by In a recent interview, Jeff Loveness, the writer of Marvel Studios’ impending Avengers team-up and the next Ant-Man big-screen blockbuster, discussed how the upcoming Phase 5 of the MCU may surpass anything that has come before.
Phase 4 faced a challenge that was nearly insurmountable. It needed to find a way to put one of the largest pop cultural moments of all time back together and begin laying the groundwork for another blockbuster film that would define a generation.
Undoubtedly, the road has been difficult. Many believe that Marvel Studios has been prioritising quantity above quality, and a number of their productions received negative and positive reviews.
On the plus side, though, the MCU has unveiled a plethora of fresh faces, many of whom are now fan favourites.
But now that Phase 4 has concluded with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Phase 5 can get started. But how will it top everything viewers have seen in the last two years?
For the MCU, an Even Better Phase 5
Writer of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty spoke with SFX Magazine. Jeff Loveness discussed how Marvel Studios’ future Phase 5 may surpass the success of Phase 4.
Loveness characterised the fourth phase as “period of rebuilding, the calm after the storm,” while Phase 5 was more like the sense that “World War III could break out any minute:”
“Phase Four was almost this period of rebuilding, the calm after the storm of what happened in ‘Endgame’… Now it’s almost a time of relative peace. But just talking for myself here, there’s maybe this feeling in the world today… it’s like elections are crumbling around the world, we’re not doing enough on climate change, World War III could break out any minute.”
Phase 5 will be defined by that ominous feeling of anxiety as it builds up to The Kang Dynasty in 2025:
“Things are relatively okay right now but we all feel like it could go real bad, real fast, a hundred different ways. And we’re all kind of paralyzed by that because we have the feeling that maybe we’re not ready for it.”
The MCU was, in Loveness’ opinion, “setting things up for a pretty dynamic story:”
“I think we’re setting things up for a pretty dynamic story. As I’m building to Avengers I want it to feel like a generational struggle. Phase Four felt like the birth of new characters. You’re giving everyone a little bit of a breath, you’re broadening out the universe, you have fun Disney+ shows that are elevating characters. And now I think it’s time to put the pedal to the gas again, and really take all these new characters that we like and throw them into the fire.”
The Preparation for Kang the Conqueror
It is obvious that Quantumania will prepare the audience for the Multiverse Saga‘s major events. Additionally, for many viewers, it will be their first encounter with Kang the Conqueror, who Jonathan Majors has dubbed a “almost infinite Thanos.”
The famous supervillain that people have always feared would be quite different from Thanos. The “very lonely” evil guy will this time be depicted with “the humanity and even the vulnerability” according to Loveness.
Marvel Studios’ Phase 5 appears to have a much clearer course than Phase 4, which many believed was aimless.
If the stories are consistent with what Loveness is suggesting, perhaps the heroes from throughout the MCU will learn that a threat to the Multiverse is on the horizon, but they won’t know when Kang, or the threat, could manifest.
Loveness said in the same interview from earlier that all of the new characters viewers have met since 2021 will have to be thrown” into the fire.” It goes without saying that all of those new heroes will undoubtedly have their job cut out for them.
On February 17, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits cinemas, and on May 2, 2025, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
