Marvel Studios announced a boatload of tantalizing projects during its Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, including the next big ensemble team-up of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Set to be released on June 30, 2025,Avengers: The Kang Dynastypromises to bring the superhero squad back together to face their next Thanos-sized antagonist: Kang the Conqueror. The Avengers disbanded at the end ofEndgame, and most of its original members have moved on. Steve Rogers is retired, Clint Barton is semi-retired, and Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff are dead. So, who will make up the team’s new roster inThe Kang Dynasty?
When they reassemble inThe Kang Dynasty, the Avengers are likely to be led by Sam Wilson. Following his initial hesitance to accept the great responsibility, Sam took up the Captain America mantle in the finale episode ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After the events of that series, the first hero Sam would call for help is Bucky. After that, he’d probably contact Thor and his new adopted daughter/superhero sidekick, Love. Doctor Strange was last seen traveling to the Dark Dimension to investigate a possible incursion, so he might be absent fromThe Kang Dynastyand reappear forthe multiversal madness ofSecret Wars.
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Although his “He Who Remains” variantshowed up in theLokifinale, Kang himself is being introduced inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. There are rumors flying around that Kang will kill either Ant-Man or the Wasp to establish the gravity of the threat he poses inQuantumania. If that happens, the survivor will probably show up inThe Kang Dynastyseeking revenge. Wong, the new Sorcerer Supreme, brought Shang-Chi and his best friend Katy into the fold after they defeated Wenwu and the Ten Rings. They were introduced to Captain Marvel and the Hulk, teasing a future alliance with the Avengers.
The characters inEternalsweren’t exactly embraced by the fan base, so it’s unclear if any of them will appear inThe Kang Dynasty. Plus, the movie had too many characters to cross over with theAvengersfranchise. The cast ofEternalsis already a massive ensemble before attempting to ingratiate them into an even bigger ensemble.The Kang Dynastymight just bring back Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo, the three Eternals brought in by Arishem for the judgment of humanity at the end of the movie. In the mid-credits scene, Thena, Makkari, and Druig metfellow Eternal Eros, Thanos’ brother, who offered his help, possibly setting up a role in the fifthAvengersfilm. In the post-credits scene, Dane Whitman acquired the Ebony Blade, teasing his transformation into the Black Knight, so he might show up, too.
After Strange cast a spell to send Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and their familiar villains home, everybody in the Earth-616 universe forgot about Spider-Man. ButSpidey is still out there, slinging webs and kicking butt, so he could still get a call when the Avengers need all the help they can get to fight Kang. The trailers forShe-Hulkshow Jen Walters being trained by Bruce Banner, so either she’ll take his place on the Avengers roster, allowing Bruce to retire, or they’ll both appear inThe Kang Dynastyto fight the time-traveling baddie side-by-side.
The upcomingGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3is beingplanned as the end of the Guardians’ solo franchise. James Gunn surely won’t kill off every single Guardian in the third movie, but they won’t all survive to the end credits. The teaser screened at Comic-Con reportedly features flashbacks to Rocket’s origin story, so it stands to reason that the threequel is exploring his past to conclude his character arc and he could die by the end of it. Dave Bautista has also said he’s retiring the character of Drax afterVol. 3, so even if he doesn’t die, he likely won’t appear inThe Kang Dynasty. The nextAvengersmovie could at least feature the surviving Guardians. Afterthe events ofEndgame, the Gamora inVol. 3will be the villainous version circa 2014. She might stay bad until the end of the movie, in which case she won’t bother to help fight the Avengers’ next battle. But Star-Lord, Nebula, Groot, Mantis, and Kraglin could all still appear inThe Kang Dynasty.
It might be difficult to fit some of the darker characters introduced in Phases Four and Five, like Blade and Moon Knight, into the PG-13 Avengers roster – but it would be great to see them. One of Marvel’s darker, grittier antiheroes seems to be primed for aKang Dynastyappearance. Daredevil is getting a new show,Born Again, and he’s also being featured in a bunch of other MCU projects. Afterhis hyped-up cameo appearance inSpider-Man: No Way Home, Charlie Cox’s blind crimefighter will have more prominent roles inShe-HulkandEcho. Marvel is clearly welcoming Matt Murdock into the wider MCU ensemble with open arms.
It seems like a no-brainer forThe Marvels’ trifecta of Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau to appear in the fifthAvengersmovie after their highly anticipated team-up in theCaptain Marvelsequel. Characters like Kate Bishop, Riri Williams, Cassie Lang, and America Chavez might form their own Young Avengers squad instead of joining the main Avengers team.The Fantastic Four will jointhe MCU’s growing superhero roster at the beginning of Phase Six.The Kang Dynastymight be the movie that integrates Marvel’s first family into the larger ensemble.
Whoever ends up filling out the cast,The Kang Dynastypromises to be one enormous movie. Itcould be even bigger thanEndgame, with dozens of protagonists all squabbling for screen time. There’s a lot of time to speculate about who will or won’t appear in the nextAvengersepic before it hits theaters in the summer of 2025.
