Spoilers ahead:
In the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it is revealed that HYDRA had – over the course of 70 years – infiltrated the ranks of SHIELD. This is was a shock to many moviegoers, and this shock will change the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Agents of SHIELD forever.
Phase 2 – phases are the Marvel movies that take place before an Avenger film – has lacked a certain punch until Captain America: The Winter Soldier came along. Iron Man 3 did little to contribute to the ever expanding Marvel Universe and Thor: The Dark World was a poorly plotted film that only stayed afloat due to the humor provided by Kat Dennings.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been the only movie so far that has offered a glimpse into where Joss Whedon wants to take Avengers: Age of Ultron and what fans should expect out of the MCU – the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The end credits of The Winter Soldier show the introduction of the Marvel characters Pietro and Wanda, traditionally from the X-Men Comics. This sibling duo are meant to be mutants and the children of Magneto, but movie politics – Fox has ownership of the X-Men characters – has stripped them of that right. They will be treated as miracles of nature instead of mutants.
During the end credits, it’s shown that Wanda and Pietro are imprisoned by HYDRA,which is under the control of Baron Strucker. Despite their HYDRA status, set pictures from The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Director Joss Whedon have confirmed that they will be joining The Avengers Team.
Fans believe that after this phase, Joss Whedon’s next move for the Avengers will be to have them confront Thanos, a character that was revealed at the end credits of The Avengers. This idea may be connected to the Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy due this August.
Not only are the movie plot twists mercurial, but also the contracts the actors are under are. Chris Evans, Captain America, has stated that after his six-movie Marvel contract is over, he is quitting acting. On the other hand, Sebastian Stan, Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, has been contracted by Marvel for nine movies.
What does this mean? Well, it’s projected that Evans’ last movie will be The Avengers 3, and it’s speculated that Marvel executives will kill Steve Rogers and have the Winter Soldier take his place. It’s no surprise to comic book readers, given the fact that in the comics, it does come down to this eventually.
So the Marvel Cinematic Universe is ever-changing. If it’s not the actors’ contracts, it’s the many plot twists (HYDRA being SHIELD? Nobody saw that coming.). One thing however, remains secure: whatever is coming next, it’s sure to make our jaws drop.
