Where Every MCU Hero Is After Thunderbolts* and Before Avengers: Doomsday

Marvel’s Phase Five really ended with a bang in this weekend’s Thunderbolts*. Granted, the phase really ends for real with the much-delayed Ironheart, but in terms of movies, Phase Five has finished up. Ever since Avengers: Endgame brought a climax to the original version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there have been so many projects on TV and movie screens that it has taken on a scattershot appearance.

But as shown in the post-credits, things are finally about to get interesting as we approach Avengers: Doomsday. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps kickstarting Phase Six and the MCU Multiverse Saga upping the stakes, where are all the many, many players on the chessboard? And how might they enter a new, new endgame?

Avengers vs. New Avengers

Thunderbolts* ended with a team of ragtag antiheroes being shanghaied into taking on the brand name of “the New Avengers.” As seen in the post-credits scene, 14 months have passed, and the group has become more seasoned as an entity, but there are problems. You might remember that in Captain America: Brave New World, the current Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), was tasked with starting his own Avengers team. He has apparently accepted that responsibility and has since commenced a legal battle over who has the rights to the name. Bucky (Sebastian Stan) has tried talking to his old partner about it and it has not gone well. One might have to wonder if the elderly Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), wherever he is, might have to step in and talk some sense into his buddies.

We know that the New Avengers are made up of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes, U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bob (Lewis Pulman), but who is on Sam’s side? Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) as the new Falcon is confirmed, and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is practically a lock given that Rudd has already been announced in Avengers: Doomsday. And if there’s Ant-Man, one has to wonder if there will also be Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended with the pair happily together living their best life in San Francisco.

Beyond that the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), or perhaps his cousin She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), seems incredibly likely, as is Sam’s old Avengers teammate War Machine (Don Cheadle). Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), last seen roped into the superhero fraternity, is almost definite. Yet, curiously, only Liu has been confirmed in the Doomsday cast. Whereas Ruffalo’s Hulk is on Earth and thriving, as revealed in the She-Hulk finale where he introduces his teenage(!) son, Skaar. Meanwhile one wonders if Sam Wilson has a phone line to space on other O.G. Avengers buddies of a Norse persuasion (more on him in a moment). If not, we might add that Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is King of New Asgard back on Earth….

If anything though, we might finally see payoff with Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings and the signal they were emitting at the end of his movie, right?

Young Avengers/Champions

Much of Phase Four was based around introducing various young superheroes to follow in the footsteps of those who kept the world safe for them. At the end of The Marvels, Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) was so inspired by her team-up that she used her newfound connections to start her own take on the Avengers. Initially, she was shown requesting help from current Hawkeye Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) while suggesting interest in recruiting Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton).

During an episode of Daredevil: Born Again, Ms. Marvel’s father referenced her visiting California with “her friends,” suggesting she’s either still recruiting or already getting into adventures, perhaps as the leader of the Young Avengers or West Coast Avengers. Yes, both exist in the comics and they’re not (exactly) the same thing. There is also another alias of young Avengers affiliates called the Champions (sigh).

There are various young heroes who could very well join this team, whatever it ends up being called, including Ironheart (Dominique Thorne) and Eli Bradley (Elijah Richardson). The one who seems like a lock is Billy Maximoff/William Kaplan (Joe Locke), an artificial soul bound to a resurrected body. Currently, he and the ghost of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) are searching for his lost brother Tommy, who was also thrown into a dying body in Agatha All Along. Got all that?

Lost in the Multiverse

The multiverse is crumbling. Alternate Earths are crashing into each other, an act called an “incursion.” Last we saw, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and new comrade Clea (Charlize Theron) had gone to stop one of these incursions. We don’t know yet if that was a short-term adventure or if the two are still wrapped up in the decaying fabric of all realities. If Strange is currently off-world, then it appears that the only person who truly understands the severity of what’s going on is Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), last seen taunting Captain America from a prison cell in Brave New World.

While the Council of Kangs (the would-be big bad in all of this) may be swept under the rug by the Time Variance Authority due to actor Jonathan Majors’ real-life behavior, the threat of multiversal collapse is still happening. This is apparent with the Fantastic Four confirmed to be invading the mainstream MCU universe in Thunderbolts*—and well before their own movie has even been released.

Curiously, Natasha Lyonne has been confirmed to have a role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which may in fact be a reprisal of her recent role as Byrdie the Duck from What If? There she was the cosmic daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis from an alternate reality. Byrdie is also a member of the Exiles, an ever-dwindling team of heroes from various realities who tried to improve the multiverse itself.

All the while, the only thing currently holding the multiverse together at all is the variant of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) created from the tangent timeline created in Avengers: Endgame. As per the Loki finale, he has become an Atlas for all time and space, sitting on his throne and selflessly enduring his glorious purpose.

Previously on X-Men…

Another alternate universe that has been set up as important is the one based around the X-Men of the 20th Century Fox variety. As shown in the post-credits scene from The Marvels, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) is currently stranded in that universe where she met Beast (Kelsey Grammer) and a powerful variant of her mother Maria (Lashana Lynch). This is presumably the Fox X-Men Cinematic Universe, though that continuity is so messy that it’s hard to make sense of it all. It’s safest to say that this takes place before Xavier’s seizures turned him into a living disaster, or that he died in the American Midwest and was buried on the side of the road by an old man Logan (Hugh Jackman) who also died.

However, it really is worth noting that Deadpool & Wolverine has confirmed that Logan is the canonical ending of the Fox X-Men universe, and gives a post-script where that universe’s Wade Wilison (Ryan Reynolds) and another variant of Wolverine (still Jackman) got to live happily ever after alongside a now grown-up X-23 (Dafne Keen). But since Avengers: Doomsday has already confirmed Stewart is back, as well as James Marsden, Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler!), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and others, it seems apropos to wonder if Deadpool and Wolverine’s timeline is now different from the traditional X-timeline that will show up again in Doomsday. Confused yet?

Whatever strained internal logic is applied, we better find out why Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was crying while cradling Deadpool!

Aimlessly in Space

There’s a lot of space heroism going on in the MCU, although with no tangible direction. Thor and his adopted daughter Love (India Hemsworth) are currently fighting evil side-by-side as Love and Thunder. Meanwhile Eternals teammates Thena (Angelina Jolie), Druig (Barry Keoghan), and Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) are looking for their own kind to open their eyes to what they truly are, joined by Eros (Harry Styles) and Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt). Fellow Eternals Sersi (Gemma Chan), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), and Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) were last seen abducted by the Celestial Arishem (David Kaye) to be put on trial in order to decide the fate of Earth itself.

Then there’s the current incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which includes Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo the Space Dog (Maria Bakalova), Blurp (Dee Bradley Baker), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), and Phyla (Kai Zen), doing their usual Guardians thing. Gamora (Zoe Saladana) is part of the Ravagers, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is exploring the universe, and Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Drax (Dave Bautista) are currently overseeing KNOWHERE.

As for Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), in case you need a reminder he has retired to Earth to be with his grandfather. He’s not the only space hero living on Earth either, as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) has also moved back to her planet of origin. Then there’s the Super-Skrull G’iah (Emilia Clarke), who… you know what? We can probably just ignore everything with G’iah and Secret Invasion.

The Wakandan/Talokan Alliance

Now that Shuri (Letitia Wright) has taken over the mantle of Black Panther, she seems to have stepped down from the role of Wakandan leader. The throne instead appears to be in the hands of M’Baku (Winson Duke). All the while, they hold onto their newfound partnership with former underwater foes Talokan and their violent king Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia). All of whom, it should be noted, have been confirmed to appear in the next team-up flick.

Namor is a wild card going into Avengers: Doomsday. While the Avenging Son has been an Avenger before in the comics and has regularly been seen as a hero, he is also known for being one of Doctor Doom’s most consistent conspirators. Also, for the record, Shuri could make for a marvelous Avenger on Sam Wilson’s roster…

New York Groove

New York City isn’t doing great right now thanks to Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) abusing his power and ruling the city with fascist tendencies. This includes a major crackdown on vigilante activities in Daredevil: Born Again. That’s not great for Daredevil (Charlie Cox), the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), or Spider-Man (Tom Holland), the latter of whom lost his Avengers status after the entire universe was wiped from remembering who Peter Parker was!*

Speaking of Spider-Man, it’s interesting to note that Sony’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will be released nearly a month after the MCU wraps everything up with Avengers: Secret Wars. That seems to dissuade any chances of the two massive multiversal crossover finales from having any connections outside of a minor Easter egg here or there. But maybe…

(*Spider-Man: No Way Home, remember?)