Avengers 4 to possibly feature a significant time-jump.

*** AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR SPOILER WARNING ***

Whilst Avengers: Infinity War was, in a manner of speaking, a decade in the making, there’s a chance that the fourth Avengers film will take place a whole decade after Thanos’ fateful and devastating snap of his fingers at the end of the most recent entry in the on-going, multi-film superhero saga.

Speaking recently, actress Gwyneth Paltrow seemingly confirmed that not only will the fourth film feature a time-jump, but that the proposed family Tony Stark puts to her character Pepper Potts at the beginning of Infinity War becomes a reality. In an extract from The Infinity War Magazine, Paltrow dropped this bombshell;

“Pepper and Tony have had a real long journey together. She obviously starts as his dutiful assistant, and then the relationship evolves, and now this decade later they’re married, and they have a child. Their relationship has evolved in all of the ways that great romances evolve.”

Now it does seem strange that a magazine with Marvel Studios’ involvement would allow such a spoiler but could this reveal have somehow slipped through the net? In Avengers: Infinity War there is no indication that Tony and Pepper have got married and they definitely don’t have a child.

Whilst there have been rumours of a time-jump, both Marvel Studios and directors the Russo Brothers have remained tight lipped on the plot details of the upcoming fourth chapter of the main Avengers storyline, they have revealed that Ant-Man will play a significant role in the new story. They did however say the same about Hawkeye in the third film, so who knows? Theories abound that the film will also feature time-travel with leaked set photos seemingly showing a present-day Tony Stark (or one that looks a bit older) conversing with the 2012 Captain America  at what looks to be the Battle Of New York from the first film but with Ant-Man also present. It’s also worth nothing that the same photographs also show Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo present wearing a motion capture rig.

With a plot line involving both the Time Stone and alternate dimensions via The Quantum Realm, there could also be a distinct possibility of time travel playing a part in the fourth film.

There has also been speculation that actress Emma Fuhrmann has been cast to appear as the much older version of Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang in the upcoming fourth movie, which would seemingly tie in with the time-jump theory given that the role has up until now been played by child actor Ryder Fortson in both Ant-Man and the upcoming sequel Ant-Man & The Wasp.
Cassie Lang is a prominent figure in the Young Avengers comic series, appearing as both Stature and Stinger, and this has lead to some speculation that this new casting could be leading towards a future Young Avengers film down the line.

Sources: Geektyrant.com, Movieweb.com, The Hashtag Show