It feels as though the MCU has been around for ages. But Iron Man, which marked the beginning of the shared universe, was released on May 2, 2008. That means that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is already ten years old, if we go from when production began.
Marvel will probably throw an official celebration on May 4, 2018, but they’ve gotten a head start by circulating a pic of a standee online. It was spotted at a Disney conference in Russia, and it’s reportedly quite interesting, although it doesn't promote a specific movie.
Possible spoilers below!
As you can see, the choice of characters and their placement is a little weird. For example, Thanos really shouldn't even be in there with the heroes. Or maybe he should have been placed front and center, since all of the movies actually lead to a confrontation with him.
The inclusion of The Ancient One and Yondu is even more interesting, since the characters died in Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, respectively. But if they’re in there, where’s Quicksilver, who was the first superhero to die and remain dead?
Of course, this might not mean much of anything, especially since the standee appears to be an amalgam of promotional artwork for previous movies (the designs for Falcon and Hawkeye are dead giveaways). But the Infinity Gauntlet can manipulate reality when it harnesses the power of all the Infinity Stones, so maybe there is something to it.
For the moment, though, it’s pretty interesting. But it would be a major surprise if The Ancient One and Yondu actually returned!
