Bleeding Cool, which I have to say hasn't been the same since my pal Brendon Connelly left, dropped a whopper of a rumor about the roster post-Avenger: Age of Ultron. Here's their summary...
"It will feature Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Black Panther.
It will also feature Hulk, Thor, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, and a fourteen year old Peter Parker, Spider-Man."
Notice anybody missing there? Yeah, no Quicksilver. Why? Because apparently he dies at the end of 'Ultron'. They also claim that Falcon will make an appearance in Ant-Man, Hulk and Black Widow will share a romantic moment (while he's green? I hope not.), and that Agent Phil Coulson won't be turning up any time soon.
So how legit is any of this? Depends who you ask, but Badass Digest came out and debunked a good portion of it right away. But in doing so they backup some earlier rumors regarding Avengers: Infinity War. Get ready for spoilers, by the way.
The couple of drafts Badass Digest's Devin Faraci claims to have read include the complete fracturing of the Avengers team at the end of 'Ultron'. It's Captain America and Nick Fury who decide to form a new group of heroes because "Iron Man is done, Hulk is missing and Thor has returned to Asgard to deal with the events leading up to Thor: Ragnarok." He says Thor and Iron Man definitely won't be around for Avengers: Infinity War part 1, which jibes with the rumor that surfaced last fall. They'll be taken off the board completely until the big return to save the universe in 'Infinity War part 2'. The Hulk being gone thing is apparently going to be a really big deal, too, so let that speculation about a Planet Hulk/World War Hulk film begin anew.
Badass Digest also seem pretty confident that we will get a Wasp at some point, which most had already figured with Evangeline Lilly playing Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man. And as for Quicksilver getting killed off? That happened in an earlier script but not in the most recent, so something may have changed to keep the speedster around.
And all of this emerges just as Captain America: Civil War, which is being referred as "Avengers 2.5" by Marvel insiders, is just about to begin filming. The Russo Brothers begin shooting on April 1st in Atlanta, and a plot synopsis for the anticipated sequel has been released...
“Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.”
Nothing to see here, folks. Basically it's what we knew the Civil War story to be about, although there seems to be less of an emphasis on revealing the heroes' secret identities. Perhaps because that hasn't really been that big of an issue in the movies up to this point.
Anyway, Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives on May 1st, and Captain America: Civil War hits on May 6th 2016.
