With Thor: Love and Thunder and Ms. Marvel now available, we’ve now seen six MCU Phase 4 movies and seven Marvel Disney Plus shows. And all this time, Marvel went out of its way not to feature the Avengers in any of these projects in a meaningful way. There’s no Avengers 5 release set for the near future, but at least we think that Secret Wars might be the endgame of the current saga.
Marvel is still planting the seeds for that story, and it’s not ready to reveal any firm details about the Avengers franchise. Fans are talking, however. And they’re wondering if the Infinity War and Endgame directors would helm the project. Well, the Russo brothers have addressed Avengers: Secret Wars again. Beware, some spoilers might follow below if you’re not up to date on the Phase 4 titles released so far.
What’s the difference between Secret Wars and Secret Invasion?
Marvel has already finished principal shooting on Secret Invasion, an MCU Phase 4 title that will hit Disney Plus at some point in the coming months. It’ll probably be out next summer, likely around the release of The Marvels.
Secret Invasion might easily be one of the most ambitious Disney Plus show in the MCU so far and a story that might influence the future of the MCU significantly. While the plot hasn’t leaked, the gist of the story is quite simple. An alien race with shape-shifting abilities might have infiltrated Earth, taking over various characters. Even superheroes.
Secret Wars is much bigger than that, however. It’s a massive crossover that will probably feature all the Avengers and heroes from any other groups that Marvel might want to introduce. It’ll likely be a conflict between worlds, with Doctor Strange 2 having already provided the way to start it — the incursions.
Put differently, Avengers: Secret Wars might be the endgame of the current phase, while Secret Invasion will be just another part of the story that gets us there.
Will the Russo brothers direct Avengers 5?
Anthony and Joe Russo are responsible for some of Marvel’s biggest successes. Infinity War and Endgame made nearly $5 billion at the box office.
The Russos also made Captain America: Civil War, which earned $1.15 billion at the box office. The movie could have easily been part of the Avengers franchise, considering that all the top Avengers appear in the film. And Civil War ties right into Infinity War.
With that in mind, the Russos are the first directors that come to mind when discussing the Avengers franchise’s future. And it so happens that the two of them have said more than once that they love Secret Wars.
That’s hardly a confirmation that the Russos will do Avengers: Secret Wars when the time comes. Or that Avengers 5 will be a part of that story. But the Russos keep addressing a potential return to Marvel. And they just did it during the premiere of The Gray Man, their next Netflix title.
They talked to Deadline about Marvel and said that Secret Wars is the one comics series they adored while growing up. But the way Joe Russo framed everything makes it seems like they’re actually considering a Secret Wars movie.
“It’s incredibly ambitious, it’s bigger than Infinity War and Endgame, but it’s a massive undertaking,” Joe said. “Those two movies were very hard to make, so trying to imagine making two movies even bigger than those two? We’re gonna have to sleep on that.”
When will Marvel announce Avengers 5?
Reports last year said the Russos and Marvel had been negotiating a new project, but the brothers were taken aback by Disney’s handling of Scarlett Johansson. And, again, Marvel is likely still months out from confirming Avengers 5.
However, Kevin Feige recently teased that Marvel will provide a few clues about where the story is heading. We expect Marvel to return to Comic-Con San Diego this month. That’s one place where Marvel could reveal some of the plans for the not-too-distant future. Then there’s D23 in September, which could be an even better venue to tease anything as big as Avengers: Secret Wars.
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