The Avengers have left the planet, preparing for war against perhaps the most powerful foes they have ever faced. Thanos and his dark forces have descended upon an unguarded Earth in search of a mysterious prize. Black Bolt and the Inhumans must contend with a threat to their very way of life.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Marvel Unveils Infinity #1 Cover By Adam Kubert

While at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in Dublin, Whedon was promoting his latest film, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Naturally, the topic of the Avengers sequel came up and Whedon made a rather harrowing promise. Here’s what the director had to say when asked about the philosophy he was going to take with the second film:

“Death, Death and more Death!”

Rather straightforward I’d say. Now, this response begs the question of whether Whedon means one or some of the characters won’t be making it to a third film or if the character of Death will make an appearance. It is likely that the Mad Titan himself, Thanos will be the main baddie for Avengers 2, and as comic fans know, Thanos has a bit of a relationship with this character. This was also hinted at in the closing credits scene of the first film.

If Whedon follows his usual trend, I thing we could see a little bit of both. The director is currently putting a script together for the film, while Marvel Studios is gearing up for the launch of its Phase 2 films, starting with Iron Man 3 in May and Thor: The Dark World later this year. Captain America: The Winter Soldier will also begin shooting this year.

Josh "ecksmanfan" Johnson, Joss Whedon Makes a Promise for Avengers Sequel: “Death, Death and more Death!”

Marvel touts the series as giving readers a “rare glimpse into the ultimate nihilist’s early days on his far-off home planet Titan” and the life events that lead him down his path of cosmic villainy. Aaron promised that the origin story is literally that, starting with the Mad Titan’s birth. The series will have some new characters, but there will be several familiar names including Thanos’ father Mentor and his mother Sui-San. Aaron talked about the question that runs through the series:

Well, that’s really the main question of the book. Who is Thanos? When the book starts, even Thanos doesn’t know the answer to that question. It’s the pursuit of that answer that begins to take him to some very dark places. This is not a super hero story. There are no good guys swooping in to save the day here. This is the origin story of a very bad dude. A cosmic mass murderer.

This past summer I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Starlin about the first proposed Thanos origin story, and he shared his thoughts on that (you can find that here). Starlin laid down a lot of history for his creation, but Aaron will be going through pulling it all together and giving it a slight twist. Aaron is sticking to Starlin’s work and talks about how he will continue on from what has already been written:

Jim Starlin of course had already laid down a lot of the pieces of Thanos’ origin, but they were spread out in several different stories written over the course of several years. THANOS RISING combines all those pieces and also fills in a lot of the cracks. I think it’s true to Starlin’s original ideas for the character, while also expanding on some aspects of the origin, and playing around a bit with the dark romance part of the character’s history.

The series starts in April, but as of now there is no word on how long the miniseries will run. Thanos Rising will serve as an entry points for people who just found out about the Mad Titan through The Avengers, but old fans will also get something out of it. Aaron has been writing some great stuff the past few years with Scalped and his recent Thor, so it will be interesting to see what he brings to Thanos. Bianchi’s art is great so that’s an added bonus. You can read the full interview to see what Bianchi had to say about redesigning a young Thanos by clicking here. What do you think about the proposed series? Will you be picking this one up?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Jason Aaron To Write Thanos Origin Series: Thanos Rising

As you all know, the main Marvel comics universe is the 616. The Guardians are a team from the future Universe the 691. Another evil alien race, called the Badoom, is wreaking havoc trying to take over the 691. The Badom create Korvac. You may know Korvac from the comics, if not it’s OK. Start reading up on it, you have until 2014.

LR says that at some point the Guardians do some “get time-hoppy and jet back to the 20th century” to meet with The Avengers and fight some aliens. They also have some very juicy info if this turns out to be legit:

- It will be announced as Marvel’s second 2014 movie at Comic Con
- Thanos is in it.
- It will “lead up to” The Avengers 2 in 2015.
- ”THE SCRIPT IS INCREDIBLE”

The end credits for The Avengers was really a teaser for Avengers 2 AND Guardians. They are also saying if you want an idea of what it would be like, you should pick up The Thanos Imperative. Also, expect Nova.

The introduction of the Guardians has been speculated for a while now, but if this turns out to be true it is very exciting stuff. Marvel had mentioned they would like to go to space, and the Guardians would make perfect sense. It’s not that long until Comic-Con so we should know more soon.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Marvel’s Second Movie For 2014 Revealed?

The Avengers is still making massive amounts of money. Men In Black 3 took the number one spot this past weekend, but Earth’s Mightiest continues to smash records across the board. With The Avengers success, people are excited to see what Marvel’s next steps are as they work their way toward the sequel. Kevin Feige spoke with Empire Magazine about The Avengers success. He says he was just hoping it could top Iron Man 2′s opening, which was Marvel’s biggest opening weekend at the time. He talks about how Avengers is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things:

The Avengers was not the finale for us. It was a giant, giant marker, but it was never the finale. We are already well into the plan for the next phase of our little cinematic universe.

Next up for Marvel is Thor 2 which will begin shooting very shortly. Feige touches on what we can expect in the sequel as well as confirming what Chris Hemsworth has stated in previous interviews. We will see more of Asgard as well as different parts of the realms. Like the first film, we can expect a split between earth and Asgard:

We’re going to see the other side of Asgard. It’s not all polished and golden in this film. And the events of Avengers will have affected Thor for sure. His relationship with Loki will continue to evolve, and the biggest part is Natalie and Thor returning with Jane Foster.

With the recent casting news that Mads Mikkelsen is going to be a baddie, probably in addition to Loki, and the rumors of The Enchantress popping up we can expect Thor to face a lot of danger. At the end of The Avengers we saw a huge threat in the form of the mad titan Thanos. Hemsworth himself said that Thanos would not be showing up in Thor 2 as the threat, and Feige confirmed this.

No, future, future. But there will be a major new villain. A major, major new antagonist.

Now I would say there will probably be some hint or easter egg to keep all the movies tied together, but it’s safe to say Thanos will not be showing up. We’re still taking bets on who Mikkelsen is playing, but there will be a huge threat in Thor 2.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Kevin Feige Talks Thor 2: More Asgard, Bigger Villain

If you haven’t seen The Avengers yet, you are in the minority of people on earth considering the box office returns, but this article will have spoilers about the first credits scene in The Avengers. The final scene was a nice payoff jokey scene, but this is the one that has major implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the coming years. Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon takled with /Film about introducing The Mad Titan and who decided he should be introduced.

The scene obviously set up Avengers 2 if they hold off on using Thanos until then. Feige has said that he wanted to get “cosmic” with Marvel and this seems to sett that up nicely. When asked about whose idea it was to bring Thanos to the big screen, who came up with it, who shot it, and who put it together Feige said it was”Joss. Joss, Joss, and Joss.”

Feige said he was very accepting of this idea

I wanted to get cosmic and did with THOR and told him that we wanted it to be aliens, that a portal opens in New York and aliens poor out, because the cosmic cube opened a portal. Who they were, what they were, and how they interacted was all Joss and Joss is a huge fan of Thanos.

Whedon also had a few words about Thanos. When asked about why Thanos and why in this movie:

He for me is the most powerful and fascinating Marvel villain. He’s the great grand daddy of the badasses and he’s in love with death and I just think that’s so cute. For me, the greatest Avengers was THE AVENGERS annual that Jim Starlin did followed by THE THING 2 in 1 that contained the death of Adam Warlock. Those were some of the most important texts and I think underrated milestones in Marvel history and Thanos is all over that, so somebody had to be in control and had to be behind Loki’s work and I was like “It’s got to be Thanos.” And they said “Okay” and I’m like “Oh my God!”

We don’t have any word on how this will affect all the future movies post-Avengers, but Thanos will obviously be popping up sometime in the near future. According to /Film Feige hinted that Thanos wouldn’t come to true fruition until a Guardians of the Galaxy movie starts rolling. The Avengers 2 is tentatively scheduled for 2015 so we should be finding out soon enough.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Joss Whedon And Kevin Feige Talk About That Guy That Shows Up In The Mid-Credits Scene

HUGE JUICY SPOILER WARNING.

DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN “AVENGERS”

ARE YOU STILL HERE?

YOU’RE SURE YOU WANT TO SPOIL YOURSELF?

I’ve given you as much warning as possible.  During the mid credits scene for “Avengers,” Thanos made his Marvel movie universe debut.  For those of you who don’t know who Thanos is, he is the avatar of death in the Marvel universe.  The guy is a bad ass.  He’s stronger than most of the Avengers combined, and is the wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet.  The Gauntlet holds the Infinity Gems, which control every aspect of reality.  It’s one of the more ambiguous artifacts created in the 60′s and 70′s, where the creators didn’t realize how powerful they made these things.  But back to Thanos.  He recently came back to appear in the Thanos Imperative, but was trapped in the Cancerverse with Nova and Star-Lord.

But what does it mean for the Marvel movie universe?  It means quite a few things.  That 2014 unnamed movie that Marvel has been so hush hush about is going to be a Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  The Guardians are an Avengers-like team that saves the cosmos.  Marvel producers have hinted that Rocket Raccoon and Groot, original members, will be in the movie.  My predictions for the other members are Star-Lord, Drax (since he is so tied into Thanos), Gamor, and here is the big one……NOVA.  Yes Nova.  He was never on the team before, but having him appear in a Guardian of the Galaxies movie would launch the character for his own franchise.  But I could be wrong.  If he isn’t in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” then he would be in his own movie, and maybe cameo in “Guardians.”  Either way, he is going to make an appearance of some sort.  With his recent thrust into the center of the Marvel universe, Marvel must be getting ready for Nova to have his own movie.  Sadly it would be the new Sam Alexander Nova, not the Richard Rider one.  Unless Marvel (comic Marvel) is bringing Rider back somehow, I don’t see him being in the movie.  Brian Michael Bendis has been rumored to be writing a new Guardians of the Galaxy book when he is done with his Avengers run, which would help gain awareness of the team and what they are about.

So what will the plot be?  I guess that the Guardians will come together somehow and fight Thanos.  Over what?  I don’t know.  Probably the Infinity Gauntlet.  The numerous cosmic species will be considerably smaller, considering the Skrulls, Kree, and Shi’ar are under the Fantastic Four contract with Fox.  The Inhumans are the only one who aren’t, so look out for a cameo so they can start their own franchise.  Then the Guardians make an appearance in “Avengers 2,” helping the Avengers fight Thanos.  Thanos is to strong for just the Avengers or the Guardians of the Galaxy, so having the two teams fight would make a great movie.  But this is highly unlikely, considering Joss Whedon said he wanted a more personal enemy for “Avengers 2.”  My guess would be Kang the Conquerer.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Guardians did make a cameo though, to give the Avengers the Infinity Gauntlet.

Marvel has some big balls to be putting Thanos in the movie universe.  He works great in the comic sense, but trying to describe him to a an audience who doesn’t like to think or learn is going to take one hell of a screenwriter.  Thanos needs to be set up well for him to come across as a real threat.  Marvel did a great job with “Thor,” so I’m not as nervous.  If audiences accept the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thanos, then this opens up a whole slew of potential Marvel movies.  But a lot of these characters are going to need a great screenplay to set them up well.  As well as a great actor/actress to play them.  That’s why “Thor” did so well.  It was well acted and well written.

The Marvel movie universe is getting a lot bigger with Thanos.  If you thought the future looked bright before, it’s only going to get better in the next couple of years

MrComicBook, What Does the After Credits Scene Mean for Marvel?

Join the Forum discussion on this post

Comic Book Therapy, New Set Pictures From The Avengers And Confirmation Of Alien Force Presence!