SPECULATION: Will The MCU Suffer At The Hands Of Thanos' Black Order And The Kree-Skrull War?

Predicting Marvel villains and direction of their future universe is nearly impossible. Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios have had a decent lock-down concerning their future plans, for the most part. While we've had both Feige and Gunn shoot-down a bunch of rumors lately, mainly talk of a Ms Marvel (even though she's expected to show-up in Age of Ultron) film and the Planet Hulk storyline being explored. I think we're all overlooking other things that could be coming out of the cosmic-side of the MCU in the near future.

James Gunn revealed to ThePlaylist that Marvel has a very limited access to villainous alien races from the comics, pointing out they don't own the Badoon. I assume Fox has those rights from their original deal for Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer. Strangely enough, we saw almost zero aliens in that original franchise. Even though Fox has access to characters like The Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, The Badoon, Blastaar, Galactus and possibly even Kang The Conquer (someone needs to ask Feige about that one).

"The whole thing is, there's Sakaraan in the movie. And the reason there's Sakaraan in the movie is because there aren't that many alien races in the Marvel Universe, and of those prominent alien races, such as the Kree and the Skrull," Gunn added, somewhat tantalizingly, "I have some very specific ideas for where those races go."

Gunn did however mention that he and Marvel have plans for the Kree and Skrulls. The bitter alien enemies, whose war has spanned across the universe and even clashed on Earth as well. Interesting enough, Thanos has connections to both The Kree and The Skrulls, the Skrulls being one his pawns similar to the Chitauri. Yet, considering their advanced technology and shape-shifting abilities, they would make a stronger threat to the Earth (ala Secret Invasion). I could also see them become the antagonists for the Black Panther movie as well. Whedon has said as much, while opting to use the Chitauri instead of the Skrulls for Loki's army. Marvel seemingly has big plans for the two alien races. Perhaps, those plans will be revealed this weekend.

Ronan The Accuser the main baddies in Guardians is indeed a high-ranking Kree, who just happens to work for Thanos. So the Kree have already been established in the MCU, and talk of Ms Marvel could mean their involvement on Earth soon. Ronan might also have ties to another villainous group under the thumb of Thanos. Considering their connections to Thanos and doing his dirty-work, I'm assuming both Ronan and Nebula are Thanos' generals in his group The Black Order. I'm actually curious to learn why the Kree (or just Ronan) is backing-up Thanos. Perhaps, Thanos is actually in-control of the Kree Empire at the moment. It will be even more interesting to find out how The Inhumans fit-into all of this as well. Since that film has been compared to Game of Thrones in space.

I wouldn't be too shocked if we end-up seeing the rest of Black Order (Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Supergiant, Black Dwarf, Ebony Maw) in the sequel (if not in other Marvel films), searching the rest of the universe for Infinity Stones/Gems. Clashing with the Guardians and other cosmic heroes along the way, leading-up to the eventual Avengers 3 confutation. There have been teases that the Guardians could crossover into an Avengers installment, which makes sense since Thanos would be everyone's problem by that point.

We've been hearing for a while now that Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) will be the big bad of the Marvel universe for years to come. Being a kind of puppet master, pulling the strings of other powerful Marvel villains. Having his Black Order on the hunt for the infinity stones sounds about right. It's also in his wheelhouse to spark a huge conflict on Earth like either an invasion or all out war by the Kree and Skrull. Leading to all sorts of possibilities such as Secret Invasion or even Civil War.

Kevin Feige Confirms Ronan The Accuser Is The Main Villain Of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY And Gamora To Start Off As Antagonist

Marvel's Kevin Feige has talked to Empire (via CBM) and revealed the rest of the villain lineup in Guardians of The Galaxy. The film is full of baddies which already includes Nebula, Yondu, Korath The Pursuer, The Collector and Thanos. Kevin confirmed that Thanos would be behind the scenes and not front-in-centre. Stating Lee Pace's Ronan The Accuser (Kree Empire) will be the main villain the Guardians will have to go up against. How both The Collector and Thanos fit into the film have yet to be revealed. He also dropped the new tidbit of news that Gamora will indeed be a villain in the beginning as well. The Nova Corps are expected to be up against the group as well.

SPECULATION: Who Are The Villains Of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY?

RONAN THE ACCUSER, YONDU AND THE CONTROLLER: A couple of sources have slowly rolled out possible villains for the film which seem to stack the odds against The Guardians in their sheer volume. JoBlo believes that Kree Empire leader Ronan The Accuser (not Thanos) will be the big baddie of the film. Having Ronan would be the first step to the Kree-Skrull War along with bringing in Ms. Marvel and The Inhumans into the MCU. Michael Rooker's Yondu will be a villainous space pirate instead of founding member of the Guardians according to HitFix. LatinoReview revealed a while back that The Controller would be a henchman to the main villain as well.

It was confirmed that both Lee Pace and new addition Karen Gillan would be the lead villains. However, it's possible they'll have a connection of sorts. While also being conflicted (at least Pace's character) about their actions throughout the film or change sides for the better. The talk is that Pace's character will eventually join the Guardians, the same isn't being said about Karen's character. HitFix mentioned that Lee could be playing Mar-Vell, Adam Warlock or Richard Rider (Nova). Gillan's character is currently unknown but will end up being leaked/announced as production is about to begin at the end of the month. I have a couple of ideas of who Lee and Karen could actually be playing.


THEORIES

MAGUS AND NEBULA: Magus is the evil future persona of Adam Warlock and has been a formidable cosmic villain. If Warlock is indeed in the film he would eventually factor into the storylines having connections with Thanos doesn't hurt. Speaking of connections to Thanos when it was mentioned that Yondu was going to be more of a space pirate, it sparked the idea of another villainous space pirate. Nebula is a feared space pirate captain who believes she is the granddaughter of Thanos and has clashed with the Titan and Avengers previously. It would be a way for Thanos to have influence from behind the scenes but not being the main villain.

LORD MAR-VELL/NOVA AND KO-REL: The jump to see fellow Kree supporting a villainous Ronan isn't much of a stretch. HitFix mentions Mar-Vell who has played both hero/villain and the same can be said of Ko-Rel. The Kree military leader who eventually becomes apart of the Nova Corps. might be a lock for a bridge between Nova Cops and The Kree Empire. NC has been confirmed for the film and it wouldn't be stretch to see Ko-Rel interacting with either Richard Rider/Nova or even a misguided Mar-Vell.

BLACK BOLT AND MEDUSA: Not much of information to go on with this theory besides the fact that it's more than likley that Marvel will be introducing characters from the upcoming Inhumans film in Guardians. Similar to how Iron Man/Iron Man 2 setup the entire Phase One Universe. It's possible Guardians could end up setting up most of Marvel's plans for their expansion into the cosmic side of the Marvel character catalog. Making Black Bolt and Medusa villains who eventually side with The Guardians and eventually The Avengers wouldn't be hard to imagine.

KORVAC AND CARINA: I also wouldn't be shocked to see Karen end up playing Carina Tivan (Walters), the daughter of The Collector. Ophelia Lovigood was linked as being the aide to The Collector. The Elder is best known from keeping cosmic objects out of the reach of Thanos. It's expected that Thanos won't be the villain so it's more likely like that Michael Korvac would be the threat that get's the attention of The Collector. In the Avengers cartoon series the Guardians are introduced while on the haunt for Korvac. Carina is sent by her father to seduce Korvac to find out his intentions only for her to fall in love and join him. The pair took on The Avengers and most of the cosmic powerhouses including a the trio of Odin, Zeus and Mephisto. The only problem with this one is that they would be way too powerful for the Guardians to handle on their own.

Game Of Thrones Inspired INHUMANS Film A Candidate For Marvel's Phase Three Lineup?

It's looking like Marvel is going for broke when it comes to their introduction of the Marvel cosmic universe. They are about to begin production on Guardians of The Galaxy which will be their version of Star Trek/Star Wars. Even more exciting is that it was recently revealed via BleedingCool that Marvel might have plans of taking inspiration from Game of Thrones for their adaptation of Inhumans. A sprawling cosmic fantasy epic centred around feuding royal houses which involves the Kree and the forever anticipated Skrulls. It's expected the film would have different houses pursuing the throne to the Kree Empire. Along with the possible looming threat of all out war with the Skrulls. EW lists the project as a solid contender for Phase Three.

This would be a perfect way to introduce fans to the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal and others) along with characters such as Ronan, Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers (Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel). The latter heroine has been rumored for ages and recent news suggests Marvel is already at work developing a script for her own film. Plus, Danvers could be similar to Peter Quill/Starlord being the link to Earth. It would be interesting to see her origins first explained in Inhumans before she goes off on her own adventures in the MCU.