In 2026, Avengers 5 will make its way onto theater screens again and bring together the MCU superhero team for the first time since Avengers: Endgame. While story details remain sketchy at this point, Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton promises that Avengers 5 will be an unprecedented crossover event of unparalleled scale with potentially thousands of compelling villains taking part against one of the MCU timeline’s most extensive hero lineup ever assembled in one project; no doubt blood will flow.
Concerns surrounding Avengers 5 have arisen due to Jonathan Majors’ legal matters; on December 18, 2023, he was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault, and soon after, reports circulated indicating the MCU would no longer work with Majors going forward, and thus Avengers: The Kang Dynasty would become Avengers 5. However, Marvel remains committed to moving the movie forward for now.
Recent news for Majors and the Kang Dynasty included reports about Marvel Studios potentially dropping it as the title, while more immediate developments for it occurred on November 15, 2023, when its director decided to step away, placing its project into disarray for now.
Destin Daniel Cretton – who previously directed Phase 4’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – is talking with Marvel about taking on another project instead of Avengers 5, thus leaving that film without an experienced director. Once this transition occurs, its final cut may differ dramatically when someone new takes charge as director.
Marvel recently changed their Avengers 5 release date from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, as per plans, to coincide with The Fantastic Four debut at the start of Phase 6 (if all goes according to plan). There have been no confirmed actors for Avengers 5, Jonathan Majors being the sole actor confirmed for it before the MCU reportedly dropped him. This leads us back to no clear actors yet for it (although other Kang variants could appear if Marvel decides to recast Kang).
Kang Variants Who Could Still Appear In Avengers 5
Immortus, Rama-Tut Scarlet Centurion.
Victor Timely must survive Loki season 2 before they can defeat Mr. Gryphon (the suit-wearing Kang from Quantumania). In essence, Reptilian Kang the Conqueror can only stay once Victor Timely does (if he survives).
“Thousands of Nameless Kang Variants
That is an intimidating villain profile, considering that the Council of Kangs could possess every level of power across every spectrum. As such, Avengers 5 requires an Avengers team with comparable power levels – yet to be revealed (Phase 6 lineup has not been unveiled); we do know who might appear: most likely, new Fantastic Four team member Jessica Alba may make their first appearance since her movie will premiere just before Avengers 5, followed by those still active within Marvel Cinematic Universe including former Avengers who may or not appear (Phase 6 was revealed and Phase 5 New Avengers will include Marvel characters like Scarlet Witch and Nick Fury who already appeared during Phase – with names such as Nick Fury playing his part; list of candidates includes pretty extensive characters like Jessica Alba.
Are the Avengers Reunited For Avengers 5? Imunitar Thor, Chris Hemsworth, Captain America, Anthony Mackie, and Anthony Rush will return for Avengers 5. Other members include Doctor Strange Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Spider-Man Tom Holland for Spider-Man; Ant-Man Paul Rudd Wasp and Wasp were Evangeline Lily from Wasp and Simu Liu from Shang Chi. Also returning is Iman Vellani Monica Rambeau Teyonah Parris in her Teyonah Parris, where she met Hawkeye with Hailee Steinfeld or Jeremy Renner in the Hawkeye role
Cassie Lang – Kathryn Newton
Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is an obvious choice, given how crucial he will be in season 2’s Multiverse story arc. Additionally, there will be the entire Thunderbolts squad – from Sebastian Stan’s Bucky and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova of Thunderbolts through to other Young Avengers such as Thor’s daughter Love (India Rose Hemsworth) and America Chavez, amongst others – alongside supporting roles.
Make no assumptions that Tenoch Huerta or Oscar Isaac’s Namor or Moon Knight won’t return, along with Awkwafina as Katy; Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Danny Ramirez as Falcon will both reappear; Samuel L Jackson could return as Nick Fury/President Ross and Harrison Ford may pop back up; plus there will likely be the entire Wakandan cast, including Winston Duke, Danai Gurira Lupita Nyong’o as well as Dominique Thorne/Ironheart! But Marvel may hold some other heroes back for Secret Wars, potentially including Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, and Lupita Nyong’o. All in this cast could quickly turn like nothing before!
Avengers 5 Story Details
At first blush, Avengers 5 should serve as the climax to Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga alongside Avengers: Secret Wars, gathering together threads established across various MCU multiverse storylines towards an epic showdown against Kangs and his Council (if the MCU decides to continue portraying Kangs even without Jonathan Majors’ character) against whom Jonathan Majors wrote an entire comic book arc in 1989 (Council Of Kangs) after all his characters went separate ways with Jonathan Majors in 1993 (Council of Kangs was written separately as part of that original comic arc and incursions), it means Avengers 5 serves more as an escalation that sets up potential villain(s) against whom or sets up Who will likely appear as part of Avengers 6, which sets up their encounter against them as opposed to an ending scene that sets up who might appear next time round with them (or them?) against whom or set them later!).
Avengers 5 should address the Council of Kangs established in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s mid-credits scene. In comic books, Immortus used this tactic to start a multiversal war that ultimately saw him triumphant. Still, here, in reality, they appear poised to join forces and threaten Sacred Timeline itself, potentially prompting New Avengers to team up against all their variants seen at Quantumania’s end coliseum to battle these threats against an epic conflict much more significant than Endgame’s showdown!
So long as you don’t plan to rewatch all of Marvel Cinematic Universe before seeing Avengers 5, this might be the ideal MCU crossover movie to see without too much additional homework in terms of plot. Unfortunately, despite multiple promises about its inclusion of Multiverse storytelling into all MCU releases, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, which didn’t add anything significant to the overarching narrative, even skipping it wouldn’t affect Kang’s tale in any meaningful way.
On the other hand, with so many potential characters for Avengers 5 and its all-new team vying to join it in every set release for each film in this MCU rewatch cycle – including any announcement of what could become its cast – watching every set-up release could pique your interest to witness each Avenger on their path towards becoming one. But that would require watching even more MCU rewatches!