Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty release date & latest news on MCU sequel

By Rob Leane

Published: Sunday, 24 July 2022 at 12:00 am

Thanks to the big reveal of the Marvel Phase 5 slate at San Diego Comic Con, we now know that a fifth Avengers film is coming, and it’ll be named Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Fans who’ve been watching along with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in cinemas and on Disney Plus will know that Kang has been teased in a major way already, thanks to the Loki season 1 finale.

Kang the Conqueror, who is played in the MCU by Jonathan Majors, will next be seen in the big-screen outing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where we’d expect to see a few more teases of his dark intentions. Until then, keep on reading for all the key details on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty release date

Avengers 5, The Kang Dynasty, has a confirmed release date of 2nd May 2025.

This Kang Dynasty release date was announced by Marvel at San Diego Comic Con 2022, so it’s come straight from the horse’s mouth. Of course, delays and schedule changes do happen, so we’ll be sure to update this page if the film gets pushed to a different date at any point.

Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty cast

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Jonathan Majors with Tom Hiddleston and Sophia di Martino in Loki
Disney Plus

No cast details have been confirmed for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty at this point, but there’s one actor that we can surely expect to see: Jonathan Majors.

Majors — who you may have previously seen in Loki season 1, The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Lovecraft Country — has been cast as Kang in the MCU across various different projects.

As for who will be on the Avengers team that Kang faces, that remains a total mystery at this point, but when has that stopped fans from guessing?

Given the outcome of the previous Avengers film (Endgame), we wouldn’t expect to see Robert Downey Jnr’s Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow or Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers/Captain America in action this time out.

Of the original Avengers film’s lineup, still active at this point are Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, so they could perhaps appear in Avengers 5.

The same could be said for Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Captain America, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Pym/The Wasp, all of whom fought alongside the Avengers recently.

Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi was introduced to Earth’s mightiest heroes at the end of his first film, so he seems like a shoo-in for the Kang showdown as well. And given that Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is already caught up in the Kang conflict (which will surely ripple throughout Loki season 2), his inclusion here wouldn’t be that surprising either.

It will be interesting to see how the stars of Marvel’s Disney Plus shows factor in here — could we see the likes of Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk, Iman Vellani’s Ms Marvel, Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight, Hailee Steinfeld’s Hawkeye and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil getting involved here? And what about Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova from Black Widow?

That’s not to mention the Guardians of the Galaxy, who will have had their third film in cinemas by this point in the grand release timeline. There will already be a Fantastic Four film in the MCU by this point, as well. Who knows if we’ll have X-Men by then? Of course, only time will tell who gets roped in this time!

Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty plot

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The official logo for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Marvel Studios

Although The Kang Dynasty plot is being kept very closely under wraps, certain clues were given in the Loki season one finale regarding the nature of Kang in the MCU. Spoilers for the Loki finale from this point!

Jonathan Majors played ‘He Who Remains’ in the Loki finale, with this character being established as one of many different versions of Kang (each dimension in the vast multiverse could have its own variation, after all).

He Who Remains explained that one of his ‘variants’ (other versions of Kang from other universes) was a scientist from Earth who lived in the 31st century. The scientist discovered a way to travel between universes, going on to meet different versions of himself from other dimensions.

Initially, relations between the universes were peaceful, with the Kang variants sharing technology and knowledge (and complimenting each other on their shoes, hair and so on). However, as He Who Remains put it, “not every version of me was so pure of heart.”

Other versions of Kang saw other universes as “new lands to be conquered”, and the situation “erupted into all-out war” — each variant tried to protect their own universe and “annihilate the others”, to such an extent that “this was almost the end, ladies and gentlemen, of everything.”

Luckily, that first variant found a creature called Alioth that was “capable of consuming time and space itself.” As He Who Remains put it, “I weaponised Alioth, and I ended the multiversal war.” He created one singular timeline and managed it from afar to “prevent any other branches” from appearing, stopping his variants from rising to power and starting the war again.

However, the events of the Loki finale broke the so-called “sacred timeline” and set the multiverse free, seemingly setting in motion the parallel universes that we’ve now seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

With all of that context, it seems safe to assume that Kang’s variants are rising in the background, no longer kept in check by He Who Remains and his sacred timeline. Eventually, their multiversal war could start up again, potentially pushing the Avengers to intervene.

In the comics, if you were wondering, Kang’s real name is Nathaniel Richards and he is a descendant of Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, and he was a time-travel-obsessed genius that became a galactic warlord.

Kang Dynasty was the name given to a 16-part comic-book series that began in 2001. In that series, which is also known as Kang War, Kang came to the 21st century and succeeded in taking control of the planet – he’s said to be the first Marvel Comics villain to actually succeed in achieving global domination. Of course, the Avengers eventually overthrew him. Perhaps we’ll see a similar plot in the film!

Avengers 5: The Kang Dynasty trailer

There’s no trailer yet for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but we’d recommend watching the Loki finale if you’d like to get a handle on the character’s history (or at least the version of it told in that series). The clip of Jonathan Majors recapping Kang’s backstory is also available on YouTube, as you can see below.