Seeing Kevin Feige announce Avengers 5 and Avengers 6 at Comic-Con in July was a big surprise. Trademark leaks that preceded the event did reveal the names of these Avengers movies, but we didn’t expect Marvel to announce The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars during the event. However, Marvel did not reveal the cast and directors for Avengers 5 or Avengers 6 at the time.
Feige did reveal the release dates for the two movies and explained that the Avengers films will conclude Phase 6 and the entire Multiverse Saga. Not only that, but each saga going forward will end with Avengers movies as well, Feige said.
Marvel has since confirmed the director for Avengers 5. According to a recent leak, Ryan Coogler, the man behind Marvel’s Black Panther movies, might helm Avengers 6.
Why the Avengers 6 director is so important
Rumors leading up to Comic-Con 2022 claimed that the Russo brothers would direct Secret Wars. This was at a time when this Avengers movie wasn’t even confirmed. But most fans were expecting the MCU to lead to an Avengers: Secret Wars event well before Feige confirmed the movie title.
Also, we had no idea before Comic-Con whether Avengers 5 will be called Secret Wars. Or whether Secret Wars will come later down the line, after a soft reboot of the Avengers franchise via Avengers 5.
All this goes to show there’s plenty of interest in Avengers stories. And that’s why fans care so much about the directors that Marvel is considering for Avengers 5 and Avengers 6.
Reports after Comic-Con said that the Russo brothers will not be involved in these products. We also learned that Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton will helm The Kang Dynasty.
Ryan Coogler to direct Secret Wars
This brings us to the Ryan Coogler rumor, a director who is already well-known for his work at Marvel. Coogler made a name for himself by writing and directing Black Panther. He then wrote and directed Wakanda Forever, which hits theaters in November.
Furthermore, Coogler also worked on Ironheart, a Disney Plus show that tells the story of Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). That’s Iron Man’s replacement, who also appears in Wakanda Forever.
With that in mind, having Ryan Coogler helm Marvel’s Avengers 6 project makes perfect sense.
And the folks at The Weekly Planet Podcast learned the director is negotiating with Marvel for the Secret Wars job:
“And Ryan Coogler, here’s another scoop, Mason, is at the very least one of the directors, is currently in talks for Secret Wars. Which makes a lot of sense and yeah, the source here says, this is a reliable source, this person says ‘a fairly obvious choice.’ And it is. That makes sense.”
Like the Russo brothers and Cretton, Coogler worked on non-Avengers projects before getting to direct an Avengers episode. That seems to be Marvel’s recipe for success for the franchise, promoting directors who have already worked with some MCU characters and were quite successful at it.
That said, nothing is official at this time. Avengers 6 premieres in May 2026. Marvel has plenty of time to decide.
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