Credit: Marvel StudiosWho else is excited for the next Avengers movie?
Related: How Marvel Can Fix Its “Quantity Over Quality” Issue
The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Marvel Studios has changed the game for the superhero movie genre and the film industry as a whole. All the fuss can be attributed to the explosive popularity enjoyed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which brought previously solo projects like Iron Man (2008) starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man (whose return to the MCU has been much-anticipated) and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor Odinson in Thor (2011) into the same shared “cinematic universe”, through 2012’s The Avengers.
However, the MCU’s mind-blowing Infinity Saga is now over, with Phase Three ending when Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) came onto the scene. Both of these films were led by brotherly directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (no, they’re not coming back to Marvel), detailing the epic sacrifices (and retirements) of the original six Avengers — Tony Stark/Iron Man, Thor Odinson, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Incredible Hulk/Smart Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who gave everything to save the universe from Josh Brolin’s Thanos.
Now, a new crop of Avengers and bad guys will take the stage, as the MCU moves into the Multiverse Saga’s Phase Five and Phase Six based on the Marvel Comics’ “Secret Wars” storyline, after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever concluded Phase Four.
What can we expect in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: The Kang Dynasty?
The ramp up to 2025’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (Avengers 5) and 2026’s Avengers: Secret Wars (Avengers 6) will be heralded by an upping of the stakes for the superheroes of the Multiverse, as the heroes come up against the “new Thanos” — Jonathan Majors‘ terrifying Kang the Conqueror — and his Multiversal, variant selves. This new Avengers-level threat has already been established early on in Phase Four, as Jonathan Majors played a particularly quirky-scary variant of Kang named He Who Remains in 2021’s Disney+ Original, Loki opposite Tom Hiddleston’s Loki Laufeyson/Loki Odinson. Recent release Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania further solidified his presence as a genuine threat to our heroes in the upcoming Avengers films — with Avengers 5 dealing with the horrifying Council of Kangs, and Avengers 6 embarking on an absolutely crazy story that will likely redefine cinema once again.
Could we see Thanos return? Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man? Since What If (2021) has already established that this is possible — it’s more than likely we’ll see some hint of them come Avengers 5 and 6.
Recently, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness, who will also be writing for the fifth Avengers adventure, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Loveness details his experience with the fifth Avengers production thus far — despite the movie being more than two years away, the writers have been in talks with recent directorial hire, Destin Daniel Cretton, who also directed the massively popular Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings starring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi and Tony Leung as intimidating Xu Wenwu, in their Marvel Studios debuts.
Loveness describes working with Cretton as “incredible”, and also cites consulting with Kang the Conqueror himself — the enigmatic and clever Jonathan Majors — on “where he wants to take the character”. The indication that Majors is involved significantly in the portrayal of Kang is great news, because the talented actor seems to have a fantastic handle on the charismatic and manipulative villain, which could mean amazing things come The Kang Dynasty. He also promises that they have “certainly got a plan” and expressed a lot of excitement for the upcoming film:
We’ve got like 40 more movies to go before I get there, but we’ve certainly got a plan. We’re all very excited for the story that we’re laying down, so now it’s just on me and my ADHD and my procrastination and all that.
Loveness also cheekily addresses Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, promising him that the script will be ready “next week”, which also indicates that the script for the next Avengers flick is coming along smoothly.
Are you excited for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty? Where do you hope Marvel will take this story? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
San Diego Comic Con 2022 brought us a whole new Multiverse Saga roadmap to look forward to. With Fantastic Four slated for 2025 likely dealing with Doctor Doom, and promises of more with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil/Matt Murdock on the “street-level”, we will likely see Multiversal shenanigans like that of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) — and beyond. The inclusion of beloved characters across franchises is almost a given, with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as variant Peter Parkers are likely to return, alongside original Avengers greats like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America, while heroes like Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and newcomers like Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) take the reins against Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.
Watch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in cinemas now!