Sorry for all Captain Marvel haters but she is the new lead character

She's a cringe machine.

I'm confused as to the whole Avengers leader thing: I thought it was Tony Stark until now, but in that case, what role did Nick Fury play?

It's funny people might think Cap and Iron Man have to be on an Avengers team cause I've been reading the original comics and in 1968 Cap leaves the team. Then it's just Black Panther, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Ant Man/Giant Man, and Wasp. So in other words you don't necessarily need Cap and Iron Man. Also not too long after the original comic of Avengers started (well before Cap leaving) Iron Man and Thor left the team. So yeah. You don't need Cap and Iron Man necessarily.

I'm sure captain marvel at the helm would be interesting, though I wonder if they will replace the actress with someone who can act?

Take a break after Endgame and come back with a Inhumans or Defenders movie. Or a really good FF Reboot

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Possibly. Though I don't see any conspiracy as much as the simple progression of Disney and nothing being sacred but the almighty dollar.

The MCU is going downmarket. The more dedicated fans have already been invested in this universe for 10+ years, the original plot threads are wrapping up and I think they know, perhaps better than we, that this group is ready to move on. And for those that aren't, well, unfortunately most people don't stay invested in a given piece of media for the long haul so they always eventually end up the minority. And also unfortunately the IP is Disney's and not theirs. If they want a similar comic universe it's up to them to find or create a new one.