‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ Taps ‘Shang-Chi’s Destin Daniel Cretton to Direct
The Avengers are assembling again. Kevin Feige announced on Saturday during the Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con that the Multiverse Saga, which spans over Phases 4 through 6, will culminate with two Avengers movies that will be released in 2025 — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Marvel has now confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the first of those two, The Kang Dynasty, will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who already helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for Marvel. Cretton is also developing a Wonder Man-centric series for Disney Plus and will direct Shang-Chi 2, which may or may not be titled Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time.
The Kang Dynasty will hit theaters on May 2, 2025. While this seems way off, notice that the film will need to start filming around early 2024. Avengers: Infinity War, released late April 2018, began production in January 2017. At the same time, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, due out on May 5, 2023, began production in November 2021. Because of the scope the movie will probably have, it’s very possible that it will start shooting in late 2023, which means that a basic layout of the movie already exists somewhere in a hard drive inside Marvel Studios’ headquarters. While it may be crazy to think about, pre-production for the movie is probably six months or so away from starting.
From what Kevin Feige said, we understand The Kang Dynasty will lead directly into Secret Wars, the same way Infinity War led directly into Endgame. Both of those movies were directed by the Russo Bros. (who according to Feige are not involved with Secret Wars), but it hasn’t been revealed whether Cretton will also be involved with Secret Wars. Feige will probably announce the director of that movie at D23. Given the success Infinity War and Endgame was for the studio, not just in box office dollars, but as a creative achievement as well, it’s very likely they will shoot back-to-back, which means that Secret Wars will probably start pre-production next year as well. A director and a writer(s) have definitely been tapped at this point.
Right now, we know next to nothing about who will form the Avengers lineup in The Kang Dynasty. Shang-Chi is definitely a safe bet, as are Doctor Strange and Spider-Man (if Sony doesn’t get in the way). Sam Wilson’s Captain America and Captain Marvel will probably be there as well, but there is still plenty of room for other heroes. In Phase 4, Marvel Studios has introduced a whole new batch of characters that will likely take the baton from their predecessors — they include Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, América Chávez, Monica Rambeau, Yelena Belova, and now She-Hulk. They will probably play a role in that movie, as will the new Black Panther.
Ant-Man, Wasp, and Cassie Lang might have a role to play as well, especially since they will be our first group of heroes to face off against Kang the Conqueror, played by the ever-wonderful Jonathan Majors, in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Also introduced into the MCU recently (though not to the general public) is Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, who could also appear in the movie. Should he be knighted as an Avenger and appear in either of those events, Matt Murdock could be the character to appear in the most amount of projects inside the Multiverse Saga when it ends (as ironic as that sounds) — he was in No Way Home, he is now in She-Hulk (as confirmed by the latest trailer), he will be in Echo next year, and he will then have his own series in 2024.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will storm into theaters on May 2, 2025. Stay tuned for more updates on this and the entire roster of Marvel Studios projects.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
