The Avengers might be on hiatus having saved the entire universe by the time Endgame and the Infinity Saga drew to a close, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe appears intent on introducing multiple new teams into the mythology over the course of Phase Four and beyond.
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will be watching the next batch of movies and TV shows unfold from the sidelines, but there are numerous squads that have either been confirmed or rumored for their debuts in the not too distant future. For instance, Tommy and Billy Maximoff, Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Cassie Lang and Elijah Bradley have all been cast, so the Young Avengers feel like a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, the post-credits scene of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier certainly appeared to hint towards Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine and Baron Zemo assembling the Thunderbolts with John Walker’s U.S. Agent poised to play a significant role, and that’s without even mentioning Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four reboot or X-Men.
Indeed, there are a number of new teams on the way to the MCU and we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings would retcon the Mandarin as the title hero’s father long before it was confirmed – that a Thunderbolts vs. Dark Avengers project has been discussed behind the scenes, with the latter group finding themselves the subject of much speculation recently.
For those unfamiliar, the Dark Avengers are supervillains masquerading as heroes, while the Thunderbolts are often depicted as reformed bad guys looking to make amends for their past indiscretions, so there would be an interesting dynamic at play in any potential film/TV show to feature them. It would be painted in multiple shades of gray, that’s for sure, but for now we’ll need to watch how Phase Four continues to unfold and see if the pieces fall into place.
