Kang the Conqueror and Doctor Strange in the MCU's Multiverse Saga

Marvel Studios’ upcoming Avengers 5 will feature the biggest cast of returning MCU characters the franchise has ever seen, but this creates a huge problem for the Phase 6 crossover movie. Avengers 5, originally titled The Kang Dynasty, was expected to pit the MCU’s new team of Avengers against Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror and his villainous variants. While these plans may have changed after Marvel split ties with Majors following his conviction, newer information has shed light on what the upcoming MCU movie could look like.

During a recent report by Deadline suggesting Shawn Levy is in talks to direct Avengers 5, it was also revealed that the upcoming Phase 6 movie would feature a cast of more than 60 returning MCU characters. While this isn’t officially confirmed, the prospect is undoubtedly an exciting concept for the upcoming movie following concerns about its current fate. Over 60 characters returning in Avengers 5 would make it the largest MCU movie to date, but this very scale also poses a significant challenge that Marvel Studios has little time to overcome.

There Have Been No Multiverse Saga Avengers Movies To Set Up Avengers 5’s 60 Returning Characters

Original Avengers team fighting in New York in The Avengers

When Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige confirmed the development of Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2022, these crossover movies were billed to conclude the entire Multiverse Saga. Typically, Avengers movies have been used to bring Phases of the MCU to a close, but the Multiverse Saga changed things, altering the way the franchise’s formula works.

Phase 4 ended with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Phase 5 looks set to follow in its footsteps with Thunderbolts* in May 2025. This adds further pressure to Avengers 5, as it looks to not only potentially end Phase 6 but also be the first movie of its kind in 7 years, after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

This poses a huge issue when faced with the prospect of having 60 MCU characters return in Avengers 5, as the movie has had no predecessors to set up and develop the new Avengers team. There has been speculation that Sam Wilson’s Captain America could form the new Avengers team in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, but this may be too little, too late. Avengers 5 will have to do a significant amount of work to establish the new team, while also dealing with so many supporting characters, perhaps detracting from the Avengers’ own storyline.

Infinity War & Endgame’s Huge Casts Were Properly Earned, But Avengers 5’s Hasn’t Been

Earth's Mightiest Heroes charging into battle in Avengers Endgame

The current titleholders of the biggest casts in the MCU are Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, which brought the Infinity Saga to a close by featuring almost every major hero returning to battle Thanos. These movies worked so well, however, because they didn’t need to deliver a lot of exposition regarding the Avengers’ history. Phases 1 and 2 ended with smaller, more personal Avengers movies that helped to establish the superhero team as a consistent and well-known presence in the MCU.

This hasn’t been the case in the Multiverse Saga. Avengers 5 may lose some of the intimacy that Infinity War and Endgame were able to capture by developing the Avengers team well enough beforehand. This is especially true because of its colossal extended and supporting cast, which will surely have the consequence of nobody really getting the screen-time they deserve. So many returning characters in Avengers 5 could help to redeem the MCU, but Marvel Studios needs to properly earn this epic pay-off in Phases 5 and 6’s upcoming projects.