Marvel Has To Kill The MCU’s Darlings To Move Forward After Avengers: Doomsday

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is facing some challenges and needs to make difficult choices to regain its footing. When it first started, there wasn’t much pressure – Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America were well-known from comics, but hadn’t proven themselves as movie stars. Despite this, the MCU became incredibly successful.

The core issue is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) achieved massive success, leading to incredibly high expectations for every new film. Any movie that didn’t break box office records was seen as a failure. Fans craved fresh stories, but then often rejected those same new ideas if they didn’t feature familiar characters. Ultimately, for the MCU to evolve, it needs to move beyond its established history.

Avengers: Doomsday Teasers Need To Lead To Original Heroes’ Deaths

Avengers: Endgame was a massive hit, the biggest in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s unlikely any future Marvel film will achieve the same level of success. While it briefly held the title of highest-grossing film ever before being overtaken by Avatar, it will remain one of the top-performing movies for years to come. Marvel shouldn’t even attempt to replicate that success.

I, like so many others, absolutely adore Chris Evans as Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. But honestly, I’m starting to feel like the MCU is relying too much on them whenever they need a big success. Even I’ve noticed fans getting frustrated – the trailers for Avengers: Doomsday really focused on the older heroes, and it felt like they were neglecting the new characters, which a lot of us were complaining about.

Marvel understands the situation perfectly. While fans will likely grumble about the return of familiar heroes, those heroes still draw bigger crowds than the new characters the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to introduce. It’s a difficult spot for Marvel – they’ll keep facing criticism, but they know which characters are most profitable.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to move forward, and that means letting its original heroes retire. While bringing Robert Downey Jr. back as Doctor Doom was a clever way to attract viewers who missed him, it’s clear that move was driven by nostalgia rather than the story itself.

For Marvel to move forward, it needs to definitively close the chapter on some of its original heroes. This means Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man needs to be fully retired, and Chris Evans’ Captain America should have a conclusive ending, rather than simply vanishing. It’s also time for Thor to meet his end, and for Hawkeye to either die or step down permanently, allowing Kate Bishop to take center stage.

To make way for a new generation of heroes, the original Avengers and the X-Men characters from the Fox universe need to be retired – essentially, they need to die – in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars movies. While this is a risky move that could upset some fans, Marvel has strategies to manage that. Ultimately, it’s a necessary step for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The MCU Needs To Embrace The Next Generation Of Heroes

Marvel’s future is looking bright, and it’s being built on new heroes, not just Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Kamala Khan is already proving to be the star of the next generation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she should be positioned as one of Marvel’s leading heroes after the Secret Wars storyline. Right now, she’s the best choice to take on that role.

The Disney+ series for Ironheart was excellent, and she, along with Shuri, seems poised for major roles in the MCU. Kate Bishop is a natural fit to take over as Hawkeye, and Yelena Belova has already proven she’s a rising star with her appearances in Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thunderbolts. With characters like Wiccan and the potential introduction of Miles Morales, the future of the MCU is looking bright with a strong new generation of heroes.

After the next big Avengers movie, Secret Wars, the X-Men are likely to become the central heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, a new team – potentially the Young Avengers or Champions – will also need to take their place. Some people worry these movies won’t make much money, but they don’t need huge budgets like the Avengers films to still be successful.

Disney+ features grounded heroes like Daredevil, who are relatively inexpensive to produce and provide excellent entertainment for Marvel enthusiasts. Combined with the continued success of Spider-Man films, Marvel can reliably profit from Spider-Man and the X-Men, lessening the financial pressure on introducing newer characters.

The MCU, At The Least, Should Recast Its Main Heroes

If Marvel wants to continue focusing on its established heroes and doesn’t start giving younger characters more prominent roles, they’ll eventually need to recast the actors. They’re already developing a new team of young X-Men, but they also intend to keep some of the older, well-known mutants – like Wolverine and potentially Storm – appearing in other films.

If Marvel wants to revisit characters like Steve Rogers and Iron Man, they’ll need to recast those roles, moving beyond Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. Similarly, with the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, rumors suggest they’re preparing to introduce a new actor as Black Panther, which is a sensible approach.

If Marvel wants to start over with new actors taking on familiar roles, the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars movie seems like the perfect opportunity. The comic book version of Secret Wars did something similar, completely reshaping the Marvel Universe, and the movie could do the same, allowing for recasting after the events of the story.

While this approach could backfire, Sam Wilson has proven to be a strong Captain America. Introducing another Steve Rogers, especially with a different actor, could face the same fan resistance Sam initially did. Ultimately, Marvel needs to make a firm decision now to ensure the long-term success of the MCU.

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2026-01-25 22:32