With no announcement of an Avengers 5, it's looking more and more likely that the next major MCU crossover will be the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. Set to be directed by Jake Sheier, the film will center around a team of anti-heroes with a line-up of returning characters that has yet to be confirmed. However, based on Marvel's comics and previous hints of the Thunderbolts in the MCU, some strong candidates include Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), the Abomination (Tim Roth), Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
A team-up of this caliber drawing from so many far-ranging franchises may be the closest thing audiences get to an Avengers movie for a long time to come. There seem to be no reported plans for a crossover of the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame anywhere down the line, and given the exponential growth of the MCU since those films were released, the task of wrangling so many franchises into one coherent story has become increasingly difficult, if not altogether impossible. Considering the size and breadth of the MCU's Phase 4, which has incorporated Disney+ series and a number of new solo heroes, it isn't even clear exactly who the Avengers are anymore, or if they still exist within the bleak post-Blip world.
This makes the new Thunderbolts movie all the more exciting, as it promises the next major crossover event within the MCU. Since it will not need to tie together the entirety of Phase 4 as Endgame did for Phase 3, Thunderbolts won't have to be bogged down by too many competing storylines and A-list heroes. At the same time, the inclusion of so many potential characters from throughout the MCU will make it a rewarding experience for loyal viewers, and a perfect way to expand upon the storylines of many fan favorites that have fallen out of step with the major heroes - mostly by being former villains.
The MCU's Thunderbolts has a lot of promise as a hype-worthy crossover, though it of course cannot truly rival the massive scale and scope of an Avengers film. With the next potential Avengers installment still years away, the MCU has increasingly been utilizing crossovers within their standalone hero movies, such as Dr. Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder. These mini-crossovers can be satisfying, and serve to stave off the need for an Avengers film in some ways. As a true multi-franchise team-up without all the baggage of MCU riding on its shoulders, Thunderbolts would serve that purpose as well - in an even bigger and more epic way.
Though there has been much speculation about the MCU's potential Avengers 5, the landscape of the MCU could look completely different by the time it actually arrives. Marvel has so many projects on their slate, and even the ones that have been confirmed may not make it to theaters until 2025. In the meantime, the Thunderbolts movie is the best opportunity for a large-scale crossover in the foreseeable future of the MCU.
