Marvel Studios' Avengers 5 needs to truly be about the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, unliked Avengers: Endgame. The MCU continues to lay the groundwork for its post-Infinity Saga storytelling with a mix of big and small screen offerings. But sooner or later, its premier superheroes will eventually re-assemble for the inevitable Avengers 5 with powerful characters.
After the Infinity Saga, Marvel Studios needs to rebuild the MCU with a brand new overarching narrative. With only a handful of projects that have been released thus far, it's far too early to predict what the franchise's next big crossover event will be. The universe is also expanding with the introduction of new characters such as Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), the Eternals, and the Young Avengers among others. With the focus on standalone and follow-up stories, as well as smaller team-ups, ensemble pursuits have been pushed down the slate. This makes sense after Avengers: Endgame. That being said, when the time comes for the next Avengers movie, it needs to stay true to its title.
Compared to the disappointing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Avengers: Endgame delivered a satisfying ending to the Infinity Saga, though it's not technically an Avengers movie. It did feature all six original Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but, they barely spent time as a unit, with additional characters such as Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) involved. Avengers: Infinity War was worse in this regard as the official Avengers team was kept scattered throughout the whole movie. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) didn't even join his fellow founding MCU characters as his mission was set in Titan with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Meanwhile, it wasn't towards the end when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) arrived at Wakanda to reunite with Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Finally, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) sat out the initial bout against Thanos (Josh Brolin) altogether.
Looking back, the Avengers original team hasn't really had a proper movie since Avengers: Age of Ultron. Like its predecessor, it features Earth's Mightiest Heroes banding together against a common threat. Granted that the final fight included Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), it still works because they've been part of the narrative from the beginning. In any case, the film ended with Scarlet Witch becoming the newest Avengers recruits, alongside Vision (Paul Bettany), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) anyway. It's also worth noting that before the whole problem with Ultron started, the original six were seen on a mission in Sokovia to secure the stolen Mind Stone/Scepter from HYDRA. This is technically their final mission as a unit as the team expanded from there on out.
This doesn't mean that Marvel Studios shouldn't do any more big crossover events. At this point, it seems like the next MCU crossover event movie project will have something to do with the multiverse being in disarray. But, they should not associate it with the Avengers brand, because chances are that there will be other players in the film who aren't officially a member of the titular team. Instead, Avengers 5 needs to focus on the current roster of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes and their mission to keep their home planet safe from any upcoming threats against it.
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September 26, 2021 at 12:30AM
