These days, it seems like when movie studios don’t want their franchises to end, they’ll split the final chapter into two parts. ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Twilight’, and ‘The Hunger Games’ all did it and found success in this strategy. But is Marvel the next one to capitalize on the two-part ending?

It’s no surprise that when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes face off against the Mad Titan, things are going to get intense. So intense in fact that it could span multiple galaxies. But multiple movies? Apparently the possibility is being considered because The Daily Marvelite reports that the Avengers’ final battle against Thanos could end up being split into two movies. Whether that means that ‘The Avengers 3’ will be a two-part movie like ‘Kill Bill’ or a single story split in two like every other young adult franchise is uncertain, but their sources say that part one could come in May 2018 and part two would premiere in May 2019. It’s also mentioned that this jives with Vin Diesel’s comments from last year that mentioned talk of a “merging of brands” during his meeting with Marvel Studios last year prior to being cast as Groot in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.

But don’t go putting money on this just yet. Everyone should take this as a rumor for a number of reasons, but the most prominent one is contracts. It’s widely known that Marvel Studios signs talent to multi-picture deals whenever they’re brought on for a role. Two of the franchise’s biggest names, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., are only contracted to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to and including ‘The Avengers 3’. After that, they’re done. Of course, their deals could be renegotiated to include part two, but both actors have already expressed interest in moving on with their careers. I know that you’re thinking that Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson could replace Steve Rogers as Captain America, but who could replace Tony Stark? There is only one Iron Man, so do you think that they’d do an Avengers movie without him? I don’t think so.

If anything, I could see Josh Brolin’s run as the purple punisher with a prominent chin spill over into another movie and have his story finish up there. For instance, after Earth is saved in ‘The Avengers 3’, Thanos retreats into space to be dealt with by Star-Lord and the Guardians, possibly with some help from the Inhumans, in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3.’ As Diesel said, brands could still merge by bringing together the Avengers with the Guardians, the Inhumans, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Defenders in the third chapter in Joss Whedon’s ‘The Avengers’ trilogy, but then once Thanos is off planet, we conclude the story somewhere else and under the guidance of James Gunn. But that’s assuming that the story ends there. Though some may say that the end is somewhat near, you never know how much farther the MCU will continue after 2020, especially when Kevin Feige had mentioned that these characters could continue like James Bond where another actor could come in to replace the one before them.

What do you think about ‘The Avengers 3’ being split into two movies? Do you think that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ battle with Thanos will be epic enough to be separated into two parts? Or do you feel like this rumor ignores too many important factors on the business side of things? Share your thoughts in the comments below.