Marvel Theory: Avengers 5 Unites The MCU's Multiverse

Avengers 5 could be the MCU movie that unites the heroes of Marvel’s multiverse. This could be the direction that Marvel takes in Phase 5, and can happen if the fifth Avengers movie adapts the story of the 1990s Marvel Comics miniseries, Avengers Forever, which featured Kang the Conqueror as a key character.

So far, the Avengers movies have pitted Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against three of their biggest enemies. In the first movie, they were brought together to fight Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the first villain ever faced by the team in Marvel Comics. In the sequel, the Avengers battled Ultron, the robotic creation of the MCU’s Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.). As for the last two Avengers movie, the main villain was Thanos (Josh Brolin), one of the most powerful villains who has ever existed both in the comics and in the movies. The Mad Titan proved to be their greatest challenge yet when he beat them at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and erased half of the universe. Thanks to time travel and an army of superheroes, Thanos was finally defeated at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

There’s been no confirmation if Marvel will make fifth movie in the franchise, or who the heroes’ next opponent would be. However, the leading theory is that Marvel will pick another character who’s near the top of the list of the Avengers’ biggest villains. A character whose name is often mentioned in the same sentence as Thanos and Ultron is Kang the Conqueror, an ambitious time-traveler from the future who has a vendetta against the Avengers. Since Kang is reportedly joining the MCU in Ant-Man 3, there’s a good chance that he’ll be the team’s next major challenge. If so, Marvel could take inspiration from Avengers Forever and use this opportunity to unite the multiverse in The Avengers 5.

Avengers Forever Explained

Rick Jone sitting on a chair in s Avengers Forever

Between 1998 and 1999, Marvel Comics published a 12-issue miniseries titled Avengers Forever, which picked up on a key plot point from the Kree-Skrull War event from the early 1970s. During the war, the Supreme Intelligence imbued teenager and honorary Avenger Rick Jones with a powerful, cosmic ability called the Destiny Force, which allowed him to conjure up heroes to help him in battle. Rick had since lost his connection with the Destiny Force but regained it in Avengers Forever to contend with Immortus, an alternate, future version of Kang the Conqueror. Using the Destiny Force, Rick summoned forth Avengers from different points in the timeline to help him. The characters he chose were Captain America, Songbird, two versions of Hank Pym from different periods in his life, Hawkeye, the Wasp, and Genis-Vell.

Over the course of the series, Rick Jones and his team of Avengers encountered a number of different heroes from other timelines. They encountered alternate universe versions of the Avengers, and individual characters such as Thor, Black Panther, Killraven, Daredevil, Moon Knight, and more. They also met old allies like Iron Man and Black Knight from earlier points in the timeline. Many of these characters played role in the mission of the time-traveling Avengers, which was to defeat Immortus and his team of villains, the Time Keepers. Perhaps their most surprising ally against their enemies was Kang himself, who wanted to avoid fulfilling his destiny and becoming Immortus.

How Phase 4 Is Building Toward A Multiverse Crossover

Marvel took several movies to build toward its version of Infinity Gauntlet by sprinkling in the Infinity Stones as major plot devices and through cameos from Thanos. Marvel could lead up to its next big crossover in the same way. With the way Marvel is making the multiverse central to Phase 4, it feels fitting that it should factor heavily into Avengers 5. After all, it’s become clear that the multiverse will be central to Doctor Strange 2, Loki, Spider-Man 3, and WandaVision. Similar to how the individual fights over the Infinite Stones set up Infinity War and Endgame, these multiverse adventures could serve as the building blocks for a much bigger and inclusive story that invokes these time travel and interdimensional elements. It could be that what Marvel is doing with the multiverse in Phase 4 and Kang the Conqueror in Phase 5 will culminate in a live-action adaptation of Avengers Forever in Avengers 5.

How Avengers 5 Can Unite The Multiverse

Using Avengers Forever and the multiverse means that anything would become possible for Avengers 5. Story-wise, Marvel wouldn’t be limited in terms of what it could deliver. Marvel could revisit eras that fans thought were forgotten. Theoretically, it could bring in heroes that have been removed from the equation, like Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson). Of course, actors being unwilling to reprise these roles could stop these returns from happening, but in any case, all story-related obstacles would at least be removed. If Kang – or Immortus – serves as Avengers 5’s big bad, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes may end up in a situation where the resources and people available to them won’t be enough to stop him. If so, a character can fill Rick Jones’ role in Avengers Forever and be given the opportunity to pull characters from different timelines to make up the roster of the next Avengers squad.

Having an ability like Rick Jones’ Destiny Force could unite the multiverse against a singular threat. Characters from earlier MCU films could be used, including those who died or simply aren’t who they used to be. For example, the movie could bring back a version of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) who still transforms into the child-like Hulk. Furthermore, Avengers 5 wouldn’t be restricted to just characters from its own timeline. Whatever alternate universe superheroes that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) meet during their own multiversal exploits could also be recruited for the fight against Kang.

The casting of Jamie Foxx’s Electro in Spider-Man 3 opens the door for even more possibilities that Marvel can explore in Avengers 5. An Amazing Spider-Man 2 character being added to the MCU implies that Marvel will be making movies that don’t fit in MCU canon separate realities in its multiverse. If that’s really the plan, that puts Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man and some of Fox’s X-Men on the table for a large-scale team-up against Kang the Conqueror in Avengers 5. None of these characters would be likely to have big roles, but using them in cameos or in a massive final battle would be the only way Marvel could come close to equaling what it did in Avengers: Endgame.

More: MCU Theory: Kang The Conqueror Is Coming To Phase 5 (Because Of Thanos)