One of the things missing from Marvel’s next slate of MCU adventure is an Avengers: Endgame sequel of some sort. Marvel can’t stop making Avengers films considering what Infinity War and Endgame did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Avengers 5 might take its time to arrive. Many of the original Avengers have been removed from the board or are going to be replaced soon. Iron Man and Black Widow died, and Captain America retired. Thor and Hawkeye might be next to leave the team. New heroes will join the Avengers, however, and that’s why an Avengers 5 film needs time to develop. We have to meet the brand new additions to the team as well as the next major villains they’ll have to defeat. At best, Avengers 5 will come in Phase 5, which will likely unfold in 2022 and 2023 — Marvel did tease that the next Avengers movie could be smaller in scope, but the company has at least eight release dates spread out over those two years.
Now, a new report tells us that we won’t have to wait as long to see several of the Avengers reunite in the same movie. It might happen a lot sooner than 2022, but in different MCU franchise.
Set for release on May 7th, 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is tipped to feature several Avengers. And judging by that title, this is the only Phase 4 movie that warrants the inclusion of other Avengers.
Marvel already confirmed that Wanda will be in the film, and revealed that Loki would make an appearance as well — as a reminder, this is the 2012 Loki who escaped with the Space Stone when Tony Stark fumbled the Stone’s retrieval in Endgame. That Loki will get his own Disney+ TV series, and it’ll be interesting to see how he and Strange will interact. It should all be hilarious considering that Strange already met this timeline’s Loki before.
While Wanda and Loki’s inclusions are confirmed — and Loki isn’t your regular Avenger, if we can even call him that — other Avengers are also rumored to make cameos in Doctor Strange 2.
Unnamed sources told WeGotThisCovered that Avengers including Sam Wilson’s Captain America and Bucky Barnes might appear in the film. These would be alternate versions of the two heroes rather than the ones in the main timeline. In a separate report, the same blog said that an alternate Thor will also play a part in the movie. Come to think of it, if there’s an alternate Loki in Strange 2, then you absolutely need an alternate Thor as well.
Then again, it’s easy to throw Avengers’ names at the wall and see what sticks. None of this can be confirmed at this time, and we might not have any other Avengers in the film after all. Strange 2 hasn’t even started shooting, so anything can happen to the script to accommodate Marvel’s needs going forward.
Of course, there’s no denying that the magic of all these MCU films comes from all the tiny links between the movies, and character interactions that result from brief cameos such as the ones rumored for Strange 2. The audience would love to see a bunch of Avengers reunite on screen again, considering we have no idea when the next Avengers film will happen.