Secret Wars: A Way too Early Prediction of What's Next for The MCU

After watching Avengers: Infinity War, I was left with so much joy and optimism for the future of the genre (something I didn't feel after watching Justice League), and I started thinking about what's next for the MCU after they inevitably defeat Thanos and bring back all your favorite heroes that (SPOILER) cease to exist at the end of the movie. Who's going to be the "man in the chair" that shows up in the end credit scenes for the next 10 year? What is Marvel going to build towards after such an amazing villain like Thanos? And how does Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox fit into these plans? My guess is as good as anyone's, maybe a lil' better than most, but I believe the next step for the MCU is Secret Wars. Secret Wars was a huge 12 issue crossover event that first released in 1984, where heroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man (Rhodey), the Fantastic Four, and X-Men were snatched from their respective comic panels and sent to a distant planet, called Battleworld to fight villains like the Dr. Von Doom, Galactus, and Doc Oct, in a great battle of Good vs. Evil. Now, who were they snatched? Who wants to see this great battle? The Beyonder. A Cosmic Entity who, at the time this story first released, was the most powerful character in the Marvel Universe. He posses interdimensional powers, that I believe Kevin Feige will use to incorporate the Fantastic Four universe and the X-Men Universe. I first predicted the merging of 20th Centruy Fox's X-Men and the MCU's Avengers after Ultron when Quick Silver, and obvious fan favorite in both X-Men and Avengers was killed off. Then in X-Men: Appocalypse, Magneto's daughter, who would have grown up to be Scarlet Witch, was killed off as well. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. Those deaths were necessary sacrifices for this merger to be possible.  

Wolverine 3: The Death of Old Man Logan

Wolverine 3 will be the last time we get to see Hugh Jackman play the role of Wolverine, the most popular mutant in the last decade. And while it is sad that there will never be another Hugh Jackman Wolverine, after 2017, it will be exciting to see how he goes out, and also whom they decide to replace him with, because there needs to be another brooding, anti-hero, bad-ass in the X-Men Cinematic Universe. 

It has been said that Wolverine 3 will take place in a time that we, the fans, have not seen before, in an X-Men movie, and the rumor has it, we might be getting a film based on Mark Miller's Old Man Logan series. When confronted about it a while back, Hugh Jackman said he could neither confirm nor deny the rumor, but recent photos from the set of Wolverine 3 show an aged Hugh Jackman and an even older Patrick Stewart.

In the comics Old Man Logan renounces his violent tendencies and travels across the country defeating various Marvel super villains. Hugh Jackman did also say that we would be able to see Wolverine's berserker mode, so maybe in the aftermath of the berserker mode he decides to renounce his violent ways. But, since Marvel owns the rights to many of the villains he fights in the series it is unlikely that we will see that exact story line. However, my theory is that we will see a mix of Old Man Logan and Charles Soule's Death of Wolverine.

In Death of Wolverine, Logan is infected with a virus from the microverse that causes him to lose his mutant healing factor, giving past villains and enemies a chance to finally kill him. Also after the end of this series the mantle of Wolverine is passed down to Logan's clone, X-23. The likelihood of seeing X-23 in Wolverine 3 is extremely high, considering what happens in the after credits scene of X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, and who is alluded to. For those that do not know (Spoiler Alert), in the after credits scene we see men in black suits take a vile of Wolverine's blood and put it into a case that said "Essex Corp." on it. Essex Corp. is owned by Nathaniel Essex, or better known as Mister Sinister. Sinister is obsessed with perfecting the human race through mutation, which is what leads him to cloning and splicing many of the strongest mutants. Even though X-23 is actually created by Dr. Sarah Kinney and not Sinister, it still makes sense to have him be the one who clones Wolverine, because he is such an integral part of the X-Men universe (and, because they did not have him be a part of Age of Apocalypse).

Fox may not know what to do with the X-Men as a team, but it seems they have figured out how to make successful solo movies starring X-Men characters. Considering  their recent success with 'The Wolverine' and 'Deadpool,' I am confident/hopeful that they will not ruin Hugh Jackman's last movie as Wolverine. Plus, it is always exciting to see major change in comics and the aftermath thereof, and with Wolverine possibly dying in the next movie, we may actually see a meaningful death in a comic book movie (Havok dying does not count).

Donald Glover Cast in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'

Nerds are finally getting what we want! Even if it is not exactly what we wanted. Donald Glover, a few days ago, was just cast in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' the latest Spider-Man reboot starring Tom Holland. His role in the film is being kept a secret, and it seems Marvel is doing this intentionally. And when the director, Jon Watts was asked about Donald Glover's role in the movie, by the Daily Beast, he said:

“I can’t talk about anything like that! That would have been so amazing, if I’d just completely spilled some secret like that by accident.  I probably can’t say anything. There’s a little sniper dot on me at all times, just in case. They’ll hit me with a tranq dart.” 

So, obviously, this secret is a big one, maybe even bigger than Spider-Man showing up in 'Captain America: Civil War.' The only thing we can do know is that we know nothing, so all we can do is speculate.

Donald Glover has expressed interest in being in a Spider-Man adaptation ever since they started casting for 'The Amazing Spider-Man' starring Andrew Garfield, back in 2010. Twitter, including myself, went crazy and celebrated the idea of Donald Glover playing Miles Morales, the current Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe of Marvel Comics. There were Reddit debates, Twitter campaigns, and petitions supporting the idea of Glover playing Spider-Man, but in the end the execs and producers at Sony said that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and that would not change anytime soon. Personally I would have loved to see someone else, especially Miles Morales, take the mantle of Spider-Man on the big screen, because like I have said before, change in comic books and comic book movies is good and keeps them fresh. They have not even announced what kind of role Donald Glover will have in the movie, but people are still extremely excited about his being in the movie and the thought of change. 

What role could Glover possibly be playing? He might be too old to be a peer of Peter Parker's, because the movie will be centered around Parker's teenage years, and he might even be too old to be Miles Morales, unless they stray from the source material and make Miles a young adult and not teenager (God I hope they stray from the source material this one time). There have been unsubstantiated rumors that he would be a love interest of Aunt May or even a secondary villain. Again those rumors are unsubstantiated, and, hopefully, wrong, because I really want to see Miles Morales on the big screen. Honestly, I just want to see a Black Panther/Black Spider-Man team-up movie. Make it happen Marvel!