Avengers: Endgame certainly marked the end of an era in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Black Widow sacrificing herself, Tony Stark saving the universe in his last act as Iron Man, and Steve Rogers hanging up his shield for good as Captain America before going back and time to live out his golden years with Peggy Carter.
Kevin Feige, the architect of the action movie series, briefly discussed the future of The Avengers franchise during his commentary on featurette Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Eternals. And while he definitely has plans about moving past the Infinity Saga and building Phase 4, he made it clear that the fifth Avengers movie, at least for now, isn’t on the cards. During the featurette, Feige said, “Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now past their tenth anniversary and with the release of the final Avengers movie, we’ve finally completed a 22-movie Infinity Saga.”
With Feige suggesting that Endgame is the “final Avengers movie,” does that mean we’ve seen the back of the Avengers for good? Maybe, maybe not. In the featurette, Feige seemed more focussed on how to build Phase 4 from the ground up than looking any further. “Where do we go from there? Where do we start?” he asked. “What we really wanted to do was two things: start fresh with whole new characters, new storylines, but also go back to some of the deepest richest mythology in all of Marvel Comics…”
This comes after previous comments Feige made in 2021, as he told Collider that he was in no rush to make an Avengers 5. “I think we want there to be a reasonable amount of time from the Endgame to start a new saga, which is already underway and already started,” he said. “And then you need time, as you did in Phase 1, to build that saga before you start bringing everyone together.”
The next cinematic event in Feige’s Phase 4 saga is Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness. The fantasy movie is set for a theatrical release on May, 6 2022. Meanwhile, over on the small screen, MCU series Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac, is set to premiere on streaming service Disney Plus on 30 March 2022.