Big Changes to Marvel Comics Give Glimpse into the Future of Marvel Cinematic Universe

When Marvel made the big announcement that the new comic book Thor would be a woman earlier this week, I didn't think it necessarily portended any immediate changed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

(Oh, by the way, in case you didn't hear, comic book Thor is going to do something to make himself unworthy of the Mjölnir hammer, and the new Thor is going to be one of the women in Thor's life. Wow, right?)

However, now they've gone and revealed that the new Captain America will be Sam Wilson—a.k.a. Falcon, a.k.a. a guy who is not white—it's clear something bigger is going on here. You see, the change to the comic book Cap lines up perfectly with what we already know about movie Cap—namely that Chris Evansdoesn't want to go on playing the Marvel hero forever, so somebody else will have to take over. And this suggests the changes to the comic books are being done to bring them into alignment with what's going to be happening in phases two and three of the MCU.

These aren't the only changes coming to the Marvel comics as part of their Marvel NOW! brand refurbishing project. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso also suggested that there will be a new Iron Man, and that Tony Stark may take on a less good-guy-type role in Avengers universe. And that also lines up with the fact that Robert Downey Jr. doesn't want to go on playing Iron Man forever.

So look out, Marvel movie fans. Big changes are a comin'. Probably.

[via Entertainment Weekly and Screen Rant]