Avengers 5 sounds like a jaw-dropper; returning heroes "confirmed"

Marvel Studios fans know by now that whenever there is an ongoing storyline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it always culminates in an Avengers movie. Phase One built towards The Avengers, Phase Two towards Age of Ultron, and Phase 3 got the game-changing double whammy of Infinity War and Endgame.

The Multiverse Saga has looked a little different from its predecessor, expanding with many more titles that stretch across both the big and small screens; telling a more long-form story and using more titles to do so. But there is one major similarity: The storylines of Phases Four, Five and Six will indeed culminate in two Avengers movies.

Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars will close out the Multiverse Saga and they have understandably been subject to a lot of rumors as excitement for them grows. However, new details have emerged about the former and it sounds truly insane.

New Avengers 5 details tease major roster of heroes

According to Deadline, Avengers 5 will be one of Marvel's largest productions to date and it could feature up to "more than 60" MCU stars reprising their roles from the franchise. That's a huge number of heroes, but the report does suggest that among them we could see Chris Hemsworth return as Thor, Mark Ruffalo back as the Incredible Hulk, Benedict Cumberbatch reprise his role as Doctor Strange, Simu Liu make his Avengers debut as Shang-Chi, Karen Gillan bring back the Guardians of the Galaxy's Nebula, and Tom Hiddleston introduce moviegoers to the new version of Loki we met on the Disney Plus series.

If true, this could be the largest roster of The Avengers to ever unite on the silver screen, a stark contrast to the very first Avengers film which featured just six heroes. Some variation of those six heroes - Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Chris Evans' Captain America, Ruffalo's Hulk, Hemsworth's Thor, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, and Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye - had pivotal roles throughout the rest of the Avengers movies too. What's interesting is that, according to Deadline, many of the heroes in the upcoming film would have "equal footing", suggesting that would be more of an ensemble movie than the previous four.

Perhaps even more interesting is that this report contradicts some of the recent Avengers 5 rumors that suggested the film would be more of a straightforward, lower-scale movie focused on streetwise heroes such Sam Wilson's Captain America, Shuri's Black Panther, Spider-Man, and perhaps even She-Hulk. Those characters could still appear in the film, but it will be interesting to see if Marvel Studios ends up going all out with this one. If they do, how on Earth could they hope to outdo that in Avengers: Secret Wars the next year?

Avengers 5 may be bigger, but it needs to be better too

Deadline also reports that Shawn Levy has been approached by Marvel Studios to direct the film. While there hasn't been any official confirmation on what his decision is, it does suggest that the studio has a great deal of faith in him after he brought Deadpool and Wolverine to life. Expectations for that movie are extremely high as it is expected to be one of the MCU's biggest performers in recent years, and this might go a long way in raising expectations for the upcoming Avengers movie too.

Avengers 5 is set to be a pivotal one for the MCU as all eyes are on it. After a number of uncharacteristic missteps throughout the Multiverse Saga, this will be the beginning of the payoff so it has to deliver. It was originally titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty but with the studio parting ways with Jonathan Majors and a possible change of direction for his character Kang the Conqueror, the fandom is intrigued to see what this one ends up looking like. We know it will set the stage for Secret Wars but how will it do that? And how will it balance such a huge line-up of characters?

The reports of a huge roster of superheroes aren't all that surprising; while each Avengers movie has gotten bigger than the one before it, Avengers 5 will be the first time that Marvel brings together heroes from the movies and the Disney Plus shows. There is so much more scope to the MCU since the TV shows came into existence and it will no doubt be a sight to behold to see some of those characters share the big screen with the long-time staples of the franchise.

If Marvel can pull this off, it could be a classic. Here's hoping that they make it happen, because oh man does this sound amazing.