This weekend, Marvel released its latest blockbuster, “Captain America: Civil War”. Being the 13^th film in the franchise, one can’t help but wonder, where do they go from here?

Marvel has already done storylines with individual characters, teams, and now, versus films. At the end of the previous Avengers film, Marvel introduced their second line of Avengers, featuring Scarlett Witch, War Machine, Falcon, and Vision. With fan favorites Thor and Hulk gone from the Avengers, along with Iron Man and Hawkeye, whom have supposedly retired, how is Marvel going to continue the franchise?

“Iron Man” was the one who started the franchise, back in 2008, and Hulk was by far one of the most popular characters in the Avengers, along with the villain everyone loves, Loki. Marvel was able to bring Iron Man back for this film, but both the character, and Robert Downey Jr, are getting tired. Robert Downey Jr isn’t signed on for many more films, and there isn’t much more ground to cover with the character, having already done 6 films.

With time, these stories will grow even more repetitive, with the only thing changing being the characters, similar to the vampire craze back in the mid-2000s. Movie trends go through phases, and soon, superheroes won’t necessarily be all Hollywood talks about.

“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” has proven that the people can have a negative reaction toward the film genre. So while Marvel may be basking in the glory of their latest film in the seemingly ever-growing franchise, they might have to start thinking of a backup plan should the market for superhero films crash.

About 20 years ago, Batman was entering his fourth film in the franchise when Batman & Robin happened. And everybody knows how that turned out. There was a solid 5-10 years where there wasn’t ANY heroes on the big screen or the small screen.

Now, that doesn’t mean that people won’t see Captain America or shouldn’t, they should just maybe come out of the theater thinking a little more about the future or the legacy that this cinematic universe will bring to the art of film as a whole.