All Images Credit: Marvel Studios (Spider-Man: Marvel Studios/Sony)The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been off to a turbulent start since the end of Phase 3 with the completion of immensely successful, Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Phase 4 had the formidable task of following up on this global phenomenon while starting on a nearly clean slate as many of the major story arcs of the previous three phases came to their conclusions. Phase 5 assembled this year, but viewer fatigue has developed after a huge influx of inconsistent qualitied Marvel projects. Fans are optimistic that Marvel Studios will course correct soon. The hope for this outcome was uplifted for MCU fans with recent comments from Shang-Chi star, Simu Liu.
The first film of Phase 4, Black Widow, was met with lackluster reviews and viewership as the quality and relevancy of the movie was affected by the pandemic. In addition, the creative choice to focus more on Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), than Natasha (Scarlett Johannson) marred the impact of her sacrifice in Endgame for fans. The next film was the exceptionally refreshing, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). It was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who risked hiring a relatively unknown actor, Simu Liu, to play Marvel’s first superhero of Asian descent.
Shang-Chi was a critically-acclaimed achievement for Marvel Studios that grossed over $432 million, a record high for a theatrical release one year after COVID. The positive fanfare for the film prompted Marvel to entrust the future of the Multiverse Saga with Cretton. He was announced as the director of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in July 2022.
Since then, Simu Liu has been on the press tour circuit promoting the highly-anticipated, Barbie, where he will play a Ken. During an interview about Avengers 5, he expressed that he is pretty sure that he will be in it. He stated that he would not know until it (the script) is absolutely ready. Simu articulated that the film industry is constantly in flux and it is hard to be certain of things until the start of the scene on set.
There is no guarantee Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi will be a featured character in The Kang Dynasty, but it is a well-educated speculation to expect it will happen when it is released. However, Hollywood is an unstable powder keg due to the dual Writers and Actors strikes right now. It has already irrevocably altered the timeline of MCU projects for Marvel Studios. Ideally, studio executives will take these protests seriously and not threaten to use ChatGPT or other A.I. to replace artists. The thought of that is detrimental to filmmaking and would probably have an Avengers movie turn out like this image below.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is currently slated to be released in theaters May 1, 2026.