Marvel may not have an Avengers 5 film scheduled for MCU Phase 4, but it’s only a matter of time until the studio will reveal its plans for the soft reboot of the Avengers franchise. No studio would drop its most prized possession after the massive successes of Infinity War and Endgame, but Marvel can’t just go to the next chapter and expect the same results. Avengers 3 and 4 worked so well because Marvel built a massive overarching story that spanned a decade, allowing us to get to know a slew of exciting characters over the course of 24 movies. Now that Iron Man, Nat, and Captain America are gone from the Avengers team, and Thor and Hawkeye are on a course toward retirement, we’re going to need a new team — which is why Avengers 5 will be a soft reboot for the series. But before we get there, we need to meet these new heroes and fall in love with them just as we did with the original six.
As we’ve already explained, everything we’ve learned so far suggests Marvel is working on a new Avengers roster, one that could be more diverse than ever before. While we have no idea how many new Avengers we’re getting or when they’ll be officially anointed, we have one more name to add to the list, and this one is apparently confirmed to have a bigger role to play in the future of the MCU.
Comic book fans who have been following Marvel stories for years already expect that several of the upcoming MCU titles, whether they’re TV shows or regular movies, will deliver new origin stories that introduce brand new Avengers. The upcoming Eternals movie is one such example, where Sersi and Black Knight are supposed to be leads, and are therefore shortlisted for future crossover films. WandaVision is another, where Monica Rambeau will be introduced, and she might take over the Captain Marvel mantle from Carol Danvers in the future.
One more hero might come from a different Disney+ show that was confirmed even more recently. That’s She-Hulk — again, you’ve probably foreseen this. But Marvel apparently made it clear with the help of a casting call for Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk — Iluminerdi reports:
Specifically, Marvel is looking for an actress with comedic chops in the 26 to 34-year old age range. They’re also leaving the casting open to all races, which should cast a wide net for their search.
Walters’ origin and background in the series will skew very close to the pages of Marvel. The description even cites Jennifer’s Marvel Comics’ origin, noting that she is indeed a lawyer who will gain her abilities after receiving a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner, who is specifically mentioned, after being shot. Additionally, the last sentence of the description explicitly states that she is a future member of the Avengers.
The report notes that Marvel is looking to start shooing in six months, so the studio is likely to soon cast the lead for the series. That said, we have no idea when She-Hulk will hit Disney+, or when the action is supposed to take place in the MCU timeline. She-Hulk is an excellent replacement for Hulk in the future Avengers lineup, Hulk being the only hero left from the original six whose arc didn’t reach a satisfying end in Endgame. Sure, Hulk and Bruce Banner solved their differences and we now have a Smart Hulk who is now beloved by the world instead of being viewed as a terrifying monster, and he’s the hero who undid Thanos’s snap. Still, it feels like Endgame didn’t give Hulk a proper send-off. With that in mind, we’d expect to at least get a Hulk cameo in the new She-Hulk TV series — and we already know Mark Ruffalo was supposed to meet Marvel to discuss more Hulk pitches.
What’s clear is that She-Hulk will definitely premiere well before the MCU treats us to the first Avengers sequel after Endgame. And by the time Marvel is ready to announce Avengers 5, Jennifer could be ready to join the Avengers.
