Iron Man, Thor and Captain America: Past their first Trilogies

[Doc Ock]

Thor, so much potential for all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi storylines that don't even require the use of Earth!

 

[gildedmuse]

So most of the discussion so far seems to be based around the "reboots, recast, retire" debate, but regardless if they decide to replace RDJ but continue on, replace him with Rhodes, or start the whole shebang fresh I think there will definitely be more Iron Man films. He's a popular character and I think they could still come up with new stories for the franchise. I adore Iron Man 3, but by far my least favorite part was the ending with the surgery which seemed to be some sort of finale. Obviously that film was never going to be Iron Man's last outing - hell, it does as much as reassuring you he'll return in the credits themselves. He'll be featured in Age Of Ultron, Civil War, and Infinity War, and after all that I'm sure Tony's personal story won't feel as resolved as IM3 would have lead us to believe.

Similarly, Captain America still has stories a plenty, and on top of that taken as a simple trilogy, Civil War just doesn't seem like a closure to the character, you know? Even assuming the worst - death - I think you need to follow that up by showing us Bucky!Cap (I actually enjoy the idea of Bucky trying to earn that title, hold on to the importance of the legacy, and Steve leaving it to him because he believes that Bucky is still the man he remembers and that he needs this to recover faith in himself). If he doesn't die, well, Civil War still doesn't seem like a natural ending to the Cap films.

In fact, out of the three I would say only Thor's Ragnarok might end in a way that truly finishes the series, and that's only assuming they give us King Thor, because that is really what needs to happen to close the major chapters of that character. There are still plenty of Thor stories to tell after the that, but if they do feel like they want to retire one of the solo franchises, King Thor would be the way to do it.

 

[Wraith]

I think it would be for the best to try and establish new front running characters and have the old guard take a backseat. I anticipate Black Panther, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel possibly running things by Phase 4, but I might be wrong.

 

[Steamteck]

It has worked in the comics. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are both replacement characters. Carol Danvers finally replaced Mar-Vell. There's a bunch of other minor character, especially at DC, that have been successfully swapped out.

Not really. Those characters had disappeared for over a decade and most of the readers of the time knew little about them. My favorite replacement character was Wally West and now he's gone( the real one at least). John Stewart is my favorite GL and is always sidelined. Even the cry of diversity doesn't seem to help him and I feel he's the superior character.

Marvel's been a little more successful I suppose but I feel their overall quality has slipped sp much I haven't been keeping track.