MCU Phase 4 is just beginning, but Marvel Studios is already teasing a new Avengers team for Phase 5 as early as now. On the heels of Avengers: Endgame, it's unclear who exactly are still active superheroes in the franchise. Stopping Thanos was a necessity and everyone who wanted him gone contributed to the cause, but it wasn't revealed what the Avengers' plan moving forward was, and understandably so. But one will be needed as threats to the galaxy and even the multiverse don't end with the Mad Titan.
Spider-Man: Far From Home gave a sense of where some of the most notable heroes are several months after Endgame. Both Thor and Captain Marvel are off-world, while Doctor Strange is occupied with other things. However, there was no mention of other Earth-bound heroes such as Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Hulk, and Hawkeye. Marvel Studios' Disney+ shows are answering these questions with the recently-finished WandaVision and the current series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while upcoming projects such as She-Hulk and Hawkeye will do the same for the other aforementioned characters. Looking at MCU's confirmed slate, the franchise will focus on standalone stories, with no announcement yet for another Avengers ensemble movie.
That being said, the Avengers reassembling is inevitable once a common enemy makes their presence known in the universe. In the meantime, heroes are focused on their own respective journeys and that makes sense considering that Marvel Studios is currently in a rebuilding phase. But they also want to make it clear that Earth's Mightiest Heroes will reconvene again as subtly teased in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere titled "New World Order." During his speech at Washington as Sam returned the Captain America shield to the government for an exhibit, he talked about the world needing "new heroes...ones suitable for the times we're in." As someone who's expected to become the franchise's next Captain America, this is a very loaded statement and could be interpreted as Marvel Studios' way of hinting that a new roster of MCU poster heroes are coming after some of the franchise's founding characters have retired from their galaxy-saving gigs.
This might be too early to set up considering that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is just the second project out of Phase 4. However, it's worth remembering that back in MCU Phase 1, Marvel Studios made it clear they were building toward the Avengers at the very end of the first Iron Man when Nick Fury came out to see Tony Stark. While the franchise is in no rush to re-assemble Earth's Mightiest Heroes, it will happen sooner or later, and the lineup will look very different from what it was during the Infinity Saga. Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow are gone now, and all six original Avengers are with their respective successors. Couple that with heroes like Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange, not to mention the upcoming Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, and even Blade, and MCU's next generation of its premier superhero team might be bigger, better, and more diversified.
What's still unclear is the new overarching narrative for the MCU moving forward. After the Infinity Saga, the franchise may eventually build toward another massive villain reveal — an adversary so powerful it will require everyone's hands on deck. This could, however, still be quite some time off. The MCU has a string of really interesting antagonists that could easily rival Thanos' power, like Kang the Conqueror. However, the current focus is establishing its heroes one-by-one, so by the time they assemble as Avengers in Phase 5, they're fleshed-out characters.
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March 22, 2021 at 05:36AM
