The Avengers could be the Oscars’ last-ditch effort for a host

Earth’s mightiest heroes may have to assemble one last time to combat a problem greater than Thanos: the hostless Oscars.

There’s only one group of heroes we can count on to save the day, and that’s the Avengers. Nevermind that they had a trip up in Avengers: Infinity War, we’re sure they’ll fix that soon. But aside from that one little flaw, Earth’s mightiest heroes will indeed be the ones who will always be there to defend our world whenever we call on them.

They may have wanted to put an asterisk on that “whenever,” though, because we might be overstepping our boundaries with this new request. Thanks to the loaded controversy of Kevin Hart stepping down to host the Oscars, it now looks like the Academy Awards will be calling on the Avengers to help rescue the broadcast from certain doom.

To make things clear, the Avengers themselves won’t be there suited up in costume, but rather the Academy is hoping to bring in the Marvel actors to present throughout the show. This year, the show seemingly won’t have a singular host, but a rotation of celebrities to present instead. And what better team to call on then the Avengers?

This comes according to The Hollywood Reporter, which mentioned Thursday morning that the Academy is looking to scoop together as many Marvel celebrities as they can for the event.  Apparently, this is not just a spur-of-the-moment idea as of today; it goes as far back as the planning of the Golden Globes. The THR story mentions:

"According to sources, several of them were asked not to present at the recent Golden Globes in order to ensure their appearance at the Oscars would have even bigger impact."

This may be why only the cast of Black Panther presented at the Golden Globes show last Sunday night. Though we hope this doesn’t mean the Black Panther cast can’t present at the Oscars next month. With it being such a popular movie, there’s no way the Academy could turn them down.

In the meantime, we’re all still waiting to see who’s up for an Academy Award this year. Disney, the parent company of ABC (the channel airing the Oscars) and Marvel, has already made an absolutely huge push to get most of their movies full recognition. Many are hopeful that Black Panther can land a Best Picture nomination. And Infinity War could also get some high-profile nominations like Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay if Disney got its wish.

At the same time, it’s starting to come off as Disney playing favorites and showing a bit of bias toward their own brand. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re a mega-company already, so it’s kind of hard to stay out of Disney’s path even if you tried. They’ve got tons of movies, actors, and other brands on their side. Thus, tapping into their vault of resources is probably the best and easiest course of action for the Academy to take at this point anyway.

Still, we can’t deny that we’d be excited to see the actors of the Marvel universe hit the stage. Last year, the show included a handful of Marvel actors, including Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, and Zendaya. And, as THR writes, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and others presented just off the heels of the first Avengers movie. It’s a cross-promotion effort, all while doing a bit of fanservice at the same time.

As of now, the Academy Awards will air on Feb. 24 without a host, but with many celebrity guests. Which Marvel actor are you hoping to see on the stage that night? Let us know in the comments.