Thought Endgame had a lot of characters to keep track of? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Excluding the cameos of the final battle, the grand finale to the MCU’s Infinity Saga had about 12-15 heroic characters in prominent roles. According to the latest intel on the next outing for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, meanwhile, Avengers 5 will have over 60.
As per Deadline, Marvel Studios is looking at around six-zero returning actors to reprise their roles in the film formerly known as The Kang Dynasty. Curiously, an oddball selection of potential stars is listed — Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Simu Liu, and Karen Gillian.
The grab-bag nature of this lineup makes more sense considering that Deadline also reveals that Avengers 5 will be a true “ensemble feature” with a large group of heroes having “equal footing” instead of what happened in the first four Avengers films, that saw “a handful of characters leading the team.”
In some ways, this sounds exciting, as it teases an even bigger scope than something universe-breaking like Endgame. And yet, upon closer inspection, this approach underlines the big problem the Multiverse Saga has had all along.
Avengers 5 being an “ensemble film” proves what’s been the problem with the Multiverse Saga from the start
It’s easy to forget now how much of a gamble 2012’s The Avengers was back in the day, as its stupendous success convinced Hollywood and the whole world that team-up movies were the peak of cinema. As we’ve seen with the likes of Justice League (and arguably its own direct sequel, 2015’s Age of Ultron), however, it’s all too easy to mess these kind of films up when they lose focus.
In The Avengers, what makes the film work is that, while the full team (barring Hawkeye) gets a fair swathe of screen time, the central arcs belongs to Iron Man and Captain America — Tony and Steve start the movie at loggerheads, with the latter convinced the former is too selfish to ever make “the sacrifice play.” Of course, two hours later, Tony has come close to sacrificing himself for the world while Steve has found a family and a place to belong in the present.
So successful was this framework that Endgame essentially copied it seven years later — except with Tony actually sacrificing himself this time and Steve finding a place to belong in the past. Meanwhile, while Ultron is a little scattershot, Infinity War‘s secret weapon was the fact the writers elected to make Thanos the main character rather than the various heroes, mapping it across his own warped hero’s quest as he amassed the Infinity Stones.
If Marvel really is making Avengers 5 an ensemble piece then clearly it hasn’t been paying attention to the fandom’s criticisms about the Multiverse Saga so far. The lack of a “main character” or focal point is at the root of many folks’ complaints about Phases Four through Five — if you look at the recent movies and shows, the overall individual quality is actually pretty high. The problem is that we just aren’t feeling the same forward momentum as we used to because there’s no Iron Man to act as the franchise’s backbone.
Avengers 5 having no main characters only emphasizes the lack of a through line in the MCU since 2019 — arguably the closest thing the Multiverse Saga has had to a protagonist is Jonathan Majors’ Kang, but obviously we’re not going to be seeing him again. I’m all for more Avengers assembling than ever before, but what’s going to keep them together if they’ve got no central hero or two to assemble around?
Avengers 5 is scheduled to release on May 1, 2026.
