Could 'Avengers: Endgame' Introduce the MCU Annihilation Wave?
We have few solid details about Avengers: Endgame to go on right now, but we do know that Thanos [...]
We have few solid details about Avengers: Endgame to go on right now, but we do know that Thanos won't be the only threat in the Infinity War sequel. It's been rumored and/or teased for awhile now that Endgame will introduce a "larger threat" than the Mad Titan, which will be the main focus of the movie.
That's a pretty vague and wide open starting place for an investigation into the big threat Avengers: Endgame has looming over the Marvel Cinematic Universe but a questionable new piece of merchandise is raising some interesting discussion...
A leaked LEGO set (which may or may not be real) depicts a sequence labeled "Endbattle in New York," and shows Thanos doing battle with some MCU heroes in the streets of New York. What's notable is the fact that the heroes in question are comprised of those dusted in The Decimation and those that survived - as well as the fact that Thanos has some new minions helping him out. These minions are fearsome-looking creatures (by LEGO standards) of eclectic design: one has claws and sharp teeth, another is breathing fire, and one has wings and what looks like bolts of energy shooing out of its hands. TThese creatures all have a particular color-coded look: a mix of gold, green, purple and black. In short: they look like they could, conceivably, be the MCU version of the Annihilation Wave.
Regardless of whether the LEGO set is real or fake, the discussion point about the Annihilation Wave that it raises is still valid. Annihilus and his swarm of destructive alien insects have long been rumored or speculated to be part of Avengers 4; in fact, before we learned the title of the film was Endgame, "Avengers: Annihilation" was one of the leading titles fans bet on, with all the character implications that name would bring. Trying to introduce Annihilus and his backstory in Endgame would take up too much screen time; however, including the Annihilation Wave as "the major threat" would provide Endgame with the obligatory 'faceless army of goons' a Marvel movie needs. It would also serve as the enchroaching threat that gives the film a ticking clock of serious stakes.
If the Annihilation Wave was featured in Endgame, it could be introduced via one of two easy ways:
- Thanos unleashes it as a way of terrorizing the Avengers and/or remaining life in the universe.
- As an unseen consequence of The Decimation, the Annihilation Wave gets released from its dimension and threatens all remaining life in the MCU - including Thanos.
The other possibility is that the MCU Annihilation Wave could be tied to the Quantum Realm, instead of its "Negative Zone" roots from the comics. With the Ant-Man franchise already revealing that intelligent civilizations exist in the Quantum Realm, Scott Lang escaping from that sub-atomic dimension could release the beasts.
Do you think the Annihilation Wave could appear in Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments!
Avengers: Infinity War is now available on home video. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8th, Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.
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