Marvel has successfully created an unprecedented series of movies about their comic based heroes that tells the stories of each character individually as well as the group as a whole. That group is of course the Avengers, with the X-Men in a similar position. Now that they have tied them all together, what’s next? Officially there is a big plan, but anyone with basic knowledge of the comics from which these heroes originate can easily speculate on what else is to come.

The Iron Man movies, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk were all woven into Marvel’s master plan in 2006. Six years later, Avengers hit the silver screen and tied them all together. The next wave is already happening, Iron Man 3, the newly released Thor: The Dark World, and soon to be released Captain America: Winter Soldier make up the next step in the journey for their respective characters.

After round two of individuals comes the second Avengers movie: Age of Ultron(2015), and that’s all the Avengers movies announced so far. However those who know a little about the comic version of the super team know that it has a little more than four members. Two of those members are Spiderman and Wolverine. Spiderman had a recent reboot, and a sequel is arriving in 2014. Wolverine also had his own spin-off a few years ago, and its sequel was released this past summer, with another X-Men movie early next year.

Beyond these characters, there are a few more superhero movies in the works. Guardians of the Galaxy is another film set for 2014, and it centers around another group of heroes similar to the Avengers, in comics the teams often worked together. Other rumored movies include Ant-Man, Nick Fury, Venom, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, The Sub-Mariner(Namor), Luke Cage, and Deadpool.

Deadpool appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and is likely to stay an X-Men spin-off. Venom is a Spiderman villain and is likely to stay that way, even through its own movie. Luke Cage is also involved in a new deal that Marvel made with Netflix. Cage, Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Jewel(Jessica Jones) will all get their own Netflix series, with a mini-series tying them together as their comic title: The Defenders.

That leaves Ant-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, and Namor the Sub-Mariner as seemingly unrelated. But these characters are all part of the Avengers in the comics, and all main characters in the biggest conflict the Marvel universe has seen so far.

That conflict is known as the Civil War. When the governments of the world pass the Superhuman Registration Act all heroes must register. Iron Man and his supporters do so willingly, even helping to get others to do the same. Captain America however, leads the opposing movement in order to protect the secret identities of those who use them. The two sides grow in number and strength, and soon the war ensues. The former leaders of the Avengers are forced to lead their forces against each other, and the the war splits the world of heroes apart with permanent consequences.

The characters who play a major role in the war are now already made or in the process of being made. With that said, I am predicting the Superhero Civil War to be the topic of Marvel’s biggest movie yet. I think somewhere between 2017 and 2020 would be a reasonable expectation for the release. I’m not alone in thinking this, but it isn’t a very popular idea.

Hopefully the movie will stay true to the comics in that all characters in the Marvel Universe are affected. The Fantastic Four’s leader Mr. Fantastic plays a significant role, as does Spiderman and Wolverine. Hopefully Marvel will be brave enough to cross these serieses like the comics.

If I’m right then I don’t think I can possible be more pumped for the movie. I thought the New York battle in The Avengers was awesome, but I can’t wait to see the climactic final battle of the Civil War top it.

When the comic series was being released in 2007, Marvel pushed its fans to pick a side. It would be great for them to bring that campaign back to help advertise. As for the actual issue that starts the Civil War(the Superhuman Registration Act), I see both sides and I think a compromise is the answer. However, I like Iron Man more than Captain America, so I’m on Iron Man’s side.

The best evidence I have comes from a conference that Marvel’s President of Production Kevin Feige said that the Civil War would be a good story for the third Avengers movie. However that was Spring 2012, and from my understanding the remark was purely the opinion of Feige alone, and I don’t believe the third Avengers movie was even being discussed yet at that point. Seeing as they haven’t even announced official plans to make the movie, let alone its content, I don’t see how they could have decided on such things before the first movie was even released.

Even though my hopes are up, this is completely speculation based on the unofficial plans of Marvel Studios. There are some significant obstacles to be overcome for this to happen. For one, they need to gather every movie hero together. The Avengers was an achievement, but collecting upwards of 30 stars is much harder than six. Then somehow they must be woven together in a story that ecompasses the conflict from all perspectives without making a 10 hour film.

The biggest problem that Marvel has to deal with in order to make this happen is copyright issues. The Avengers movies, the Spiderman movies, The Fantastic Four movies, and The X-Men movies are owned separately, so combining these characters like in the comics would require extensive negotiation as well as consolidation of all the rights. So it looks like this movie is not an easy one to make.

Even if my wish doesn’t come true, I trust Marvel Studios to continue making great movies(even if they do conflict with the comic canon). When it comes to the Civil War, there is no other team I would trust with such a film.