Avengers: Infinity Crusade
We’ve ruled out Infinity Gauntlet, but there’s nothing stopping Marvel using the title of another Infinity Gauntlet-related storyline from the comics instead. The Infinity Crusade is the third and final installment in the so-called “Infinity Trilogy.” And what’s it a sequel to? The Infinity War!
By this last chapter, the Infinity Gems (as they’re called on the page) saga had become pretty trippy, but simply put, The Infinity Crusade involved The Goddess, a corrupted form of Adam Warlock’s good side, attempting to wipe out all sin in the universe. Again, this convoluted villain is unlikely to appear in Avengers 4 – especially since we haven’t even met Adam yet – but The Goddess’ extreme yet noble ambitions are similar to Thanos’ own.
Infinity Crusade also features alternate Earths and artificially-created planets. While we haven’t heard anything like this in the rumors about Avengers 4, there’s a strong chance it’ll take the form of a complex time travel story that’ll dive back through the Avengers’ past. There’s a certain similarity between that and Crusade‘s bold sci-fi concepts.
It’s also very likely that the team themselves will wield the Infinity Stones in Avengers 4 as they attempt to fix what Thanos has done. The central conceit of Crusade is that a hero attempts to harness the Gems’ powers for good. Though a straight adaptation is out of the question, then, there are enough thematic links between the two stories for this title to make sense.