With the release of Avengers: Endgame, an era of Marvel movies has come to a conclusion, but we have definitely not seen the last of the famed Marvel team. While the roster may end up being very different, the MCU will still need a group of heroes to protect (or avenge) them. Later, we will spotlight the potential new roster, but for now lets look at some of the comic book villains that we could see taking the mantle of big bad in Avengers 5.  (some spoilers may follow)

Kang the Conqueror
With Endgame introducing the idea of time travel, that opens up the door of MCU to introduce the classic Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 60s.  While originally a Fantastic Four villain, Kang has showed down with the Avengers numerous times in the past (in comics and animated form). It could be as straightforward as Kang traveling to the current MCU from his dying timeline to conquer earth, or he could come looking for revenge blaming the Avenger’s time travel adventure for killing his future (or alternate future). Visually there is a lot that Marvel could do with Kang and with his connections to the Fantastic Four, it could potentially be a good way to introduce them into the proper MCU.

Annihilus
Yes, another Fantastic Four villain (sorry, they have a great rouges gallery). Annihilus is a super/cosmic/powerful warlord and sometimes ruler of the Negative Zone. Visually he is like a cross between Ultron and Thanos and like Thanos he commands a fleet of spaceships and an army of followers. Is that too soon? Is Annihilus just too similar to the threat that Thanos posed? I love villains that can go head to head with the heroes (just say no to smoke monsters and human big bads). Annihilus could bring the Avenger’s fight into space and would introduce some awesome new MCU science including the Negative Zone (and hopefully the Richards family).

The Mandarin
One of the MCU’s disappointing missteps was how badly the Ten Rings and the Mandarin were handled in Iron Man 3. People were so angry at what they did to the classic Ironman villain, that Marvel Studios did an about face and hinted at there being a real Mandarin in a MCU One Shot short movie. The Ten Rings was introduced in Ironman and it is about time that we see some payoff from the group. Maybe in the five year gap in Endgame, the group gained even more power; recruited new followers and took over land in more countries. Could the Mandarin have risen to power in the shadows? Were they next on Hawkeye’s kill list? Using the Mandarin and the Ten Rings, we could have a very powerful earth-bound Avengers movie. And with characters on the Avengers like the Falcon, War Machine, Black Panther, Wasp, and Ant-Man, we have a much more even balance of power.

Beyonder
How do you top Infinity War and Endgame? Introduce the Beyonder and Secret Wars and just let the MCU go bat-shit crazy. Heroes and villains both past and present fighting each other in Battleworld while the cosmic god-like entity tries to decide if earth is worth saving. This could be a good way to gather up characters form all movies again, but is it too soon for that? Would it be too much of a rehash? And would it feel forced? Either way, using the Beyonder and Secret Wars could potentially be a lot of fun (but maybe hold off until the X-Men and Fantastic Four are firmly established into the MCU).

Who would you like to see in Avengers 5? I left Galactus off my above list, because I feel like the next Avengers film would be too soon. We need to build him up over another 20 movies first!

Another day. Another Marvel Comics issue #1. This one is for the Fantastic Four, just in time for their 75th Anniversary. While I am very happy that Marvel Comics has not rebooted their universe like DC Comics did with the “New 52,” it is very silly that most Marvel titles get renumbers to 1 along with a new creative team after 12 to 24 issues (Fantastic Four is going back to issue 1 after only 16 issues).

The All-New Marvel Now! team for the first family of superheroes is writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk. Issue #1 kicks off “The Fall of the Fantastic Four,” and sees the return of one of their oldest foes, Fing-Fang-Foom, along with ditching their traditional blue and black color scheme for a darker red and black. Where will this new direction take them?

Fantastic Four #1
Official Description: The world’s greatest comics magazine begins anew with Marvel’s First Family, the Fantastic Four! But as the brilliant MR. FANTASTIC, the compassionate INVISIBLE WOMAN, the ever lovin’ THING & the hot-headed HUMAN TORCH embark on a strange mission, they aren’t met with new beginnings, but an untimely end! As the family of cosmic explorers head towards their darkest hour, who could possibly be behind their downfall? And how is one of their oldest enemies, the sadistic dragon known as Fing-Fang-Foom involved? Prepare for the fantastic!

This new #1 hits stands on Wednesday February 26th from Marvel Comics! Also launching on Wednesday is Revolutionary War: Supersoldiers.

Check out these Fantastic Four related trades…

After ten issues and countless spinoffs, Age of Ultron issue 10 has finally hit stands. The book has promised to change the shape of the Marvel Universe with a big twist and lasting effects- I will not spoil things here, but go get the issue and see for yourself. Big changes? Yeah, I’d say so. Lasting effects? That is more of a wait and see. Can’t say for sure without seeing where they go with this. In the very least, the end of Age of Ultron could explain some of the holes created with the slow staggered launch of “Marvel Now!”.

Age of Ultron #10
Official Description: THE FINALE! The biggest secret in comics will be revealed to you! An ending so confidential… even the artists of this book don’t know what lies on the final pages…! A surprise so big that comic book legend Joe Quesada himself returns to the pages of Marvel Comics to draw a sequence that people will be talking about for years.

The issue hit stands this past Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 from Marvel Comics.

Welcome to our all new version of The Pit, where we are hoping to share news on a more daily basis. We’ll mix it up day by day and shed the spotlight on different areas of Entertainment, including movies, television, comics, books, music, etc. Today we’ll take a look at some recent Movie News.

Who ya gonna call? Apparently not Bill Murray. The beloved comic actor has turned down the deal to reprise the role of Peter Venkman in the second sequel to the Ghostbusters. Esquire was kind enough to get us an update on the project from Dan Aykroyd, who is still working hard to get the project off the ground regardless that it has been 20 years since they fought Vigo with the assistance of the Statue of Liberty.

Aykroyd told the publication; “…we have a story and a draft that everybody seems to agree would make the third movie. At this point, I think we’re closer than we ever have been.” One of the reasons they are closer to production is that Murray has “abrogated his rights” by turned down the project three times. He doesn’t have veto power over the movie anymore. As much as I’d love to see Murray join Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson in the jumpsuits hunting down ghosts I’d love it just as much for them to finally move on without him. Make Ghostbusters 3, pass the torch to the next generation of Ghostbusters and keep this series alive far into the future. There is so much wasted potential here.

Modern Family funny man Ty Burrell has joined the cast of the upcoming sequel to last years disappointing musical comedy The Muppets. James Bobin is returning to direct the movie and co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller, who co-penned the original and has written movies such as Fun with Dick and Jane, Yes Man, Get Him to the Greek, and The Five-Year Engagement.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Burrell will be portraying an Interpol inspector as the Muppets leave Hollywood for Europe (and I’m assuming hijinks ensues). There is no word on who will be co-starring in the other not puppet roles, but Jason Segel, the star of the last flick, will not be returning. There is no word if Walter, the newest Muppet who has uncanny whistling abilities, will be back or if he packed his bags along with Segel. No matter what, I think this follow up with be more enjoyable than 2011 film. Casting Burrell is a big step in the right direction.

It wasn’t bad enough that fox got to screw up the Fantastic Four movie franchise over two sub-par films by Tim Story, but they are getting their chance to do it again. The studio has announced a March 6, 2015 release date for a reboot of the Marvel Comic series.

Handling the directing duties is Josh Trank, the man behind the found footage superhero movie Chronicle. the movie was a great effort, but for me it doesn’t show that he is ready for a property like Fantastic Four. The 27 years old director has just one feature under his belt along with a couple episodes of The Kill Point, a short lived action drama that starred Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo. They will need to knock the casting out of the park to get my attention, otherwise I’m counting the years until the property rights revert back to Marvel Studios.

Excited for Ghostbusters 3, another Muppets, or the Fantastic Four reboot? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page!

In the comics right now The Avengers are facing off with the X-Men, but come 2015 they might be facing off with the Justice League as both Marvel Studios and Warner Brothers are gearing up new film versions of the beloved superheroes. Fresh news has broken this past week on both properties.  Lets start with Marvel…

It is official! Joss Whedon will be returning to write and direct The Avengers 2 for Marvel Studios for release in the summer of 2015. In addition to this very large duty, the fan favorite director will also be developing a television series ele Marvel and ABC that takes place in the Marvel movie universe. All of this is part of an exclusive deal that Whedon signed with Marvel that will extend their working relationship through 2015. Deals like this are very common with comic book writers/artists with publishers and used to be the norm in Hollywood, but these days it is very rare. Who might the television series focus on? Could it be the long in development Hulk show? Or how about Cloak and Dagger? Maybe a series that Whedon took a crack at writing in comic form, like The Runaways? Black Panter, Doctor Strange, Heroes for Hire with Luke Cage and Iron Fist… the possibilities are endless. And if they can get a big screen Avenger to appear during sweeps, you better believe record setting ratings will follow.

Rumors are also swirling that Marvel Studios is negotiating with Fox in regards to the rights of Daredevil and Fantastic Four characters. Fox is looking to extend their rights to make another Daredevil movie, and Marvel is willing to play ball as long as Fox reverts the rights to a few cosmic characters from the Fantastic Four, including Galactus and the Silver Surfer (both of which were butchered in Fox’s awful FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer). We’ll have to wait and see if this is legit. Worse case is that it is not, but in the very least it looks like Marvel will be getting the rights to Daredevil back soon enough.

Over at Warner Brothers, with Man of Steel heading into theaters next summer, the studio is trying push forward to a Justice League film sooner rather than later. Hopefully it will tie into Man of Steel and also connect to the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern. A script has already been written by Will Beall (writer of Gangster Squad and a handful of Castle epsiodes) and Variety reports that the WB is sending it out to Ben Affleck to consider directing and co-starring in it. Deadline Hollywood denies that Affleck has any interest in the project, but this will be a wait and see type of deal. Affleck, who starred in Daredevil and was one of the actors at the top of the list to play Superman for the aborted Tim Burton Superman Lives, could have interest in the genre and Justice League would be the ultimate superhero film. As for which role he’d take? I have no idea…

So much for bring back the 90s stable of poly bagging an issue if Marvel was just going to reveal which member of the Fantastic Four bit the bullet via the news the day before the issue was supposed to come out. I will not reveal the details of who died in battle, but I will remind you that the publisher is allowing the issue to be bought from stores today due to the news killing the press already (instead of new comics usual Wednesday release date).

What comes next? The Fantastic Three? No idea. All Marvel Comics has said is that the regular Fantastic Four ongoing series is over.

What is going on in the world of entertainment? Follow me into The Pit…

• Next month’s Fantastic Four #587 will see the end of the first family of superheroes, the series, and will take at least one of the team’s lives. Which member will take their last breath, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, or the Thing? My money is on the Human Torch. Place your bets below, then come back next month as we take a closer look at which hero bites the dust.

• ?It is great to hear Kevin Smith talk about his upcoming (and unconventional) horror film Red State. The passion he is putting into the project is really shining through. And I’m glad that he is back to making something he cares about after the dreadfully boring Cop Out and the letdown that was Zack and Miri. I just wish the trailer for Red State was better. It doesn’t give me a lot of hope for the overall piece.

• It was announced that the Playboy founder Hugh Hefner will be marrying Crystal Harris, a 24 year old Playmate. Apparently he popped the question over the Holidays. I have to ask… why? I mean, seriously, why? Does the 84 year old feel the need to settle down? Did the twins he was dating earlier in the year tire him out that much?

• We still have another three weeks until Chuck‘s return. In the meanwhile I’ll continue watching all of my favorite 80s action movies. Up next… Die Hard.

• The movie making simulation Hollywood the Game is gearing up for a new year of movies and session 10 of its popular television simulation. Check out the site and sign up if you are interesting in playing. Head on over to HollywoodtheGame.com

• True Grit is the best movie of the year. Yeah, I said it. Now go see it if you don’t believe me.

• Own a car? Than you really should have automobile insurnace. Yeah, I know this has nothing to do with entertainment and it contains a spelling error. Oh well. Can’t win them all.