Kevin Feige has confirmed a long-rumored spoiler for next year's Avengers: Age of Ultron in an interview from the set of the movie.
Talking about the impact that the Joss Whedon-written and directed movie will have on the larger universe, the president of Marvel Studios told Buzzfeed that the Avengers series "ideally, in the grand plan, are always big, giant linchpins" similar to the comic book event storylines.
"It's like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the [Avengers] roster is altered by the finale of this film."
Yes, apparently the Avengers at the end of Age of Ultron won't be the same Avengers from the start of the movie.
For some time now, there's been a rumor going around that the climax of Age of Ultron will see an almost entirely new team of Avengers, led by - depending on which version of the rumor you've heard - either Captain America or Iron Man, and introducing new characters that could then be spun out into solo projects.
It's possible that Feige's comment is simply intended to stoke such speculation in order to build buzz for the movie over the next few months.
An altered roster, after all, is an impressively open concept.
If, as expected, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and/or the Vision join the team, then that's an altered roster.
Similarly, should someone - Iron Man, for example - leave the team, then that's similarly altered.
