A new rumor claims that The Avengers 3 is going to do what quite a few franchise sequels have pulled in the recent past. It will be split into a two-part movie.

This is a trend that started with the Twilight Saga, as the final book in the series was split into The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. Harry Potter followed suit with The Deathly Hallows, and it has continued through such franchises as The Hobbit, originally planned as a two film prequel but turned into a three part epic, and Divergent. Anything to squeeze a little extra money out of a franchise.

Splitting The Avengers 3 into two parts is an interesting conceit, since its not based on a novel series, though it could be based on an expansive, existing storyline in the comics. And a good cliffhanger never hurt ticket sales. Daily Marvelite went out of their way to confirm that this rumor has some truth to it. According to their sources at Marvel Studios, the team's impending fight with Thanos will be so epic and complicated, it will not just require, but demands, two movies.

When Marvel announced the Untitled Marvel Project 2019 for May 3rd, many believed it was the date being set for The Avengers 3, which would have it arriving four years after Avengers: Age of Ultron. Kevin Feige later hinted that the third installment is actually one of the untitled 2018 releases. So the plan, according to this new report, is to have The Avengers 3 open May 2018 followed by The Avengers 4 in May 2019.

It was not confirmed by the source at Marvel if The Avengers 3 is going to actually be a two-part movie with a cliffhanger, or if The Avengers 3 and The Avengers 4 are just standalone adventures with their own contained stories.

Two movies makes sense if the sequels are also planning to bring Guardians of the Galaxy into this storyline, which has often been rumored. Vin Diesel recently said this about the possibility:

"[We had] A great meeting. It was even talking about something so big I can't even talk about because it's like the merging of brands in a way, which I won't get into. That was something way, way, way, way, way down the road."

While nothing is confirmed by Marvel or Disney, many believe that Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel's The Avengers will be coming together in The Avengers 3 whether its a two-parter or not. And that it will end the first three phases of the Marvel cinematic universe.