The Russo Brothers are in talks to return to Marvel to direct the next two Avengers movies. We also got the tidbit from The Hollywood Reporter that Avengers 5 will get “a new name and a new focus.” As announced at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2022, the next Avengers movie was going to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and feature Jonathan Majors’ villainous Kang the Conqueror. With Majors fired, that plan has changed. SDCC 2024 is fast approaching. It’s probably safe to assume Kevin Feige will tell us the new plan during Marvel’s Hall H panel. Until then, we have a few ideas on what form we’d like to see the next Avengers movie take.
Avengers: Dark Reign
Traditionally, the Avengers have gone up against one big villain at a time. Maybe it’s time for them to face off against a big bad super team. Before Avengers 5 releases on May 1, 2026, we’re getting the debut of the Thunderbolts on May 2, 2025. T-Bolts features a team of anti-heroes and villains forced to do the US government’s dirty work. It’s not unlike DC’s Suicide Squad. In the comics, the Thunderbolts brought about a massive change to the Marvel Universe that left it consumed by chaos and darkness for an entire calendar year. Villains ruled and heroes became outcasts – a period known as Dark Reign. That sounds like the kind of epic premise that’d make for a good Avengers movie.
The Dark Reign comics initiative saw the Thunderbolts forcibly replace Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as the Dark Avengers. Their leader was the supposedly reformed (but not really) Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Osborn rose to power by stealing credit for ending the Skrulls’ secret invasion of Earth. He scrapped S.H.I.E.L.D. and replaced it with the authoritarian H.A.M.M.E.R. He used them to enforce his brutal version of justice and hunt down heroes who would oppose him. Obviously the MCU is in a very different state than the comics. Still, there is an opportunity for the story to play out in a similar fashion.
While we know Marvel is keen to move on from Kang, it might be a good idea to address the Council of Kangs we saw in the post-credits scene to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, if only to provide some closure. They looked pretty intent on wreaking some multiversal havoc, after all. Perhaps Avengers 5 could start with the Avengers enacting a plan to eliminate the Kangs, but the Thunderbolts get involved and take credit for the win. This would see them become the world’s new premiere super team and leave the Avengers out in the cold.
The mastermind behind the MCU’s Thunderbolts is Valentina “Val” Allegra de Fontaine. We’ve seen Val picking up new, morally questionable members over the years, so it would be Val who seizes power and ushers in the MCU’s Dark Reign. In the comics, the mentally unstable Superman-like character the Sentry serves on the Dark Avengers. He is reportedly going to make his MCU debut in the Thunderbolts movie, played by actor Lewis Pullman. The Sentry is constantly fighting to subdue his dark side, a seriously scary and enormously powerful entity called the Void. This would make for the ultimate foe the Avengers must face to end Val’s reign of terror.
But how would all of this lead into the sixth Avengers movie, Secret Wars? We’re glad you asked. The cosmic being the Beyonder was the villain of the original Secret Wars in 1984, but Doctor Doom is the villain of the modern version from 2015. This is the one we expect the MCU to adapt, given they’ve already referenced its universe-destroying “incursions” in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
As it happens, during Dark Reign, Osborn formed a dark version of the Illuminati called the Cabal. Among their number was none other than Doctor Doom. That makes an Avengers: Dark Reign movie the ideal time to introduce Doom to the MCU. (That of course assumes he doesn’t pop up in 2025’s The Fantastic Four first.) So while the Avengers and the Dark Avengers are distracted battling each other, Doom would be hatching his own master plan to rule, leading us right into Secret Wars.
Avengers vs. X-Men
The trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine shows the duo jumping into what appears to be one of Doctor Strange’s signature sparkly portals. If they wind up in the MCU on the other side, then it’ll have huge ramifications. What if the other X-Men from the X-verse also come to the MCU? It would lead to a clash between two iconic Marvel superhero teams, just like in the 2012 event comic Avengers vs. X-Men.
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes clashing with the Children of the Atom on the big screen would be beyond epic. We used to get a new Avengers movie (or two) every phase of the MCU, but Phase Four and Five have left fans wanting. A crossover event movie like AvX would certainly make up for lost time. Seeing the likes of Captain Marvel, Hulk, and Thor face off with mutants such as Magneto, Wolverine, and Storm would be so cool that it’d hardly need a plot to justify it. Even so, we have some ideas.
While Deadpool & Wolverine hasn’t hit theaters yet and we don’t know what the ultimate fate of the X-Men will be, the ruins of the 20th Century Fox logo in the background of the trailers certainly has us thinking the movie will destroy the X-Men universe. If Deadpool and Wolverine are able to save their fellow mutants by ferrying them to the MCU, or perhaps by merging the X-verse with the MCU, then the Avengers might see it as an invasion of their world by uncanny beings with extraordinary powers. You can imagine why they might come to blows. In the comic, the X-Men fought the Avengers over the fate of the Phoenix to ensure their survival as a species. In this theoretical AvX movie, the X-Men would be outsiders battling to survive in a universe that hates and fears them.
If AvX does feature a merging of Marvel universes, then it would undoubtedly catch the attention of Doctor Doom. He’s always looking for new power to exploit and claim for his own. In the first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, eagle-eyed fans spotted a Secret Wars comic book sporting Doom’s face on the cover. One might take that as a hint the movie will start us on the road to the Secret Wars movie. If that ends up being the case, then you’d be able to draw a line from Deadpool & Wolverine to Avengers vs. X-Men and right into Secret Wars.
In the modern Secret Wars comic, the Marvel multiverse is destroyed. From the ashes, Doctor Doom forms a new world where he rules as God Emperor Doom. Perhaps Doctor Doom will notice the merging of the MCU with the X-Verse. And perhaps this will inspire him to do that same thing, but on a much bigger scale, by smashing the entire multiverse together and reforming it into one single, perfect world for him to rule.
It’s worth mentioning the comics have already established Doom as someone who can eliminate Kang. Bringing Doom in early might be the easiest solution to Marvel’s Kang problem. In the comics, Doom and Kang are longtime frenemies who often team up to enact a nefarious scheme while secretly plotting the other’s downfall. Doom ordered Kang’s death in the original Secret Wars. On a different occasion in the 2021 Kang the Conqueror solo series, Doom went back in time to kill young Kang before he became a conqueror.
Avengers: Children’s Crusade
A common critique of the Multiverse Saga is how there’s no singular narrative tying everything together. One comic book story from 2010 could show how it’s all connected, actually. Avengers: Children’s Crusade contains many elements currently at play in the MCU, making it ideal for Avengers 5. The tale sees the Young Avengers go on a personal mission for their friend Wiccan to find his long-lost mother, the Scarlet Witch. It’s an action-adventure thriller that sees the youths run afoul of the Avengers, X-Men, and, ultimately, Marvel’s most diabolical villain.
All the ingredients for this story are currently on the table in the MCU. Marvel has been setting up the Young Avengers for many years. Ms. Marvel finally pulled a Nick Fury and went off to find all the members, as seen in the post-credits scene for The Marvels. This story would finally give them a reason to assemble!
WandaVision introduced youngsters Billy and Teddy, and a teenage Wiccan appears to be a main character in the upcoming series Agatha All Along. The Scarlet Witch went to the dark side in the Doctor Strange sequel and presumably died. However, that last spark of red magic during her death scene seems to hint otherwise.
And, again, while we don’t know the fate of the Fox X-Men yet, the MCU has already introduced a few mutants (Ms. Marvel, Namor, Beast). So there’s a chance the X-Men could be a part of the MCU in some form by the time Avengers 5 rolls around. Children’s Crusade would bring together all of these elements to tell a personal, tragic story about the fall of Wanda Maximoff and her impact on the Avengers superhero family.
In a plot twist that is all too convenient for our theory, when the heroes do eventually find Wanda, she’s in the company of, yep, you guessed it, Doctor Doom. Turns out Doom was the one responsible for Wanda’s powers increasing, causing the events of Avengers: Disassembled and House of M. Many Marvel fans were shocked when Wanda went that evil in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This plot may be a welcome revelation. Doom is not only a scientific genius but a gifted sorcerer. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he found a way to magically manipulate Wanda.
At the end of the Children’s Crusade comic, Doom steals Wanda’s godlike power and goes on a magical power trip. Doctor Doom with the reality-warping powers of the Scarlet Witch? Sounds like the perfect way to tee up for Secret Wars to us.
