Marvel Studios may still be laying the groundwork for Avengers: Secret Wars and a possible soft reboot of the MCU, but there are plenty of other stories in the works that don't revolve around Variants.
The Cosmic Circus is reporting that the idea is to still develop several smaller story arcs which may be largely standalone and won't necessarily tie into what's happening with the Multiverse.
Among them is an adaptation of the Devil's Reign storyline which saw The Kingpin outlaw vigilantes after becoming New York City Mayor. Dark Reign and Gang War are also thought to be influences, with Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man 4 expected to be key.
There's also going to be a focus on world powers attempting to acquire materials like Vibranium and Adamantium to deal with superheroes, including creating their own superhumans (enter, The Sentry).
The Hulk and She-Hulk will reportedly be key to this, with the current idea being to introduce more Hulks starting with Red Hulk, a.k.a. President "Thunderbolt" Ross in Captain America: Brave New World.
According to the site, "this will have dire consequences in the MCU story, potentially leading to a World War Hulk project down the road. That's been described as a 'Civil War style project,' acting as an Avengers 4.5, in which heroes will band together to take on several Hulk threats around the globe."
As expected, Ironheart and Armor Wars will dig into whatever the Department of Damage Control has been up to and it appears we'll explore the role some of Iron Man's greatest foes have played in what's led us here, including the late Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, and Ultron.
On the supernatural side, there are plans for a Midnight Sons project when a major threat to humanity emerges that The Avengers aren't equipped to deal with. Lilith and Mephisto have both been considered as the big bad, with Wong and Blade expected to lead this group.
Again, only time will tell how many of these projects pan out but it feels like we still have a great deal to look forward to in the coming years. At this rate, Marvel Studios will need to delay the next Avengers movies as squeezing all of these in with a reduced release schedule doesn't seem possible.
Whether Disney will be happy with that is another matter, though it sounds like Young Avengers could fill the void to some extent.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.