The next Avengers saga has already begun according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. The Marvel head honcho was recently asked when audiences might see The Avengers team-up once again to thwart a world-ending enemy in Avengers 5, and while he remained typically tight-lipped about the whole thing, he did reveal that, while the superheroes aren’t due to assemble just yet, things are already in motion.
“We want there to be a reasonable amount of time from the Endgame to start a new saga, which is already underway and already started. Then you need some time as we did in phase one to build that saga before you start bringing everybody together.”
Following the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame which saw the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor bring the team together once again to take on The Mad Titan, Thanos, several founding members of The Avengers are now, well, dead. Both Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow met their demise during the dramatic, time-hopping events, with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers finding peace with the love of his life and growing old, passing on the mantle of Captain America to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson.
Thus, a new line-up is needed the next time The Avengers take to the big screen, and while we don’t yet know who exactly will be chosen to fight on Earth’s behalf come the next cosmic threat, the most obvious choice so far is one Shang-Chi, who has now made his MCU debut in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The character was officially described as Marvel’s new Avenger in a recent teaser trailer for the movie, with actor Simu Liu having previously revealed his hopes for the master of martial arts moving forward.
“In terms of what’s next, I know what’s on my mind is the same as what’s on everybody else’s mind. And hopefully, there’s an Avengers in the future, somewhere,” Liu previously told THR about a potential Avengers 5. “Obviously, I don’t know anything about that, but being such a big fan of the whole franchise, I know that that’s the gold star. All of the media frenzy that surrounds one of those properties is going to be a whole beast unto itself, so it’s certainly what I hope for.”
Aside from Shang-Chi, Marvel’s Phase 4 will also introduce audiences to several new heroes and teams including The Eternals, an immortal alien race who emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their evil counterparts, the Deviants, The Marvels, which includes Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel and WandaVision’s Monica Rambeau alongside Captain Marvel, and eventually The Fantastic Four, which will wrap up this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, the studio should be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing who will assemble for Avengers 5.
For now, Marvel fans are relishing a return to the MCU in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which follows the titular hero as he is forced to confront his past after being drawn back into his father’s Ten Rings organization.Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released in the United States on September 3. This comes to us from Collider.