Avengers 5 needs to be a much smaller team-up than the ones that were offered by Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. For now, it’s unclear when Marvel will finally make another Avengers film, but the success of the previous movies makes a fifth installment feel inevitable. When it happens, the MCU will have a multitude of heroes at its disposal.
As for what to expect from Avengers 5, the specific roster of heroes seen in Endgame can’t appear. While some could return to face the next big threat, quite a few have been removed from the equation for good, such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow. However, that doesn’t mean Marvel can’t deliver a team-up as massive as the last two, which united over 30 superheroes for the fight with Thanos. Thanks to Phase 4, the MCU has gained more heroes than it lost in Endgame. In addition to the returning Infinity Saga characters, the MCU has picked up Shang-Chi, Kate Bishop, Moon Knight, America Chavez, and Black Knight. And before Phase 4 ends, it’ll also boast She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Adam Warlock.
The impressive number of heroes that are sure to exist in the MCU by the time Avengers 5 rolls around will enable the MCU to deliver a team-up that dwarfs the rosters featured in both Infinity War and Endgame. That being said, it would actually be better for the movie if it went in the opposite direction and limited its lineup to only a handful of characters. Packing the third and fourth Avengers movies with dozens of existing superheroes worked for the MCU at the time, but it’s not something that should be repeated when the Avengers reunite. Since it would be difficult for any MCU to top the stakes of Endgame, Avengers 5 should offer something different by focusing on a smaller group of characters.
In adapting a team-up that’s less like Infinity War and more like The Avengers, the movie can tell a more character-driven story. The movie could actually benefit greatly from this approach, as it would allow Marvel to avoid some of the problems with Infinity War’s massive cast. How the story was structured limited original MCU Avengers like Captain America and Black Widow to just a few minutes of screen-time. One hero, Hawkeye, was left out altogether. Avengers 5 won’t have to be held down by these issues if it picks five, six, or even seven of the MCU’s active heroes. The fact that The Avengers is still regarded today as one of the best MCU films shows that Avengers 5 doesn’t really need more than that.
Massive lineups of heroes shouldn’t necessarily become a thing of the past because of Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame, but they shouldn’t be The Avengers franchise’s immediate future either. Another large-scale team-up is something that the MCU should build up to slowly with its new team, which should start small, and then grow and pick up new allies gradually in the same way as the Infinity Saga’s Avengers team. If so, The Avengers 5 can spend its time developing the dynamics between its team members, rather than try to juggle 30 heroes.
