The Avengers alongside other beloved Marvel characters like Nick Fury and Loki. With several new MCU TV shows coming to Disney+, the six original Avengers will all soon have Phase 4 counterparts.
The trailer for Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder shows the return of Natalie Portman's Jane Foster, who has not been seen (with the exception of a very small cameo in Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher.
Introducing the Mighty Thor suggests that Kevin Feige and company are actively looking to replace each member of the Avengers, or at least the original six : Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America. Portman's return to the MCU follows Kate Bishop taking on the mantle of Hawkeye in Iron Man sacrifice himself to defeat Thanos.
Though the Avengers are being replaced with new superheroes using the same name, it does not mean the original Avengers are gone for good. Both Mark Ruffalo, who portrays the Hulk, and Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, show no signs of leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ruffalo's Bruce Banner, much like Clint Barton does with Kate Bishop, will even interact with his replacement in the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, after all.
The new versions of the four classic Avengers notably make the team far more diverse than the original lineup. The original Avengers team was made up of five white men and one white woman. Hawkeye and Thor's replacements are both women, while The Falcon and The Winter Soldier overtly explores the importance of Captain America being a Black man. With two more female replacements coming in She-Hulk and Iron Heart, including a woman of color, the new heroes will make the overall lineup of the Avengers look far more like the reality of America than the original Avengers team. Thor: Love and Thunder excitingly introduces the fourth original Avengers replacement, giving viewers yet another alternative to their favorite member of the original Avengers team.
