The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s worst-kept secret is the fact we’ll be seeing another Avengers movie eventually, just not for a while. The quartet of all-star superhero epics are the franchise’s four highest-grossing efforts by some distance, but there’s plenty to come in Phase Four before we can even entertain the notion of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assembling again.
Looking at the core Phase One lineup, the team is facing a drastic overhaul. Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff are dead, Steve Rogers retired as an old man, Clint Barton is poised to hand over the mantle of the MCU’s expert archer to Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, we won’t know what the short and long term future holds for Thor until Love and Thunder releases next summer, while Bruce Banner’s gamma-radiated cousin Jennifer Walters will debut in She-Hulk.
That being said, there are still plenty of candidates more than worthy of a spot on the Avengers roster. Sam Wilson’s Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Shang-Chi and Yelena Belova are all qualified applicants, but in a new interview Kevin Feige teased that there’s a lot of narrative ground to be covered before we reach that point.
“I think you will see that question addressed and people struggling with that very question within the MCU right now. I think post-Endgame and Tony being off the board, and Steve Rogers being off the board, Sam Wilson is the new Cap, of course, what does it mean to be an Avenger? Is there a core team? Who’s leading it? Who’s financing it? That is very much an undercurrent that, while not at the forefront of many of the current movies, is certainly a question that is lingering in the background.”
Based on what we’ve seen so far during Phase Four, coupled with what’s coming next, it would be a wise bet to assume the next Avengers blockbuster will pit the MCU’s biggest names against Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror in a battle with the fate of the multiverse at stake, but there’s still at least thirteen movies and ten TV shows coming before the end of 2024, so it’s far to early to even contemplate the grand finale.
