2019 Oscars Reportedly Scrambling To Assemble The Avengers For Hosting Duties

The team behind the 2019 Oscars is having a hell of a time reimagining the awards ceremony and getting general audiences back on board and interested in the show again. First, there was the ill-received announcement about the special category for popular movies, then the Kevin Hart hosting debacle. It’s been a rough go for them, but finally, the Oscars team has reportedly hit upon an idea that is a win-win for everyone involved: assemble the Avengers.

THR is reporting that in the absence of a set host for the 2019 Oscars, the plan is to have a rotating pool of actors to share hosting duties, and their goal is to get as many actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as possible. The details haven’t been finalized yet, but word is that the hopeful aim is to have the extended MCU cast rotate throughout the night to hand out awards and intro various segments. What’s interesting is that THR is also reporting that a few MCU actors were already asked to not present at the Golden Globes in order for their appearance to create a bigger impact for the Oscars.

This year is the 91st year of the Academy Awards (making them officially one year older than my grandma), and the awards ceremony is being produced by Donna Gigliotti and co-produced and directed by Glenn Weiss. This wouldn’t be, however, the first time some of the Avengers have shared the stage at the Oscars. In 2013, after the wild success of The Avengers, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jeremy Renner all appeared together. But with the MCU having expanded so much in the years since, the plans for this year would involve assembling the cast on a much larger scale–and, hopefully, with far more representative diversity.

If the plan all comes together, this would be a win for everyone involved: audiences have a reason to be interested in the Oscars again, ABC gets a ratings bump, and Marvel gets free promo for the upcoming Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, the former of which is already on pace to break Atom Tickets’ presale record. Having Brie Larson and the rest of Team Marvel show up would only increase buzz for Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie. With Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, let’s be real, Marvel ruled the world last year. It would be foolish for the Academy to completely ignore its impact.

Plus, think of the possibilities for memorable moments with that lineup on stage. It would be definitive for the Academy to do a special segment on Stan Lee with all the characters he created assembled to honor him. There’s plenty of opportunity for fun, too. Have Josh Brolin show up with the Infinity Gauntlet and threaten to snap people out of existence throughout the night. He and Tom Hiddleston and other villains can show up and crash the party. Get Tom Holland to handspring onto stage and do a fun bit with the voice talent from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Get all the fierce women of Marvel together and announce an all-female team-up movie for Phase 4 already, like the animated Spider-Women movie already in the works over at Sony. There’s so much potential for it to be the best Oscars ceremony in years if they can pull it off. Let’s hope they do.