In news that should come as no surprise at all, Marvel Studios has confirmed that Avengers: Infinity War will not mark the end of the MCU.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe will emerge from the ashes of the two-film showdown with Thanos, producer Jeremy Latcham has said that the Avengers will be dramatically changed by the story.
"Well, I think it definitely is an end to some version of the team that we've come to know as The Avengers," he said during a Q&A for the home release of Avengers: Age of Ultron (via CBR).
"Who knows exactly what's going to happen yet in that film, but I think this version of that team - and I think we started to hint at it at the end of Age of Ultron, that the team will be evolving.
"And one of the things we love in the comics is that the roster is always changing. That new people are coming on to the team, and that you could pick up an Avengers book 10 years later and you don't recognise people on the cover. But the ideas and the ideals and things that make the Avengers the Avengers, still exist, and I think that's part of what this culmination will be.
"We're seeing this version of the team doing this thing to save the universe, the galaxy, however you want to put it, and we'll kind of see where that goes. It's not the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I think it is the end of part of it, for sure. We're still trying to sort out which parts."
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We were already introduced to a shaken-up line-up at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Paul Rudd's Ant-Man also due to join the team in time for next year's Captain America: Civil War.
Infinity War will see the climax of the slowly-building conflict with Thanos that was first hinted at in the post-credits scene in 2012's Avengers.
The only film currently announced by Marvel to follow the conclusion of that story is Inhumans.
Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 will be released in the UK on April 27, 2018 and May 4, 2018 in the US, with Part 2 following on April 26, 2019/May 3, 2019.
