Announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Avengers: Secret Wars may well prove to be Marvel Studios’ most ambitious project ever. Set to conclude not only Phase 6 of the MCU but also the entirety of the Multiverse Saga, it’s easy to refer back to the tagline promoting the 2015 comic event: “When everything ends, there is only Secret Wars.”
Announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 as being part of Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Kang Dynasty will focus on Jonathan Majors‘ Kang, who was first introduced as a Variant referred to as He Who Remains in the finale of the first season of Loki, is set to become the MCU’s next big bad. And so being, a big confrontation with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is, like their previous antagonist Thanos, inevitable. As the Multiverse Saga develops over the course of the next couple of years, Avengers: Kang Dynasty may not only serve as the culmination of Kang’s presence in the MCU but also set things up for the following Avengers entry, due to be released six months afterward.
Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) was announced as the director just three days after the feature film was announced. In late 2023, as part of a total creative overhaul, Cretton left the project and writer Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Avengers: Secret Wars) took over writing duties. Before the end of 2023, Marvel Studios fired actor Jonathan Majors after he was found guilty of assault and harassment. The studio is currently looking to recast the character.
On February 21, 2024, THR reported that in the wake of Majors’ legal troubles and the poor response to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the studio was dropping the subtitle The Kang Dynasty and looking to rename the film.
As part of their SDCC ’24 presentation, Marvel Studios announced that the fifth Avengers film was set to be directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and had been retitled Avengers: Doomsday. Infinity Saga star Robert Downey Jr. is set to play Doctor Doom.
In May 2025, the film’s release date was moved to December 18, 2026.
With Avengers: Infinity War recently being added to Disney Plus, Marvel took the opportunity to give a rundown of the history of each of the Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Noteworthy is that the IG post by Marvel Entertainment lists the status of each of the stones as “destroyed”, a description which has caused a little debate online. To clarify, the stones in question here are those from the Prime Timeline and not the ones that were acquired as part of the time heist in Avengers: Endgame; each of those stones is clearly still in play in its individual timeline which explains why we have a Loki show coming up on Disney Plus eventually.
As Thanos told the Avengers, he “used the stones to destroy the stones” as they served no further purpose than to pose as a temptation; however, as the Russos described in an interview in May of 2019, even in the MCU the stones follow the very important scientific principle of the conservation of mass so the true fate of the stones was, as Thanos further described it, isn’t quite so simple and incredibly important. Even the power of the Infinity Stones can’t change the simple fact that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but Thanos did use that power, and the particulate nature of matter, to reduce the stones into their individual atoms.
This is good news for the MCU because, as the Ancient One told Bruce Banner, the stones are essential to the flow of time and their removal or destruction would portend very, very bad things for the timeline. So while the stones aren’t big chunks of matter anymore, all the matter that made up the stones still exists which means the world can keep on keeping on. We will see what implication, if any, this has on the future of the MCU, other than allowing it to have one, when Phase 4 gets going sometime in the next 4 months to a year.
So, some brand new footage of the Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics Avengers game came out the other day. With only 3 months left until its release, the footage was eyebrow-raising, to say the least. I’ve always been mixed with how the game looked when they unveiled it for the first time sometime back and yesterday’s footage only reinforced those feelings a hundredfold. Check it out.
This is a constant gripe I’ve had with the game but it’s hard not to ignore how derivative the flat aesthetic and character interpretations are to their MCU counterparts; Thor sounds exactly like Chris Hemsworth, Cap’s suit looks like one of Ryan Meinerding‘s rejected designs for the films, Bruce looks like a skinnier version of Mark Ruffalo, Tony is quip city (it’s annoying how the comics have also riffed on RDJ’s take since 2008). Because the visual development behind the MCU has spoiled us in reinterpreting classic characters for over 10 years to the point where the interpretations are synonymous to its comic counterparts, when a video game like this follows the film’s aesthetics, it feels like a knock-off to cash in with the films. The visuals and overall look of the world seems more inspired by the MCU than the comics.
The Spider-Mangame did a fantastic job being its own thing. They completely ignored what was happening in any of the live-action takes (they didn’t base Peter off of Tobey, Andrew, or Tom). They went bold with the costume designs and gave us something we’ve never seen on the characters. It’s mindblowing to me that they managed to reinvent the classic red and blue suit by adding a white motif. That suit is probably the best Spider-Man costume variation in years, games and comics considered. For Avengers, I would have preferred if they just fully stylized the game’s aesthetic to make it stand-out.
Lastly, it’s just so odd to see footage so late in the development process have blatant frame issues. Nearly every sequence showcased in the game has this jittery laggy effect especially once the action starts coming in. Fortunately, this is a very fixable tech problem unlike the aesthetics and visual direction, which are both locked into the game.
But it’s all not whining for me. There’s a lot that makes me super excited to play this game.
Marvel IP has always been poorly represented in this generation of gaming. Back in my heyday of gaming 15 years ago, Marvel was on fire with X-Men Legends, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Hulk: Incredible Destruction, and of course, Spider-Man 2. But once the next generation consoles started coming in, the great games just fizzled out. Just as the MCU was gaining steam, the films were ironically supplemented with the blandest videogame tie-ins. So the mere fact that we’re getting a AAA game of this scale is already a win in my book.
The Thor footage they showed this week looks super fun. I know a lot of people find these kinds of gameplay mechanics super grindy but I love the grind and wouldn’t mind spending hours playing Thor and wrecking shit. The Mjolnir targeting system is just *chef’s kiss*. The combo system seems easier to grasp compared to the surprisingly complex mechanics of the Spider-Man game. I am super curious how smooth the AI system is going to be. The combat looks similar to that of Final Fantasy 15 where you’re in control of one character and have 3 AI teammates assisting you. Because you weren’t in full control of the other characters, the Final Fantasy 15 combat became so messy at times that it was more frustrating than fun.
The customization looks immersive as hell. I can already imagine spending hours just figuring out which skill to build, what mods and perks to pick, and what costumes to use. The idea that some classic skins are tied to classic missions sounds exciting. Even though I dislike the game’s flat realistic aesthetic so much, I do respect the fact that they’re incorporating some comic designs into the game. The game introducing the Helicarrier as a base you can fully explore and meet all kinds of characters in sounds super fun. Of course, props to them for giving the spotlight to Kamala Khan.
Lastly, as a sucker for worldbuilding, the story they’ve got so far has me piqued. Plus points to them for giving props to AIM as the organizational big bad and for beating the MCU to M.O.D.O.K.
Fans have theorized the possibility of Clint Barton assuming a new alter ego in Avengers 4. With part of the film taking place in Japan and Jeremy Renner sporting a very different haircut while prepping for the film, speculation has centered on the possibility of Clint Barton shedding Hawkeye and adopting not just a new look, but possibly a new name as well. Thanks to our source, the same source that delivered the goods on the children of Thanos and Steve Rogers’ new look, we can tell you that Barton is set to appear as Ronin (or at least an iteration of it) in Avengers 4!
In the comics, Barton has been known to take on multiple superhero identities. He took on the mantle of Goliath back in the day and underwent a very brooding gun-toting image overhaul in Ultimates 3 when tragedy struck his family. The most notable recent change the character went through happened after the events of Civil War in New Avengers #27. . Donning a totally new costume, complete with a mask to hide his identity like fraudsters would do, Barton, who had been trained with numerous weapons over the years, picked up some samurai swords and became the masterless samurai known as Ronin, a mantle that began with Daredevil ally Maya Lopez aka Echo. Though he eventually resumed his career as Hawkeye, Barton wore the mask for some time, including the events surrounding the Skrull invasion.
As with nearly all things MCU, the film won’t follow the template from the comics. We don’t want to get to deep into spoiler territory here, but we are told that the events of Avengers: Infinity War (one specific event in particular) leaves Barton in a VERY dark place and is the inciting moment in the archer’s shift into this darker superhero mantle. Given the nature of events that cause the shift, it’s possible that they may not make the final cut of the film, but trust us when we say that if they do, you will absolutely know it when you see it.
As always, while we are confident that our source delivered accurate information to us, it’s important to remember that we are talking about a film that is 20 months away from hitting the big screen. In that time, scripts can change, cuts can be edited, things can be added and, of course removed. Things that may have been shot for one film could end up in another. Having said that, this absolutely seems like a series of events the Russos would throw in given their knowledge of the comics and their penchant for throwing things in that the most hardcore fans can appreciate.
What do you guys make of this news? Are you excited to see a different, darker Clint Barton? Let us know!
Avengers: Infinity War will hit theaters on May 4, 2018 and Avengers 4 will drop one year later on May 3, 2019!
The Avengers: Infinity War trailer shown at D23 was full of a lot jaw dropping moments but one of the ones that seems to have really caught the interest of fans was the appearance of a bearded Steve Rogers. While the secrets of Infinity War have been well-kept, we do have a little info about that bearded Rogers and what you can expect from him when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters next May!
When we last saw Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War, he had put down the shield after his battle with Tony Stark, broken his buddies out of the Raft and took up residence inside the nation of Wakanda. Having turned his back on his past, Rogers is now a man without a country (even a war criminal?) and, as a result, will be taking on a new alias in Infinity War. The Russo brothers have proven themselves as knowledgeable fans of the comics, finding incredibly deep cuts that only the truest of believers would pick up. We’re told that they’ve done it again and that we should expect Captain America no more as the Steve Rogers we see in Infinity War will be a Nomad!
Comic readers will remember an incredibly short-lived run (Captain America #180-184) where Rogers, disillusioned by the revelation of the Secret Empire running America, took off his Captain America costume and donned a caped blue and yellow uniform. While we won’t be seeing an exact duplicate of that costume in Infinity War, Rogers’ costume will pay homage to his time as Nomad. It’s also worth noting that the bearded look, which is Chris Evans‘ preferred look anyway, does resemble Rogers’ time in Dimension Z from Rick Remender’s recent run.
The move towards Nomad is more than a nice nod to the comics. Rogers, as he did in the comics, has become disillusioned with what he has had to sacrifice to do the things he knows he must. The Russos sowed the seeds of this move early in Civil War and Rogers has had a tremendous personal arc over the course of the films in which he has appeared. His decision to become Nomad is representative of him no longer looking to follow orders or even give them, but to simply do what he believes is right.
Given what we’ve heard about the scale of destruction in Infinity War, there’s no telling if Rogers will ever pick up the shield again or if it’s time for someone else (looking at you Sam Wilson) to take on the mantle of Captain America. What do you guys think of this nod to a classic story line? Are you headed out to find a copy of Captain America #180?
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. Donning a totally new costume, complete with a mask to hide his 
