But then, she hardly had any scenes in the movie at all, and when she was there, there was an emotional disconnection, because she hadn’t built a relationship with any of the characters yet. This is what Avengers 5 can fix – she’s got plenty of time between now and then to forge bonds with her fellow Avengers.
9. Doctor Strange
In the last two Avengers movies Stephen Strange played an integral role and he pretty much chose what would happen out of the 14 million possible futures. In Infinity War, we saw that he’d been training to use his powers a lot since his 2016 origin story, and in his upcoming standalone sequel, we’ll see him contend with a multiverse in disarray. We haven’t even seen him get officially appointed as the Sorcerer Supreme yet. There’s plenty of Doctor Strange’s MCU journey left to explore, and appearing as a key component in Avengers 5 will be a large part of that.
8. Mighty Thor (Jane Foster)
Thor will be handing over his mantle to Jane Foster in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder which is being written and directed by Taika Waititi.
We haven’t seen Jane in years, but as with most early-days female characters in the MCU, she was one-dimensional at best and completely dialogue-free at worst.
In Love and Thunder, Jane will reportedly differentiate herself from Odinson in going by “the Mighty Thor,” despite many fans continuing to erroneously call her “female Thor.” It makes sense that after becoming Thor and arming herself with Mjolnir, Jane will take on a huge role in the future of the MCU.
7. Smart Hulk
Smart Hulk’s character arc reached a natural stopping point off-screen and it doesn’t seem that he has a place in the future of the MCU. At once, it doesn’t feel like we’re done with him, and yet there’s nowhere else to take him, narratively. Since Marvel can’t give him his own solo movie and the MCU is moving away from the original Avengers roster, the very least they can do is give him a supporting role in the fifth Avengers movie. With brains and brawns at the same time, there might not be as much conflict with the Hulk character, but he’s a useful plot device – and he’s still entertaining.
6. Black Panther
The next Avengers movie will need a couple of equally popular and more recently introduced characters to lead the charge with Iron Man and Captain America out of the picture.
In the past couple of years, T’Challa has emerged as one of the MCU’s most exciting new heroes. He gets his powers from his advanced super-suit, he’s wealthy and powerful, and until recently, he turned a blind eye to the people who needed his help, which makes him the perfect candidate to be the Tony Stark of this next wave of Avengers movies. If we get to see plenty more of Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, Nakia, M’Baku, and Wakanda as a whole over the next few years, no fans will be complaining.
5. Shang-Chi
We will see Shang-Chi face off against the real Mandarin in his upcoming solo movie.
Since a Mandarin impostor proved to be a challenge for the combined efforts of Iron Man, War Machine, and the Iron Legion to defeat, the mystical martial artist who manages to take him down will certainly attract the attention of the Avengers (that is, if they ever do decide to get the band back together). It’s fair to assume that Shang-Chi’s introduction in his own solo movie in Phase 4 is setting him up for a major role in the potential future of the Avengers franchise.
4. Scarlet Witch