The Avengers have taken quite a bashing recently.
Only a few were left standing after Infinity War and not all of them are expected to make it out of Avengers 4.
The recent release of the home entertainent packages for Avengers 3 include an intriguing directors’ commentary which spills some new information.
Joe Russo just revealed the line-up of the heavily rumoured ‘Secret Avengers.’ He also finally answered some fan frustrations with how easily the supposedly incredibly powerful Black Order was rather easily dispatched.
There have been rumours about the Secret Avengers appearing on screen circulating since last year and they already have a Marvel history.
In the All-New Marvel NOW! a new Secret Avengers team was assembled consisting of Nick Fury, Jr, Black Widow, Phil Coulson, and Spider-Woman. Hawkeye also joined the team a little later.
However, Avengers: Infinity War character bios leaked from Toys R Us promo materials for tie-in movie merchandise dropped a massive hint in the Captain America package.
It said: “The Super-Soldier has remained under the radar while continuing to do what he believes is right – saving the world one clandestine mission at a time.”
Now Russo has confirmed that “clandestine” really is another word for secret.
On the bonus extras commentary for Infinity War he said: “Obviously the Black Order are very powerful: they’ve got Vision on his heels, they’re giving Wanda a run for her money.
“But what we wanted to illustrate here is that this core group of Avengers, quote unquote ‘Secret Avengers’ in Falcon, Widow and Cap are hardened, tough, and work very well as a unit, and surprise the Black Order here. Get the upper hand.”
How will this translate into Avengers 4?
The advance images have shown Captain America back in a much more traditional, less “secret” costume, so it seems that everyone is out in the open for the final battle against Thanos.
The Secret Avengers may be integrated for now but everything points to Avengers 4 changing the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe as it moves into Phase 4.