The events of "Avengers: Infinity War" the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been stalked by Thanos and his cronies for quite some time now. Now that he's finally decided to act on his ambitions - everyone is in for a world of hurt. Early on in the movie, and right up until its closing scenes, Thanos is shown to be nigh-unstoppable. He's able to face down just about any of the Avengers and he's definitely willing to go to any lengths to assemble the Infinity Stones and act out his ultimate goal, bringing balance to the galaxy, albeit with genocide.

So where do we go from here?

Establishing A Credible Threat

While Marvel has created a very formidable villain with seemingly limitless power when the stones are finally assembled - have they written themselves into a corner? Surely nothing could top the sheer magnitude of the Infinity Gauntlet and the stones that reside within it now, right? With the ability to control reality and time it seems as though nothing could be done after this. Its no secret that the Avengers will eventually find a way to stop Thanos, such is the nature of superheroes, but will anything ever feel this important again?

You'll be happy to know that the answer is: Yes! Marvel has a lot of source material to pull from and there are far bigger, badder, and outright scarier things in the Marvel Universe than the Mad Titan.

Some powers even surpass that of the Infinity Gauntlet.

Where Can Marvel Go Next?

Here are just a few events that Marvel could pull from to continue trending their scales upwards:

Secret Wars (2015): In the dying moments of all realities, Doctor Doom steals the power of the Beyonders. The Beyonders are unfathomably powerful beings that see all realities and universes as experiments they can end at any time.

Doctor Doom manages to concoct a plan to steal their power and succeeds. He is unable to prevent the end of all realities but uses his power to blend them all together and salvage what he can. He ultimately rules over it all like a tyrant, as Doom is known to do. Many of the heroes try and defy or overthrow him but he's far too powerful.

Even Black Panther, using the Infinity Gauntlet, cannot best him. This may require a little more re-imagining as some integral characters for this story aren't in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, but it would be an excellent way to explore alternate realities, and alternate versions of existing heroes, as realities smash together. It's even been teased.

Annihilation (2006): A large fleet of all-consuming bug-like beings led by a villain names Annihilus called The Annihilation Wave emerge from The Negative zone to consume all of the known universe. They manage to decimate a good portion of the universe, causing heroes and villains alike across all worlds to band together to protect their planets.

This would give Marvel a great chance to flesh out their cosmic heroes on the big screen, expanding on the Kree empire, the remnants of the Nova Corps and even have Thanos help the Avengers.

So, if you were worried that Marvel has played their strongest hand too early, you'd be mistaken. There's a lot of new and exciting directions to go in after Thanos. The scale and ambition of "Avengers: Infinity War" shows us that Marvel is capable of telling these grand stories, now all they need to do is refine the process.
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