There is reason to believe that Avengers: Secret Wars will not actually be a direct sequel to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. When the MCU began, each phase included four or five solo films followed by an Avengers movie. This changed with MCU Phase 3, where Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were released one year apart. There was no Avengers movie in MCU Phase 4, and there won't be one in Phase 5, with Marvel instead deciding to also release Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars within a year of each other, both as part of MCU Phase 6.

Evidence suggests the MCU might be doing something different with the next two Avengers movies, however. With so much going on in the MCU right now, there might not be a single storyline to wrap up in both movies. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars seem like two completely different prospects, and that very well could be the case, with the movies having concurrent storylines that both wrap up at the same time. This could mean different casts for the two movies, with one group of Avengers fighting Kang and another team dealing with Secret Wars, without them impacting each other too much. Maybe the odd character could pop up in both, but for the most part, the movies would be separate.

Related: Why Avengers 6 Must End The MCU's Multiverse For Good

MCU Original Phase 6 Plan Supports Kang & Secret Wars Being SeparateAnt-Man 3 Kang He Who Remains

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are two parts of a whole, with the former leading directly into the latter, which was released just a year later. While that strategy appears to be the case again for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, that wasn't always how it was set up. Originally, the two movies were scheduled mere months apart. This is no longer happening due to delays to several MCU movies, including Secret Wars, but it does hint that there will not be the same type of cliffhanger in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty that there was in Avengers: Infinity War with Thanos's snap.

The state of the Avengers as a team isn't clear as things stand. As MCU Phase 4 comes to a close, it still looks like there is not one set group functioning since the events of Avengers: Endgame. Due to this, coupled with the fact that there are so many heroes presently in the MCU, it would make sense that there would be two different groups of characters teaming up for different missions without necessarily knowing about the other plot.

Could Kang Dynasty & Secret Wars Comics Stories Combine?Sam Wilson Captain america Avengers secret wars

If Avengers: Secret Wars is a direct follow-up to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, then the comic stories would have to be changed. "Kang Dynasty," or "Kang War," centers on Kang the Conqueror coming from the 30th century to the 21st in order to vanquish the Earth. And while Kang does feature in the "Secret Wars" run, he is one of many antagonists. Marvel is known for taking storylines from the comics and adapting them to fit the MCU, with Captain America: Civil War being an obvious example. Perhaps if they aren't to be totally separate, elements of each comic story could be combined to fit the two movies, with Kang potentially playing a larger role in Avengers: Secret Wars after Avengers: The Kang Dynastry.

Next: Why Kang Must Be Avengers 6's Beyonder (Not Doom)

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