Avengers 5 Lineup Theories Reveal How Phase 3 Changed MCU Power Levels

The Avengers may have suffered huge losses during Avengers: Endgame, but the best Avengers 5 lineup theories reveal how Phase 3 actually raised the MCU power levels for the future. Up until Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers consisted of the same team that Nick Fury put together to stop Loki in the Battle of New York, but that started to change right after the Battle of Sokovia. Names like Wanda, Falcon, and War Machine joined the team, and from then on, the Avengers lineup was in constant change.

At first, it seemed like Marvel’s Phase 3 was full of bad news for the Avengers as a group in the MCU. The team was split in half during Captain America: Civil War, with most of Team Cap getting arrested at the end of the airport fight. Then, Avengers: Infinity War saw the Avengers failing at stopping Thanos from collecting the Infinity Stones and performing the snap. Last, Avengers: Endgame ended with the deaths of Black Widow and Iron Man, not to mention Steve Rogers’ retirement and the Hulk’s injury. However, there were other ways in which Phase 3 was improving the Avengers – at least in the long term.

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Right after Civil War, Doctor Strange, one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, was introduced in the MCU. The aftermath of Civil War also saw Spider-Man going from a self-made vigilante to a potential Avenger. At the same time, outside of Earth, Thor was receiving a power upgrade in Thor: Ragnarok, going from the “God of Hammer” to a true God of Thunder. Phase 3 also teased just how powerful Scarlet Witch could really become, something that Phase 4 confirmed with WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It was also during Phase 3 that Captain Marvel, arguably the most powerful Avenger (now that Scarlet Witch is a potential villain) was introduced. While it may seem that Phase 4 is responsible for increasing the MCU power levels, that change started with Phase 3.

Avengers 5 Could Have The MCU’s Most Powerful Avengers Team Yet

As of now, the Avengers roster after Endgame is still unknown. In fact, Marvel has not even announced its plans for Avengers 5, and Phase 4 will be marked as the first MCU phase to not be concluded with an Avengers film. Still, given what was set up in Phase 3 and what has happened during Phase 4, it is possible to anticipate how strong the Avengers will be in Avengers 5. Captain Marvel was introduced relatively recently in terms of the MCU, meaning that she will likely stay around in the franchise for a long time, and that can likely involve Avengers 5. Thor has just concluded another solo adventure in Thor: Love and Thunder, and should he work with his friends on Earth again, the God of Thunder can raise the Avengers’ power levels by a great deal all by himself. Doctor Strange might not consider himself an Avenger, but the character is just too powerful – and too strong – not to be part of the team in Avengers 5. Shang-chi is also a likely addition to the group in Avengers 5, and the new MCU hero has a set of skills that none of the previous human Avengers had. When compared with the Avengers’ original lineup, those potential Avengers 5 names make for a much more powerful team.

Avengers 5 Team Theories Show How Phase 3 Made The MCU More Powerful

After a decade of buildup for the fight against Thanos, which was concluded in the epic-scale Endgame final battle, the MCU set itself for a difficult challenge regarding Avengers 5 and beyond. Whoever the MCU’s next Thanos is, the villain will have to be more powerful than the Mad Titan, or at least offer a different type of threat than the Infinite Stones did. Similar to the comics, the MCU power levels would have to increase for the next sagas to work, especially if names like Doctor Doom and Galactus soon join the franchise, and that is something Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios’ creative team must have been aware of for a while.

That is why it made sense for heroes like Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel to be introduced only in Phase 3, as they could potentially carry the Avengers in terms of power level in the next few years. In fiction, the power scale has a lot to do with the needs of the story and can often be inconsistent. Fortunately, one of the advantages of Kevin Feige’s long-term plan for the MCU is that such changes can happen in an organic way, all of which makes Avengers 5 even more exciting despite the lack of updates.

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