Avengers: Age of Ultron Postponed Indefinitely

Marvel fans, be prepared for a massive disappointment.  In a shocking turn, the studio has announced today that the hugely anticipated sequel to The Avengers is NOT going to hit theaters as planned.  Details about this horrible news below.

Fox, apparently harboring bitter feelings towards the comic book giant has sued Marvel over their use of the characters of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen).  As you may remember, Quicksilver appeared in Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.  Through some complicated compromising, the two studios ended up sharing the theatrical rights to those characters.

Fox, however, seems to have had second thoughts and has decided to hit the rival studio where it really hurts by using a legal loophole to serve them with a cease and desist preventing them from showing the final Age of Ultron film to the public.  Instead of coming out a month from today, it’s looking like we may never see the film at all.

Marvel has not put out an official statement yet regarding possible solutions, but Kevin Feige has taken to social media saying that he is shocked and devastated by this development and that Marvel is “exploring several options,” regarding alternatives to releasing the full Avengers sequel.

Never have I been so disappointed by a movie being cancelled and I don’t think there is any precedent for something like this.  Avengers 2 was going to be easily one of the biggest films of the year and its release was so close I could taste it.  I don’t know what to think at the moment, but I hope Fox changes their mind for the sake of the fans.  After a move like this, I can imagine a lot of angry movie-goers boycotting upcoming Fox superhero films, starting with Fantastic Four.

I wonder what the options are here.  Marvel could do a hasty re-cut of the film, removing the copyrighted characters, but they seem to be integral to the plot.  Perhaps we will get bits of the film as flashbacks in Ant-Man to keep the continuity of the Marvel Universe?  I can’t think of any way that this will not be devastating to all Marvel has been building, and devastating to the fans.

What do you think?  Any ideas how this could be salvaged in only a month?