Just the thought of Avengers 5 and its alleged "60 returning characters" has us feeling oh so very tired

It feels like it’s been nap-time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a minute, right? Sure, the franchise fussed for a bit—trying, in the aftermath of fiscally ridiculous blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, to keep the post-lunch-time zoomies going, mostly with its big, expensive pivot to TV. But it eventually went down, to the point that the franchise is releasing only a single film (semi-import Deadpool & Wolverine) into theaters this year, after facing some decidedly lackadaisical box office results over the last year and change.

Of course, what we’ve actually gone and done is let the MCU lull us into a false sense of peace. Now, our hands start to shake as soon as we hear the merest traces of the great beast starting to stir, as with rumors today (propagated by Deadline) that Disney might hire Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy to direct Avengers 5, which could feature 60 different returning characters from the franchise’s past. Just like that: Full-blown, exhaustion-driven panic attack.

None of this is official, of course, although Levy—who’s also heavily involved in Stranger Things over at Netflix—has reportedly been given a copy of the untitled film’s script, from Loki writer Michael Waldron. (It used to be titled, mind you; the film was originally announced as The Kang Dynasty, before Jonathan Majors’ conviction on assault and harassment charges derailed that particular push.) It used to have a director, too, before Shang-Chi’s Destin Daniel Crettin stepped away from the project in late 2023. And do you feel it? The tendrils of messiness forming, as this thing starts to slowly take shape? The whole point of an Avengers movie, after all, is to reconcile and synthesize Marvel’s various theatrical efforts over a span of a few years. But the franchise has gotten so vast, and so weird, since 2019, that we don’t know how the hell they actually do it: Eternals and Marvels and time travelers and Moon Knights and whatever the fuck is going on with Blade all somehow existing in a shared framework that no longer seems to meaningfully exist. All that, and about a hundred different rumors about which stars will reprise their roles, in which proportions, for a movie that will be seen as a massive failure if it doesn’t make a billion dollars, minimum, at the box office.

Anyway, Avengers 5 is currently scheduled for a May 1, 2026 release. Make your peace with your gods while you can.