Feige says Avengers 4 is the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it. Avengers 4 is The Finale of The Current MCU, Says Kevin Feige
Since we already know that the second Spidey film comes out two months after Avengers 4, and both a third Spidey film and Guardians 3 some time beyond that, I'm skeptical that it will look COMPLETELY different. More so that certain major players will be taken off the board (Stark being candidate #1, obviously), and that the creative vision will be different. If I had to guess, that probably looks like no larger narrative replacing the Infinity Stone and Thanos thing, and no big crossovers akin to the first Avengers and Infinity War. Probably more of a focus on guest appearances (like Ragnarok) and spinoffs, and more willingness to let a film be 100% its own thing.
I think it is definitely the direction they should go in. I'm kinda hoping that means we get more niche characters with some oddball directors. I'd love a wonky noir Moon Knight (which I've been saying for ten years now) or maybe something with the Young Avengers. I think there is something in adding Wiccan and Hulkling into the universe that they kinda need at this point.
Moon Knight is great, but out of grounded characters that haven't been already called by Netflix, Shang-Chi is still the one I most urgently wish to see on the big screen. But, yeah, I'd still be super into a really weird Moon Knight film. Could be a perfect blend of grounded noir stuff and full on mythological nonsense (in a good way). There was some sort of report with Avengers 4 casting that led people to believe that Vision and Scarlet Witch are gonna have their baby twins, which I'd be so into, lol, but that'd lend some credence to Wiccan showing up eventually. I think Guardians and Ragnarok have shown Marvel that they can sell general audiences on the most absurd elements of the source material, as long as they have fun with it and keep everything anchored with engaging characters. Though, if we got Young Avengers, the most exciting characters for me would be Kate Bishop and America Chavez. Anyways, just give me Vision and the Scarlet Witch as a film, and I'll be happy...
Marvel is working on a new animation franchise. I know it's not directly MCU, but still some interesting news.
The untitled theatrical animated Spidey film has a thread here: Movie - untitled animated Spider-Man film (Persichetti & Ramsey; Dec 14, 2018)
OFFICIAL: The X-MEN & FANTASTIC FOUR Are Coming Home As Walt Disney Announces Acquisition Of 20th Century Fox
As a Marvel fanboy, I'm ecstatic at the potential for new crossovers, as well as the potential of a good Fantastic Four film. That being stated, I've come to really hate this deal being viewed completely through the lens of superheroes. The ripple effects are going to touch the entire entertainment industry in a variety of ways that probably won't all be good. I'm inevitably gonna talk at length about how Taika Waititi should be the one to reboot Fantastic Four due to his Kirby love, and how a Wolverine reboot with the full costume, a Hulk fight, and Alpha Flight should come in 4 or 5 years, with him then joining a New Avengers team. My tl;dr posts on Marvel going forward will continue to be fun. But, that should not be the biggest focus of conversation in the larger entertainment world.
lol. The Fox Marvel one? It's still applicable for at least another year. Wonder what the official cut off point will be. Will Dark Phoenix become the finale of that world? What will happen to X-Force? The Gifted and Legion?
Because the MCU is so great right now I am looking foward to what they do with some of these characters but I hope we don't see less output in films though because of this and I hope they don't disney them up too much either. Also I echo the opinions above in that it's scary how much of the film and tv market they own now.
Outside of superheroes, the best potential effect of this scary move is that, with one of the big studios out of the picture and some nice success stories for smaller films in recent years, maybe studios like A24 and Blumhouse will have more room to thrive.
I just hope we don’t have to sit through a bunch of reboot films. Recast if you must but hopefully they recognize people know these characters for the most part. Including the ones already in the MCU after whatever the final phase is.