*Major spoilers for Civil War, Endgame, and Infinity War immediately following*
After triumphantly defeating the Mad Titan in a do-over in Avengers 5.
Captain Marvel
Many fans expected Avengers: Endgame to set up Captain Marvel as the team’s new leader. Steve Rogers would bequeath the role of leading Earth’s mightiest heroes onto Carol Danvers, because she similarly has a background in the military, has a huge amount of power and knows how to use it, and is a born leader – it seemed like a no-brainer. But then, plenty of time between now and then to forge bonds with her fellow Avengers.
Doctor Strange
Stephen Strange played an integral role in the last two Avengers movies, since we’ll see him contend with a multiverse in disarray. We haven’t even seen him get officially appointed as the Sorcerer Supreme yet. There’s plenty of Doctor Strange’s MCU journey left to explore, and appearing as a key component in Avengers 5 will be a large part of that.
Mighty Thor (Jane Foster)
In the Thor will be handing over his mantle to Jane Foster. We haven’t seen Jane in years, but as with most early-days female characters in the MCU, she was one-dimensional at best and completely dialogue-free at worst.
In Love and Thunder, Jane will reportedly differentiate herself from Odinson by going by “the Mighty Thor,” despite many fans continuing to erroneously call her “female Thor.” It makes sense that after becoming Thor and arming herself with Mjolnir, Jane will take on a huge role in the future of the MCU.
Smart Hulk
It doesn’t seem like Smart Hulk has a place in the future of the MCU, since give him a ing role in the fifth Avengers movie. With brains and brawns at the same time, there might not be as much conflict with the Hulk character, but he’s a useful plot device – and he’s still entertaining.
Black Panther
With Iron Man and Cap out of the picture, the next Avengers movie will need a couple of equally popular, more recently introduced characters to lead the charge. In the past couple of years, T’Challa has emerged as one of the MCU’s most exciting new heroes. He gets his powers from his advanced super-suit, he’s wealthy and powerful, and until recently, he turned a blind eye to the people who needed his help, which makes him the perfect candidate to be the Tony Stark of this next wave of Avengers movies. If we get to see plenty more of Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, Nakia, M’Baku, and Wakanda as a whole over the next few years, no fans will be complaining.
Shang-Chi
In his solo movie, if they ever do decide to get the band back together). It’s fair to assume that Shang-Chi’s introduction in his own solo movie in Phase 4 is setting him up for a major role in the potential future of the Avengers franchise.
Scarlet Witch
After a couple of misguided developments in her character arc, from locking her in her room for most of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seems to be establishing this. Outside of the narrative reasons, she’s also one of the most powerful superheroes in the MCU.
Captain America (Sam Wilson)
Anthony Mackie has continually insisted that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but following on from that, it seems likely that he’ll be showing up in Avengers 5.
He might not lead the team in the way that the previous Captain America did, but at the very least, he’ll be there, fighting alongside Earth’s mightiest heroes.
Valkyrie
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor decided to give the role of King of New Asgard to Valkyrie, which seemed like a good choice – she’s strong, she’s level-headed, she has a long history of fighting for Asgard, and she basically ran New Asgard for five years anyway, while Thor locked himself away with several barrels of beer at a time and wallowed in his own misery. In Thor: Love and Thunder, Valkyrie will search the cosmos for a queen, confirming her as the first LGBTQ superhero in the MCU. Her involvement in Avengers 5 is pretty much a given.
Spider-Man
Just when it seemed like Sony was yanking Spider-Man out of the MCU without giving him a chance to say goodbye, said movie will be Avengers 5. Maybe Spidey’s death will bring the new Avengers team together.
