Avengers 5 Snubbed In Disney"s 2026 Spotlight, Should We Worry About Kang Dynasty"s Delay?

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Summary

Avengers 5, titled The Kang Dynasty, was not highlighted by Bob Iger in his latest comments on the Disney slate, raising questions about its release and potential delay.
Despite also not being mentioned, both Blade and Thunderbolts movies are confirmed to be released in 2025.
The lack of cohesion and build-up in Phase 4 of the MCU may pose challenges for the upcoming Avengers movie.

Is Avengers 5 about to be delayed? The future of the MCU is in flux for the first time since Iron Man's release in 2008, after Bob Iger doubled down on radical plans to reduce Marvel output, focusing only on the "stronger franchises". Disney CEO Iger hyped a number of upcoming projects, including Captain America: Brave New World and the long-awaited Fantastic Four movie - both set for 2025 - but drew attention for some titles he failed to spotlight. Neither Blade nor Thunderbolts were called out, despite being part of Marvel's confirmed upcoming movies slate in 2025, leading to concerns.
The reality is that, despite lengthy production periods and well-publicized behind-the-scenes setbacks, both movies will release. Florence Pugh recently confirmed Thunderbolts is her next active production, and while it may not be top tier, Blade is simply too big to fail. Having announced it confidently with Mahershala Ali's casting 5 years ago at Comic Con, Blade would represent a significant embarrassment were it to be canceled. And despite Marvel's regular release slate changes, outright cancelation isn't something Kevin Feige's team has notably done. That said, given Iger's comments, there's a bigger question here: why wasn't Avengers: The Kang Dynasty highlighted as a major upcoming project?

Related Everything We Know About Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Avengers 5 promises to bring an unprecedented war to the MCU, with thousands of Kang variants set to face a New Avengers team. Bob Iger Just Conspicuously Snubbed Avengers 5 Disney's Big Franchises All Got A Call-Out, So Why Not Marvel's Biggest?
Close When discussing Disney's 2026 release slate, Bob Iger specifically celebrated Frozen 3, Toy Story 5, and The Mandalorian and Grogu, forefronting the mega-studio's focus on established IPs and sequels. In the challenging landscape of cinema in 2024, that makes sense: after all, each belongs to billion dollar franchises and represent the lifeblood of the company's work. However, Iger also conspicuously failed to mention Avengers 5, despite the MCU movie falling into the same categories. It is somewhat inevitable that that may raise some red flags over the release.
After more than a decade of almost uncontested success and a winning run that most sporting dynasties would sell their soul for, Phase 4 was far from rosy.
The Avengers 5 snub also doesn't exist in a vacuum, given the behind-the-scenes issues with both the project individually and the wider MCU. After more than a decade of almost uncontested success and a winning run that most sporting dynasties would sell their soul for, Phase 4 was far from rosy. Part of the diminishing returns came from a perceived dilution of the brand by a rapid expansion into TV, but Iger also nailed the fact that the problem is part and parcel of Disney's success back in November:

“I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed. That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.”

When billion dollar hauls become the standard, any previously acceptable level of success that falls under that level looks like a failure. Coupling that with increasingly extravagant budgets and audiences cooling on the MCU as a whole thanks to over-saturation and cynicism, something has to change. Iger's latest comments fit with the billion dollar expectations: even as he rails against expectations, Disney simply cannot move away from trading on their biggest and best commodities. That's precisely what makes the failure to spotlight Avengers: The Kang Dynasty even more of a headscratcher.
Bob Iger, February 2024: Marvel is starting to focus on some of its stronger franchises going forward, but I'll leave it at that. And I think given the environment and given what it takes to get people out of their homes to see a film, doing that, leaning on franchises that are familiar is actually a smart thing. So, we've got work to do still.
Key ContextIger's comments on reducing Marvel output and the focus on stronger franchises line-up with his November 2023 comments about scrutinizing every story being greenlit, particularly with sequels:

“I don’t want to apologize for making sequels. Some of them have done extraordinarily well and they’ve been good films, too. I think you there has to be a reason to make them, you have to have a good story. And often the story doesn’t hold up to is not as strong as the original story. That can be a problem.”

His new comments (H/T to The Fool for the transcript) shed some light on Disney's internal thinking on why some projects simply didn't land:

"And in our zeal to greatly increase volume, partially tied to wanting to chase more global subs for our streaming platform, some of our studios lost a little focus. So, the first step that we've taken is that we've reduced volume. We've reduced output, particularly at Marvel. When you fix or when you address these issues with -- in movies, you do three things.You get aggressive at making sure the films you're making can be even better. Sometimes, you kill projects you don't believe in. And, of course, you put new things in the pipeline that you do believe in that you have much more confidence in, and we're doing all of that. I've also observed over the years that managing creativity sometimes is best done with great partnerships."

Is 2026 Too Soon For A New Avengers Movie? The Problems Facing Avengers 5 Are Considerable Close The inevitable question now is whether Iger was making way for a delay of Avengers 5. That is very much speculation at this point, but it warrants further investigation, given the issues facing the project. Arguably the biggest is the issue of contradiction: Marvel Studios needs an Avengers movie way more than any other movie or TV show currently in production or even vaguely planned. Iger's own assessment that success lies in focusing on the stronger franchises confirms as much: there is, without a morsel of doubt, no bigger MCU brand than The Avengers. Phase 4's stuttering performance can be pinpointed on the lack of cohesion that building towards an Avengers event movie offers, and it's hard not to see the announcements of The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars as something of a course correction.
Avengers 5 coming in just over 2 years still feels rather ambitious.
But at the same time, Avengers projects cost more, take more, and are not simple to build towards. Even with The Kang Dynasty promising to pay off events set up by Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there is still little by way of actual, tangible build. And looking at the problems Marvel Studios are presumably wrestling with behind the scenes and with audience perceptions, Avengers 5 coming in just over 2 years still feels rather ambitious:

Jonathan Majors' sacking leaves a considerable vacuum at the heart of the movie.
Separate to that, audience apathy to Kang's storyline suggests limited interest in The Kang Dynasty as the right choice of culmination.
There is currently no sense of who the Avengers even are as a team in the MCU.
As of November 2023, Avengers 5 had no script, with Michael Waldron hired to write it.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty currently doesn't have a director.

Related What's Going On With Jonathan Majors? After his MCU debut as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors was arrested for assault. Here's what's going on now. The final two issues are relatively simple to fix, of course, and the recasting of Jonathan Majors feels closer with every rumored name circling in the press. But the lack of build is a real issue, and concerns over the Kang storyline should not be ignored. The Avengers and its sequels worked because of audience investment alongside the strength of the brand: the audience joy in seeing the team vanquish Loki, Ultron, and Thanos was earned in the build-up. All four movies are event movies because they are the culmination of something organically seeded in multiple releases. It's hard not to feel like bringing an Avengers team together as the MCU currently stands would be chaotic.
Every Avengers Movie By Box Office
Title
Release Date
Budget
Global Box Office
The Avengers
May 4, 2012
$225,000,000
$1,515,100,211
Avengers: Age of Ultron
May 1, 2015
$365,000,000
$1,395,316,979
Avengers: Infinity War
Apr 27, 2018
$300,000,000
$2,048,359,754
Avengers: Endgame
Apr 26, 2019
$400,000,000
$2,788,912,285
There are, obviously, more movies to come before The Kang Dynasty, but unless the assumed self-contained stories of Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, The Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and Blade, are somehow way more tied to Kang than any reasonable prediction, the build still feels off. It's almost as if the next Avengers project needs to be about building the Avengers back up, addressing the post-Endgame issues created by Phase 4, and then leading up to Secret Wars. Honestly, if The Kang Dynasty was scrapped for something else or delayed at this stage, it would not be unwelcome.
Avengers 5 Is Still The Kang Dynasty... For Now It Doesn't Look Like There's Major Changes Yet

As something of a footnote, the one positive note for anyone who still wants Avengers 5 to be The Kang Dynasty, and believes in the current direction of the MCU, Disney's official slate still lists Avengers: The Kang Dynasty for release on May 1, 2026. If there are reasons to be concerned, or to expect major changes, they aren't translating into anything concrete yet. Perhaps there is more confidence in the project than the apparent snub suggests: perhaps Marvel Studios have a way forward beyond the issues the project faces. Perhaps there is still faith that it will hit that important billion dollar box office milestone without a major course correction. But that's a lot of perhaps.

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