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye — Avengers 4 is the last film in their Marvel contract. As a result, there’s a good chance that this could be the last time we see their characters on screen — and not all of those character may make it out alive.

“There will be two distinct periods,” Feige added. “Everything before Avengers 4 and everything after. I know it will not be in ways people are expecting.”

Still, Avengers 4 is far from the end of the MCU. Marvel has films scheduled as far out as 2020, and Feige teased that the studio has films in the pipeline that are “completely different from anything that’s come before — intentionally.” Among those is a possible spin-off from James Gunn, focusing on characters from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Avengers: Infinity War will hit theaters May 4, 2018, and Avengers 4 is slated for May 3, 2019.