User blog comment:LoveWaffle/2014 Preview/@comment-6731922-20140115002940/@comment-1895174-20140120055210

Ronan and Nebula work in unison as servants of Thanos. Going by his last line in The Dark World, the Collector probably collaborates with them. The Nova Corps won't be villains.

It's an interesting set up, though, because the villains aren't their own masters. That's not something that's ever really been tried before. The Hydra we got in The First Avenger didn't answer to the rest of the Nazi war machine, for example. Thanos is the main villain of the over-arcing MCU, but they're taking their time getting to him. Rather than obligatorily throwing him into every movie, like what the Christopher Reeve Superman movies did with Luthor, the MCU is building up to him by having the heroes fight his underlings before his big reveal in what I'm assuming is going to be Avengers 3 (subtitle Infinity?). And I want it to work, because it's the exact same way I wish the Fantastic Four reboot handles Doom.