Marvel’s Multiverse Saga will culminate in two Avengers movies in 2025, meaning that the franchise has three years to create a strong connection between audiences and the new Avengers who will be at the center of Multiverse Saga leads to Secret Wars. This shorter window between Phases 4 and 6 has the potential to make every Marvel movie and show more exciting, but it can also make it more difficult for the MCU to properly establish its new Avengers.
Initially, every MCU movie was directly connected to the Avengers ones – as most of the heroes receiving solo projects were also part of the team. The only exception was the Eternals and Moon Knight who do not always fight alongside the Avengers in the comics
Given that the MCU is now big enough to focus on different corners of the Marvel universe all at once, especially with the Disney+ shows, it makes sense for the franchise to explore characters that are not always tied with the Avengers. Not only that, but the MCU has yet to see the debuts of A-list Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four and Blade, not to mention the inevitable arrival of the X-Men. That said, for a franchise that was largely built on the success of the Avengers movies, the MCU cannot afford to have Earth’s Mightiest Heroes out of the spotlight. Still, six years will have ed since Avengers: Endgame by the time Avengers: The Kang Dynasty hit theaters. Until then, the MCU has not only to reveal what the Avengers roster after Endgame is, but also to create a connection between audiences and this new iteration of the team.
Marvel’s Phases 4 & 5 Don’t Have An Avengers Movie
Unlike all the other previous phases, Marvel’s Phases 4 and 5 will not have an Avengers movie. While the absence of an Avengers movie in Phase 4 was not surprising considering how big Infinity War and Endgame had been, the announcement during Comic-Con 2022 that Avengers 5 is not happening in Phase 5 came out as a surprise. Instead, Avengers 5 and 6 will both be part of Phase 6. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars will be released only six months apart, a decision that shows just how confident the MCU is in the Multiverse Saga.
During 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige pointed out how the MCU’s phases are now shorter but also more content-packed, which is why they can no longer always end with an Avengers movie. Feige also noted how some solo MCU movies are now crossover events on their own, such as Avengers: Age of Ultron was to the Infinity Saga, there will be no “smaller” mission between Endgame and The Kang Dynasty.
Marvel Hasn’t Revealed Who The Current Avengers Are
One major consequence of the lack of an Avengers movie in Phases 4 and 5 is that audiences cannot even know who the current Avengers are. With Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Vision dead; Steve Rogers retired; plus the Hulk’s status in the MCU still a mystery, the only original Avengers still fully active are Hawkeye and Thor. Not only that, but Scarlet Witch is now a villain, Spider-Man’s future in the MCU will always depend on the Sony and Marvel deal, and, according to Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange does not even consider himself an Avenger.
There are names who will most likely be part of the Avengers lineup for The Kang Dynasty. Sam Wilson is now Captain America and given his experience as an Avenger, a likely candidate to lead this new iteration of the team. Captain Marvel is by far the most powerful hero in the current MCU, especially considering that the Scarlet Witch is now a villain. Thor survived the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Infinity War & Endgame Worked Because Of Its Characters
It is hard to think of a superhero movie that can compare with Infinity War and Endgame in of spectacle. The amount of Marvel characters, Avengers or not, who assembled for a fight against Thanos and his army through several locations translated superhero comics to screen in a way that no other movie had done. Still, a large part of what made Infinity War and Endgame box office champions was the stakes involved, that is, the fate of the original Avengers being at risk. After Thanos’ snap in Infinity War, audiences all over the world wanted to know firsthand how the Avengers would return and which ones would not survive. That led Avengers: Endgame to have the biggest opening weekend of all time, prompting it to become the second highest-grossing movie in history. Compared to Infinity War, Endgame was not too action-packed and had a much slower pace, and yet the movie made considerably more than its predecessor precisely because the fate of the Avengers was at stake. This demonstrates how its characters were much more integral to its success than action.
Marvel Has To Better Develop The New Avengers (So That Secret Wars Works)
For The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars to work in the same way Infinity War and Endgame did, the MCU has to establish who the new Avengers are. That includes confirming the current Avengers lineup, but also establishing relationships between its . There will not be an Captain America: New World Order. Yet, outside of promotional material for Disney Cruise Line, audiences have never seen them interact as Captain Marvel and Captain America.
Before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars hit theaters in 2025, Marvel has to make sure audiences are as connected with the current Avengers as they were with the original ones. That same principle applies to other non-Avengers Marvel heroes, such as Moon Knight, the Eternals, and the Fantastic Four. The challenge is now much bigger than in the Infinity Saga, but the result can also be a much more interesting Multiverse Saga.
