It’s time for scoops for a movie that isn’t even due out for four more years. The Daily Marvelitte has a scoop that claims that The Avengers 3 is so massive and huge that it will have to be made as a 2-part movie. This is a strange scoop since The Avengers 2 won’t even be out for another year, so it is doubtful that too much work has been done on the script for what is basically five or six movies down the line for Marvel.

Of course, the answer to that question is that it might be, but don’t expect it to be an Avengers 3 Part 1 and Avengers 3 Part 2 type of deal. Devin Faraci over at Bad Ass Digest chimed in with some legal reasons that it won’t happen, but his explanation is just logistics that can be easily worked around.

Devin mentioned that Ilya Salkind was sued when he split The Three Muskateers into two separate movies in 1973 because he only paid his cast for one movie and two came out. That caused the Screen Actors Guild to create the Salkind Clause, which says actors have to know how many movies that they are in. You then can’t use the footage in a second movie without paying them again. That is why Marlon Brando wasn’t in Superman II.

That is all well and good, but honestly Marvel could pay the actors for a second movie, and it won’t cost the $50 million that it cost them to bring back Robert Downey Jr. for The Avengers.  I’ll be honest, I think they are bringing back Downey after his contract expires after Avengers 3, and might get a lower rate by using him as a minor character, kind of a Sam Jackson deal. And no matter what Devin thinks, I don’t think Chris Evans could get even half that much.

The Daily Marvelitte claims their sources indicate that Marvel wants to have The Avengers 3 come out in 2018 and the conclusion in 2019. Now, everyone is just assuming this 2019 movie will be The Avengers 4. However, there is a lot bigger explanation for this – and one that the site kind of hinted at. The second movie will be Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Now, if Marvel is really planning on ending the current lineup of The Avengers with The Avengers 3 (and they need to if they don’t renew Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.), then they need to be ready to move on. Thanos is pretty much set as the villain in The Avengers 3, and everyone knows that the Guardians of the Galaxy play a major role in the Thanos storyline.

It makes plenty of sense for The Avengers to save Earth from Thanos in The Avengers 3 and then Guardians of the Galaxy to pick up the fight in space in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. That gives Marvel the reason to have a third Guardians movie (the second comes out on July 28, 2017), where they can finally end the story that started in the first Avengers movie. I would say there could even be a chance to cross the two properties, especially if new Avengers possibilities like Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange can move into space to help fight.

Of course, the entire rumor could be bunk. What are your thoughts? Would you like to see the Thanos storyline stretched out into two movies? Let us know in the comments below.