There’s some serious assembly required on Avengers 5. To date, the movie not only has no main villain, after the firing of Jonathan Majors, it also has no director, since Shang-Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton walked away from the project. As the first Avengers film since Endgame, the one-time biggest movie ever made, it’s fair to say Marvel needs to find the right pair of hands in which to entrust the production. 6i411v

Or maybe two pairs of hands would be better? After all, the Russo brothers guided Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame to stratospheric levels of success, so clearly two heads are better than one when it comes to movies as complex and multi-faceted as Avengers team-ups. While many filmmakers have been linked to Avenges 5 to date — everyone from Doctor Strange 2‘s Sam Raimi to Deadpool 3‘s Shawn Levy — an intriguing rumor may present the actual best choice the studio could make. Even if this intel isn’t accurate now, it should be.

Moon Knight and Loki directors rumored to be in talks to direct Avengers 5 a3r6b

According to scooper MyTimeToShineHello, Moon Knight and Loki season 2 directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are supposedly in discussions behind closed doors to helm Avengers 5. We’ve no way of knowing for sure if this intel is on the level, but whether it is or isn’t is actually irrelevant as it’s made us realize the duo might just be the best picks possible.

The Multiverse Saga has been characterized by its lack of focus, with every project released to date helmed by a different filmmaker. The exception to that is Benson and Moorhead, who worked on the two Disney Plus listed above. Across those series, the pair directed nine episodes, which makes them the most prolific directors of the Multiverse Saga by quite some way — tying with WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, who will nudge ahead of them with 2025’s The Fantastic Four.

Shakman would obviously be a good choice as well, then, but he’s likely tied up with the Fantastic Four franchise for the foreseeable. There’s really no one better than Benson and Moorhead in the running, as the Russos proved that a directing duo with a background in television make for the most reliable people to bring an Avengers film to fruition. Especially as Moon Knight and Loki are easily among the most positively received Phase Four entries.

The Russos set the tone for Infinity War and Endgame in their Captain America movies, and so too did Benson and Moorhead help establish a broader storytelling canvas for the MCU to operate on in the mind-bending Moon Knight and the multiversal Loki. They have proven themselves, they know what they’re doing, and best of all the actually want to do it. Back in November 2023, the duo itted they’d be up for making an Avengers film someday.

Kevin Feige, you know what you have to do. That is, if you’re not already doing it.

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 3j2l2

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.

How can the MCU launch itself back to greatness? That’s the question Marvel fans, and very possibly Marvel Studios execs, are asking after 2023 turned out to be such a bust for what was once the undisputed biggest franchise in the world. But maybe Marvel doesn’t have to look as far back to fix things as we might think.

There’s a widespread belief that the Multiverse Saga has been miss after miss, with only outlier films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hitting home. However, the folks of the r/marvelstudios subreddit are challenging that conception by championing a Phase Four favorite that is sadly mostly forgotten about just two a half years later. Namely, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

“Just rewatched Shang-Chi and I feel like it doesn’t get talked about enough,” wrote Redditor Rizxzi. “In my opinion it’s one of the best post Endgame films and up there with the entire MCU and the fight and action scenes are up there with the best.” According to this fan, what the franchise really needs now is more movies of the same quality as the summer 2021 blockbuster starring Simu Liu.

“With the state of some of the MCU projects at the moment I hope we see lots more of Shang-Chi and [their] cast,” they concluded. “Simu Liu really was born for this role.”

There’s not much that Marvel lovers agree on these days, but it looks like an all-round appreciation for Shang-Chi is one of them. One commenter concurred that “Shang-Chi is definitely one of the better movies after Endgame,” praising the end credits scene as well as the “amazing” fight scenes for their “top notch” choreography.

Even those who were critical of the films’s CGI-laden third act, which one felt caused it to “fall apart,” itted they really liked it. “For me the best parts are the practical stunts and the family drama in the first two thirds,” they responded.

So, if everyone’s on board the Shang-Chi hype train, why isn’t it viewed as one of the best MCU movies? The blame is being left at the slow-moving pace of the Multiverse Saga, which means we haven’t seen the lead character again since.

“The problem is that there’s been zero follow-up on that success, and the current word is that we won’t see him again til 2026 or later,” one commenter argued. “In comparison, we saw Iron Man appear in 3 films plus The Avengers over the course of 5 years. Marvel is dropping the ball hard by not featuring Shang-Chi anywhere since his debut film.”

In Marvel’s defense, Simu Liu is a very busy guy — he did just play a Ken in Barbie, the biggest movie of 2023 — but clearly the flaw doesn’t lie in Marvel’s commitment to introducing new characters all the time, despite that being a common complaint. The real problem comes from the fact they’re not giving these newbies the screentime they deserve to become the next Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor. Shang-Chi, in particular.

As the money-making misfortunes of The Marvels proves, what the MCU needs now is not just more films that serve as one link in the chain but full-on event movies.

With the two most successful entries in the Multiverse Saga so far being Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, clearly what audiences want is more movies that directly push the ongoing narrative further as we head ever nearer to this saga’s final showdown in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.

So which of the franchise’s slate fit this bill? According to new intel shared by insider DanielRPK, the following four films will each pave the way for Secret Wars in some integral, yet-to-be-discovered way. Two of them are already on the slate while the other two are waiting in the wings but are definitely on their way.

Deadpool 3 (July 26, 2024) 4v343s

Well, the significance of this one shouldn’t come as a surprise. As the lone Marvel movie releasing in 2024, Deadpool 3 is carrying Phase Five on its back at this point. Not only is it set to introduce Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine into the MCU universe for the first time, it’s also believed to directly weave into what’s to come in Secret Wars. Those TVA tie-ins will likely be key to its crossover potential, as the TVA is said to play a big role in Avengers 6.

Fantastic Four (May 2, 2025) 960l

Likewise, Fantastic Four was never just going to introduce the MCU’s version of Marvel’s First Family and be done with it. The foursome were the foundation of the Marvel universe in the comics so it only makes sense that they will be a lodestone of the Multiverse Saga as well. It’s worth pointing out that Doctor Doom is all-important in the comics’ Secret Wars event, although word has it the film’s big bad will be Galactus instead. Some version of Molecule Man showing up seems plausible, though.

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Shang-Chi 2 is one of many sequels yet to be officially announced by Marvel but we’re pretty sure is on the way. A late 2024/early 2025 production start has even been rumored. Director Destin Daniel Cretton may have just walked from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty — whose status, from title downward, is currently in flux — but hopefully he’ll stick around to steer the Simu Liu-starring sequel through a thrilling story that will apparently tie into Secret Wars. Just where do the Ten Rings come from?

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Apparently, Spider-Man 4 won’t be resetting the webslinger’s adventures back to basics and will only continue the multiversal scope of No Way Home. And why not, after 2021’s threequel ended up being the highest-grossing MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame? Everyone loves Tom Holland’s Spidey so making him a major driving force on the road to Secret Wars should hopefully prove to be a lucrative idea. At last word, Spider-Man 4 — bringing back Holland, Zendaya, and director Jon Watts — is heading in front of cameras in late 2024.

As odd as it may be to say about the world’s biggest movie franchise, the MCU has a visibility problem right now. Just take a look at The Marvels‘ record-breakingly low opening weekend. Luckily, there’s a way Fantastic Four can fix things.

Ironically, one insane but guaranteed cure — one that would 100% send audiences flying into theaters to check out the MCU once more — all rests on the shoulders of Invisible Woman herself, Sue Storm. With the news that Pedro Pascal is very likely going to be our Reed Richards, the onus is on Marvel to find a female lead who can match The Mandalorian man in popularity and widespread appeal.

There are various actresses who would do wonderful jobs in the part, but let’s be honest, what Marvel really needs right now is a piece of stunt casting so mind-blowing even the most casual moviegoers wouldn’t dare miss out how it plays out. OK, here goes: what if Scarlett Johansson played Sue Storm?

Before you strap me into a straight jacket and hall me away to a padded cell, please, just hear me out. First, this is the Multiverse Saga, where normal casting rules do not apply. Ex-Marvel stars can come back in any role they want to. Continuity hiccup or canon clash? Doesn’t matter, they come from another universe. Move along. Second of all, although it may seem surprising, after her acrimonious lawsuit with Disney in 2020, ScarJo is actually still close with Marvel and is even actively collaborating with the studio.

Kevin Feige recently confirmed the Black Widow actress remains attached to produce an unknown project. What’s more, Johansson made some intriguing comments to TODAY in a recent interview discussing her potential Marvel future, jokingly refusing to answer host Al Roker’s questions. It’s easy to assume she is cooking something up with Marvel, then, but it certainly sounds like she has left Natasha Romanoff in her rearview mirror. So, let’s just imagine for a second, that she’s switching it up for Sue Storm.

The aforementioned Marvel prez may be denying it, but reports claim the House of Ideas is actively considering bringing back some of its OG Avengers cast in a bid to bring those loyal Infinity Saga viewers back. Would casting ScarJo as, er, SueSto be a backwards, indulgent move that takes away a brilliant role from a fresh actress who deserves a shot in the MCU? Absolutely. Can you tell me that you wouldn’t be pre-ordering your ticket for this gonzo version of Fantastic Four as soon as sales went live? Thought not.

Vanessa Kirby would kill it in the part, no question, yet sadly the recent underperformance of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning perhaps isn’t the most encouraging indicator of her box office power. But slipping one of Marvel’s most tried-and-tested lucrative stars in there, even just for a brief multiversal cameo (the Council of Sues, anyone)? Now, that would really get them talking. And if Chris Evans can come back as Human Torch too, thereby combining two out of the six founding Avengers… Well, just sit back and watch that much-needed $1 billion roll in.

To conclude, the Fantastic Four casting conversation has gone on so long that my brain is broken. Thank you, and good night.

The Marvels, Marvel Studios’ third movie of Phase Five, is doing everything in its power to hype fans up in preparation for the film’s Nov. 10 theatrical release. That includes a healthy sprinkling of Easter eggs in its promotional materials, and one of those eggs involves the X-Men.

The MCU has hinted at the arrival of the X-Men for quite some time now: Ms. Marvel confirmed the Earth-616 version of Kamala Khan to be a mutant, Wolverine’s MCU debut is right around the corner in Deadpool 3, and a new X-Men movie is officially in development. Be that as it may, aside from a variant version of Professor Xavier in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, there’s been little in the way of X-Men content that we can carry into the remainder of Phases Five and Six.

That said, if Marvel’s subtle hints are any indication, then Earth-616 could finally be getting its first wave of mutants in The Marvels.

The X-Men rumors in The Marvels, explained 37512q

Easter eggs come in all shapes and sizes, but the sneaky editing trick Marvel employed in a recent promo for The Marvels ⏤ titled “What Comes Next” ⏤ is anything but subtle. Using the attention-grabbing sentence “Be there for what comes next” to whet our appetites, the trailer broke the sentence into three equal parts, with the last two words fading in and out within the final four seconds. As “comes next” fades, the “X” in “next” lingers on the screen for a fraction of a second longer than the rest of the word, becoming clearly visible in subsequent screenshots. That was all the fandom needed to grab the theory by the horns and begin speculating.

As mentioned, Kamala Khan is already a mutant, so The Marvels technically checked that box as soon as her character became involved in the film. She’s not necessarily an X-Man, though, so in addition to introducing a new character (or characters), the movie could also serve as fertile ground for delving deeper into her mutant origins.

With Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine starring in Deadpool 3, it’s clear that 20th Century Fox’s X-Men are ripe for a revival. Some fans are still convinced that the notion of the X-Men in The Marvels will simply be Fox’s iteration of the characters, which is not entirely off-base considering what lies ahead in Phase Five. 

This X-Men tease comes just weeks after the Loki season 2 premiere included a not-so-subtle shot that screamed Cerebro, even if the show’s director ardently denied any knowledge of doing so (sure, Kasra). 

Given that the Loki season 2 finale and The Marvels theatrical premiere come just one day apart from each other, the belief — or hope — is that the latter will play off of the former, and these twin X-Men Easter eggs imply the throughline between the two.

The longer we look at the current slate of Marvel projects (Loki, The Marvels, and Deadpool 3), the more we get the sense that Marvel may finally be connecting the dots between projects. Recent rumors even suggest that Deadpool 3 will be home to the TVA.

As of now, all three projects contain connections to mutants in some shape or form, but whether or not any of them actually follows through on it remains to be seen. Stay tuned for updates.

It’s true. Loki has gone from battling Iron Man in The Avengers to becoming the new Iron Man figure of the MCU in just a few phases. How’s that for character development?

The God of Mischief’s journey from villain to anti-hero, or maybe just straight-up hero at this point, is one of the most celebrated arcs of the entire MCU, but we didn’t know quite how much he meant to the franchise until now. While its been noted before that Tom Hiddleston’s Asgardian trickster is essentially taking Tony Stark’s place as the main driving force of the Multiverse Saga, whereas Tony was the primary hero of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has just subtly revealed this comparison is even more apt than we knew.

New book release Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe – The Official Timeline offers a complete breakdown of the MCU timeline for the very time, which is particularly useful for the temporal minefield that is Phases Four through Five. The placement of Loki season 1 on the timeline is especially eye-opening, as the book confirms that its events actually take place before WandaVision. Previously, the Scarlet Witch vehicle was assumed to be the opening act of the Multiverse Saga, but now we know it’s Loki season 1.

Loki could already make claim to being the Iron Man of this saga thanks to his rivalry with Kang mirroring Tony’s with Thanos. However, now the parallel is much more direct. Just as the Infinity Saga kicked off with Iron Man in 2008, so the Multiverse Saga apparently begins with Loki season 1. The fact that Tony got to introduce the MCU meant that he went on to have an all-important role in Avengers: Endgame. Does this mean Loki will do the same in Avengers: Secret Wars?

As Marvel seems to be doing everything it can to transform Thor’s formerly wayward brother into the MCU’s MVP, that might well be… inevitable.

Now that we’re on the other side of Marvel’s awkwardly experimental Phase 4, we turn to Phase 5 and realize, this isn’t really working either. What’s going on? To understand where it’s falling short, we need to assess what did work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s past.

Unlike Phases 1-3, collectively known as the Infinity Saga, this current Multiverse Saga just doesn’t feel like it has a consistent sense of focus or a throughline. With 2008’s Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. gave us a flawed but somehow relatable hero in Tony Stark. Looking back, it’s amazing to consider how much the franchise has transformed since then — for better and for worse.

You have to that Iron Man was fairly grounded in reality. There were no wizards, giant purple aliens, or multiple dimensions. Not even Steve Rogers was mentioned in the film, even if an Easter Egg of his shield in Tony’s garage indicated he did exist.

Humble beginnings 4p5kn

At the time of its release, with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins finding resounding success three years earlier, Iron Man truly felt like an MCU version of that same kind of origin tale. You have a billionaire playboy with no superpowers, but a great intellect, going through a hardship in a foreign land that leads him to become a suited-up vigilante no longer interested in continuing a war but maintaining peace. In Bruce Wayne’s case, he gave up the idea of seeking revenge on his parent’s killer after realizing it would not give him any satisfaction, and in Tony’s case, he gave up being a weapons manufacturer after realizing his own capture by terrorists was enabled and motivated by the proliferation of his machines of war.

In short, were given the perfect character that would serve as a stand-in for the audience itself. Tony existed as a fantasy fulfilment for us, even before his superpowered suit, owing to his luxurious lifestyle and debonair persona. But after the suit? It inspired the notion that there is a noble aspect within us all that we, too, can conjure up and become the hero of our story. For all intents and purposes, Tony was the main character of the Infinity Saga.

Today, there really isn’t a main character that can serve as a stand-in for the audience in the same way that Tony did. Who is the current leader of the Avengers during this Multiverse Saga? Is it Spider-Man? Doctor Strange? Maybe Ant-Man? Bruce Banner? Thor? It’s entirely unclear. But in the Infinity Saga, there was an unambiguous center to it all, found in the Arc Reactor implanted in Tony’s chest.

No clear path r6b4

What’s more, the Infinity Saga era of the MCU always felt it was building toward a clear and direct path to something bigger. Even before Thanos, the end credit tease in Iron Man of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury walking into Tony Stark’s home to tell him about the “Avengers Initiative,” broadcasting to us that an Avengers movie was on the way. Sure enough, we got more superhero movies one by one which all culminated in the crossover of 2012’s The Avengers, to great satisfaction.

What are we building toward today in the Multiverse Saga? I would argue it’s entirely unclear. Phase 4’s efforts felt like the message was “the multiverse is coming.” You had several different properties establishing multiversal elements, from the Disney Plus shows WandaVision and Loki to blockbuster films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The only issue, though, was that each one seemed to establish its own set of rules for how the multiverse worked. They felt shockingly disconnected.

Then we were told Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror would be the next big Marvel thing to captivate us in the same way Josh Brolin’s Thanos did years prior. However, that hasn’t really worked out either. After a promising scene at the end of Loki season 1 as He Who Remains, Majors’ Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania proved underwhelming at best.

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Majors played the role of the villain well in the movie as his performance was not at fault, but rather, the lack of anything truly interesting about the manner in which he was written. Kang more or less comes across like a generic villain who gets seemingly easily defeated by the underpowered Ant-Man and pals. True, there will perhaps be other versions of Kang coming to confront the Avengers in the future. But the anticipation has already been depleted. It was the complete opposite inverse of how Thanos was introduced.

With Thanos, he was like the shark in Jaws. You barely saw him for most of the Infinity Saga. It started with just a simple end-credit tease at the conclusion of The Avengers. After that, a couple of moments in Guardians of the Galaxy and then a single line in Avengers: Age of Ultron, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” We really didn’t know that much about Thanos, other than his confrontation with Earth would represent the next gigantic crossover event in the franchise. However, this was a brilliant way to go about it because it kept the momentum of the Infinity Saga going and planted an air of intrigue about the villain in our minds.

Then Thanos arrived with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and completely blew our minds with how satisfying of a villain he truly was. We didn’t agree with his genocidal mission to wipe out half the universe, but we could understand his point of view. From his perspective, it was an act of mercy to end unnecessary suffering due to the universe’s limited resources.

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Anyway, it’s not too late for the MCU to turn itself around. However, at this point, we should be past the relative point in the Multiverse Saga that is analogous to The Avengers. That moment was supposed to be Quantumania, but it came and went like a wet fart. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was satisfying and fun but it felt self-contained for the most part. On the TV side, Disney Plus’ Secret Invasion similarly feels rushed and unfocused with its ridiculous climax amounting to aliens scooping up the powers of other superheroes and battling each other in an eye-rolling moment.

Meanwhile, some truly great moments in the MCU are being sorely underutilized. For example, why is there not a Shang-Chi 2 slated for Phase 5? For me, 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a film I have returned to again and again for its excellent characters, unique martial arts-infused action, and strong narrative. And yet, the franchise is just sitting on the table, collecting dust. Compare that to Phase 1 when Iron Man received a sequel a mere two years after its release, and a threequel three years after that. It just seems like the MCU is wasting an opportunity.

I do have some hope for the MCU going forward, however. For one, the ongoing Loki season 2 is proving to be a welcome return to form in of quality, even if it continues to raise more questions than it answers in regard to the multiverse and how it works. The Marvels is also around the corner, for which I am strangely optimistic, too, despite the film’s November 10 release tracking relatively low at the box office by Marvel’s standards.

I know what you’re thinking. Why on God’s green earth am I suggesting the MCU character almost everyone rolled their eyes at should return after appearing in the movie everyone unilaterally agrees is one of the franchise’s worst?

Poor critical reception or not, Eternals is still a player on the Marvel chessboard, and the Multiverse Saga’s storyline depends on the storylines it teased. Case in point: Harry Styles as Eros aka Starfox aka Thanos’ brother in the movie’s post-credit scene. 

On paper alone, the brother of the Big Bad who terrorized Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the Infinity Saga feels like the perfect follow-up to headline the subsequent saga. As we know, that hasn’t happened, and probably for the best as Kang is — again, on paper — the better villain to see the MCU through the next several years of its evolution. Still, there’s a Harry-style-sized hole in the MCU that speaks to a greater problem plaguing the cinematic franchise. 

If you recall, we have been teased a number of characters and storylines throughout phases four and five that remain so firmly stuck in limbo it’s starting to feel like they’re in purgatory. You have the homing beacon inside the Ten Rings that still hasn’t been explained; you have Starfox and the Ebony Blade arc in Eternals that has gone nowhere; you have Clea coming to Doctor Strange at the end of Multiverse of Madness; Hercules and Love from Thor: Love and Thunder; Toussaint from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; and Phyla-Vell aka Quasar from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. 

That’s not even an exhaustive list of the storylines that have gone nowhere — that’s just from post-credit scenes alone. Sure, the Infinity Saga had its fair share of dead-end plot points, but the Multiverse Saga is piling them up with concerning efficiency. 

At this point in the Infinity Saga — 10 movies in — we were at Guardians of the Galaxy and fully comprehending the gravity of the Infinity Stones and the danger they posed should they wind up in the wrong hands. The only semblance of an overarching plot thus far in the Multiverse Saga has come from Kang and his dynasty of variants in the post-credit scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Everything else along the way has been left to fizzle so long they’re turning flat before our very eyes. 

If there’s a through-line in the Multiverse Saga, it’s buried beneath the carcass of long-forgotten characters and plots. At present, Black Widow is the only Multiverse Saga movie that paid off its post-credit scene; watching Valentina Allegra de Fontaine show Yelena Clint Barton’s photo knowing the two will cross paths in Disney Plus’ Hawkeye is actually quite refreshing.

My only hope is The Marvels’ post-credit scene (because we know there will be one) holds off on introducing anyone or anything brand new unless there are immediate plans to pay it off in Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, or Ms. Marvel season 2 (even that feels a tad too long). Marvel’s best bet would be to use the post-credit scene in The Marvels to answer a question instead of posing a brand-new one. 

Something tells me we might never see Harry Styles in the MCU again. That’s just me. If so, don’t let this Grammy Award-winning singer’s selfless sacrifice be in vain, Marvel. However, if Marvel does intend to get the Multiverse Saga back on track, bringing back Harry and all the other post-credit scene victims is a great place to start.

Your boy Loki is headed back to Disney Plus. Had everything gone according to plan, following the preordained course of events prescribed by the higher-ups, this would be something to look forward to – at worst, a return to form for the MCU in general, but probably just another in a series of compulsively watchable franchise entries. Instead, early reviews point to Marvel’s quirkiest series spiraling into devastating disappointment.

The only explanation is a nexus event, the kind described via a helpful educational cartoon by Miss Minutes back in Loki’s debut season. 

The idea goes something like this: There’s really only one awesome way for history to play out – a version of events that gets the universe from the Big Bang’s Point A to the encroaching heat death of Point B without too much muss or fuss along the way. The way that your city council president showed up to work drunk last night, and the fact that you forgot to brush your teeth this morning? It’s all a vital part of the plan. This “Sacred Timeline,” to paraphrase the work of Robert and Rosalind Lutece, keeps the universe’s peas from touching its carrots, and must be preserved at all costs if large-scale skullduggery is going to be averted. 

When, between Points A and B, some troublemaker, rabble ro, layabout, or cad stumbles off the Sacred Timeline, it creates what’s called a “nexus event,” the effects of which can pinball out of control, creating “variant” versions of people and events and branching the universe off into a new reality. If you, for example, had ed to brush your teeth this morning instead of forgetting to do so as prescribed by the Sacred Timeline, you might have had fresher breath. Your lack of halitosis might have compelled your coworker to see something in you they never saw before. A torrid affair might have started, leading to a love child who would grow up to develop a ion for spelunking. After an ill-fated cave dive 20 years later, that child might bring some long-dormant paleozoic bacterium back to the surface, dooming all humans and most raccoons to painful illness and eventual death. Meanwhile, back in the Sacred Timeline, you eat lunch alone and don’t realize that your mouth smells like you’ve been pickling something in it until you’re already on the train home.

Basically, that’s what a nexus event is. Also basically, that’s probably what happened to the second season of Loki. Maybe it’s not too late for the TVA to prune this broken universe.

the days when we could just sail from one Marvel Studios release to the next, as care-free as a Kree on a killing spree, without an overriding, constantly gnawing concern that it might be bad? Sure, the Infinity Saga served up the occasional stinker, like Thor: The Dark World, but these were generally few and far between. Unfortunately, that’s not so in the Multiverse Saga, with numerous entries in the franchise since 2019 falling among the worst-rated MCU films on Rotten Tomatoes.

But you know what’s really terrifying? We’re only about halfway through Phase Five, and then there’s all of Phase Six still to go. Well, OK, I suppose that could also be encouraging, as it gives Marvel time to course-correct and turn this saga into another overall winner, but the headline you’ve just read makes it clear this is a kind of “glass half empty” kind of listicle. On the flip side, the many movies still to come from the Multiverse Saga have us hyped, but the stakes are also higher than ever for them to succeed.

As of the time of writing, Marvel Studios has nine officially confirmed movie productions in various stages of development, arriving across the fall of 2023 to spring 2027. I wish I could say I was 100% confident each and every one of them will be paragons of superhero cinema, like in the halcyon days of yore, but after what we’ve been through recently — the sight of M.O.D.O.K.’s bare behind in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania still haunts me nightly — I just can’t. So here’s all a wholly personal ranking of all nine, rated by how apprehensive I am about their existence.

9. Armor Wars 6o4o1j

Nice going, Armor Wars, you are the Marvel movie I am scared is going to suck the least. That said, this is something of a double-edged sword. Part of that is because this project is so nebulous right now that it’s hard to get excited for it much. On the other hand, after what Secret Invasion did to Rhodey’s character, surely the only way to go is up? However it deals with that controversial retcon, it’s going to be hard pressed to be worse than the literal most savagely reviewed Marvel production ever made.

8. Avengers: Secret Wars 6n4g2y

This is a curious one, right? Surely Avengers: Secret Wars, the grand finale of the entire Multiverse Saga, is the movie I should be the most terrified is going to be terrible. Well, yes, in one way that’s accurate. Except that when it comes to these kind of epic Marvel Studios events, conventional quality standards are thrown out the window. They’re excercises in fan-pleasing spectacle not well-told stories, as such. Just look at the baggy, muddled, and in some places poorly edited jumble that is Avengers: Endgame, which also happens to be widely beloved and the second highest-grossing film ever made. To mangle a Vision quote, an MCU finale isn’t beautiful because it’s good.

7. Captain America: Brave New World 4r475x

Brave New World hasn’t exactly been controversy-free so far, but it’s fair to say Marvel fans are pretty uniformly excited for Sam Wilson’s first solo movie as our new Captain America. Especially as we have the living legend that is Harrison Ford ing the MCU as freaking Red Hulk (imagine traveling back in time 15 years and telling that to your younger self who’s just seen The Incredible Hulk at the theater?). Sure, if you want to be pessimistic, it could break the unbroken run of epic Cap movies we’ve had so far, but BNW is very much it’s own thing, too, so it’s free to be as good or as bad as it pleases.

6. Thunderbolts 2m1b4s

Similar logic applies to Thunderbolts, albeit in the reverse. Much of the discussion around Thunderbolts to date hasn’t been what you’d call glowing, but it’s such a niche corner of the MCU that it hardly matters all that much if it’s any good or not. Quantumania was such a disappointment because it was supposed to launch Phase Five on a high. Thunderbolts, meanwhile, is… going to bring back a few characters from Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If it’s great, then — fantastic, we have a new cult favorite MCU flick on our hands! If not, the Multiverse Saga can easily limp on without it.

5. Blade 6t575g

The reason Blade is dwelling somewhere in the middle of this ranking is because it’s hard to imagine the long-delayed, production issue-plagued reboot of the vampire slayer’s cinematic adventures ever actually happening. It’s occupied such a vague space of being on the cusp of existing for four full years now that trying to force myself to ponder if I’m worried it’s going to be bad is a bit like being asked if I’m excited for The Flash 2 or the next good live-action Sony superhero movie. It takes too many mental hoops to jump through.

4. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty t5913

In contrast to Secret Wars, the fate of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is a lot more concerning. Say what you like about Endgame, but Avengers: Infinity War is an incredible achievement, whichever way you slice it. Perhaps even Marvel’s most impressive production of the lot. Not only did it manage to balance an overloaded ensemble cast, Infinity War also deserves all the credit for finally delivering on the promise that Thanos would be a truly great villain. Kang Dynasty must do exactly the same for its own titular antagonist, then, if the Multiverse Saga’s big bad is ever going to live up to his illustrious purple predecessor.

3. The Marvels 124059

The Marvels is deceptively important for the ongoing narrative of the MCU, both the one on the screen and the one going on off it too. As the third and final Marvel flick of 2023, it has to make it two for two in the win column to make up for the aforementioned Quantumania. Plus, it’s not just a sequel to Captain Marvel, the last non-team-up MCU entry to reach $1 billion, it’s actually a follow-up to five different projects, if you can believe it. And yet rumor has it that it’s going to have a teeny-tiny runtime, feature kooky musical moments, and the director has proudly proclaimed it to be “wacky and silly.” I’d love for this one to soar higher, further, faster than the first, but the jury’s still out on if it will.

2. Deadpool 3 5a7273

“Deadpool 3‘s gonna be great,” you might be thinking, “why the heck is it rated so high on this list of potential screw-ups">infamous unreleased version from the ’90s). Arguably, no other origins movie in the MCU has had so much riding on it since Iron Man. It’s truly criminal that the Fantastic Four, Marvel’s first family, haven’t been gifted the truly great cinematic adaptation they deserve in over 60 years. OK, it can’t be worse than Fant4stic, but not making us question where the Thing’s, er, thing is while watching is a very low bar to clear.

The Marvel fandom is enormous, there’s no doubting that, but it seems MCU maniacs have finally met their match in the form of the most devoted die-hards in the music industry — the so-called Swifty army of international megastar and potential Deadpool 3 star, Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, speaking of musicals, the most hard-to-watch MCU project may have just disappeared off the face of the planet forever. Oh, what a cruel way to end the summer.

The Era Tour movie proves MCU fans have nothing on Swifties by destroying Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s presales record 2m4p2

Marvel fans go back to December 2021 all the time, as Spider-Man: No Way Home is the most well-reviewed and most financially successful MCU movie since Avengers: Endgame bar none, and yet Taylor Swift has already defeated that monolithic multiversal crossover extravaganza. T-Swizzle’s surprise Era Tour movie has broken the previously all-encoming presales ticket record of the Spidey threequel. Given that she’s already forced The Exorcist reboot forward a week, the message is clear: Swifties leave MCU and horror lovers in the dust. Let’s just hope this doesn’t cause any bad blood between Taylor and Marvel.

You might’ve just missed your last chance to catch the one MCU project you won’t find anywhere in cinemas or on streaming 1a253g

The MCU has spawned its fair share of unlikely spinoffs, but the sheer unexpected existence of Rogers: The Musical definitely takes the cake. As inspired by a memorable gag from Hawkeye, Disney California Adventure has played host to an actual, honest-to-Gorr real-life version of the stage play all about Captain America since it had its first performance in June. Sadly, after three months of treading the boards, the show has now concluded, with it very much unclear if the production will be taken to other Disney parks or potentially even released on Disney Plus. As it stands, then, Rogers is easily the least-seen MCU entry to date.

No matter how hard Gywneth Paltrow tells us otherwise, rumor claims Marvel has a plan for Pepper Potts 3g6w4g

Gwyneth Paltrow just tried her darndest to convince us she has no intention to return to the MCU, even throwing her character’s independence and agency under the bus in the process, and yet even that hasn’t shut down talk of Pepper Potts popping back to the franchise. In the face of her recent call on social media for fans to stop yelling at her to come back as Rescue, rumors have risen up claiming that, despite what Paltrow’s saying, Marvel has plans for Pepper in the Multiverse Saga. To be honest, Gwyneth has forgotten whole Marvel movies that she’s been in before, so this could actually be a thing.