The focus of the Marvel universe currently rests on the upcoming Marvel movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which has been dropping plenty of teasers and is going to unite Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman for an anticipated romp through the Marvel Multiverse. If you look beyond that movie, though, we are still a few years off of the next Avengers movie… and the gap between Avengers: Endgame and the follow up Avengers movie grows with each passing year. There have been more than a few potholes in the road leading to whatever Marvel Studios is going to call Avengers 5, including the departure of original director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Now, we allegedly have landed in another.
It is being reported by Nexus Point News that Michael Waldron, brainchild behind the Disney+ series Loki, has departed Avengers 5 and will be replaced by a name that has not yet been revealed. Waldron wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in addition to shaping the two seasons of Loki, and when you think about the storytelling that he did on that show, he made a lot of sense for Avengers 5. His departure could be pointing to a complete shift in the direction of the story… namely, away from Kang the Conqueror.
Loki has focused fairly heavily on the introduction of Kang (Jonathan Majors) as the prominent threat for the Multiverse Saga. He’s supposed to be Thanos of this new set of movies. The actors legal problems led to him being dropped from the role of Kang, though, and likely sent Marvel back to the drawing board on how to move forward with their universe. For a while, Avengers 5 was going to be known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. So tapping the screenwriter of Loki made sense.
Removing Michael Waldron likely means that Avengers 5 no longer is going to lean on Kang, maybe giving Marvel more time to figure out what to do with Kang, the character, moving forward.
With the news in hand, we now look to San Diego Comic Con, when Marvel Studios has revealed they will present for one hour on Saturday evening, July 27. We expect that the studio will bring out the main cast for The Fantastic Four, as well as teasers for the studio’s other 2025 releases, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts. But Comic Con would be an ideal opportunity to reveal concrete details on Avengers 5, which is supposed to land before the already announced Avengers: Secret Wars. My guess is that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige also clarifies who the director and writer of Avengers 5 will be… and we will learn the subhead (and focus) of the sequel.
It could be Young Avengers, which has been teased in the final moments of the last few Marvel projects.
Or it could be something completely different. For the moment, we believe that Michael Waldron no longer is involved, but stick with CinemaBlend during San Diego Comic-Con, as we will be reporting from inside Hall H, and will have news on Avengers 5 as soon as it breaks.
