Editorial: Avengers Roster To Change After Age Of Ultron

True to the way of Stan Lee's comics, The Avengers roster will not only be made up of the current line-up of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye.

Marvel's president Kevin Feige has been reported as saying the following:

“The Avengers, ideally, in the grand plan are always big, giant linchpins. It’s like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the [Avengers] roster is altered by the finale of this film.”

To the hardcore fans, we know that the Avengers have more than just these featured characters. And we also have had the inkling that there will be shifts in the line-up whether it's in Avengers 3 or after. But with Feige's statement, he has basically confirmed that we will be getting a new roster after Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

Meaning, something big is about to go down at the end of the sequel. There has been speculations. One is that Hulk may end up getting shot into space as he has become too much of a threat on Earth. And this may lead to another Hulk standalone movie that may see him in Planet Hulk.

Another popular speculation is the death of Chris Evans' Steve Rogers as Captain America. Either Cap will see his demise at the end of the movie or may leave and let Bucky Barnes (a.k.a. The Winter Soldier) take up the red, white and blue shield.

Also, there's no confirmation yet that Robert Downey, Jr. will sign a new contract with Marvel, extending his stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Tony Stark / Iron Man. Though it will be hard to imagine who would take up this leadership role in the eyes of the audience without Downey.

However, there has also been recent speculation that with Downey appearing in Captain America 3 and that being the beginning of another popular comic book limited series, Civil War; the last two speculations above may be misguided.

But whatever the case is, with the number of new characters getting added into the MCU (like Guardians Of The Galaxy, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and possibly Black Panther), it would only make sense that the original Avengers need to make way for the new ones.