In the years since the release of Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has been all about setting up what’s next. We’ve seen Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson take up the mantle of Captain America. Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang has become a respectable superhero and celebrity. Tom Holand’s Peter Parker has fully embraced the responsibility that comes with being Spider-Man. And we’ve seen everyone from Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk to Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight emerge to represent a new generation of Marvel heroes.
But as it turns out, Marvel has been playing a very long game in Phases 4 and 5. They aren’t just setting up the next generation of heroes, but the generation after that. Should Marvel fans be looking ahead to a Next Avengers movie? It’s starting to seem that way. Here’s why the MCU has been so focused on introducing the sons and daughters of the original Avengers, and why Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is just the latest example of a growing trend.
Warning: this article contains some spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!
Who Are the Next Avengers?
The Next Avengers is one popular variant of a common trope in the Avengers franchise – a futuristic Avengers team comprised of the descendants of the present-day Avengers. The team was originally introduced in the 2008 animated film Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.
In that film, the Avengers are wiped out by Ultron. Years later, an aging Tony Stark leads five children – James Rogers (the son of Captain America and Black Widow), Torunn (the daughter of Thor and Lady Sif), Azari (the son of Black Panther and Storm), Francis Barton (the son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird) and Henry Pym, Jr. (the son of Giant-Man and Wasp) – in a quest to save the world and defeat Ultron once and for all.
This new team of teenage Avengers quickly developed a following, and it wasn’t long before Marvel introduced the Next Avengers in the comics as part of the 2010 Avengers series. But even before that, Marvel Comics had experimented with the idea of a new generation of Avengers descended from the originals.
The short-lived Avengers Next series features a team that includes Juggernaut’s son J2, Stinger (an adult Cassie Lang), a Tony Stark-designed AI named Mainframe, and the Thor-esque Thunderstrike (son of original Thunderstrike Kevin Masterson). These heroes are part of the MC2 universe, the same universe as the one seen in the Amazing Spider-Girl comics (which star Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s daughter Mayday Parker).
In short, Marvel has a history of looking into the future to reveal the next generation of Avengers, and the MCU is no exception.
The Next Avengers in the MCU (So Far)
We have yet to see the Avengers formally reunite since their victory in Avengers: Endgame. And even though there are plenty of candidates to join the team when the “Avengers Assemble!” call goes out in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Marvel appears to be looking even further down the road. The MCU has been quietly but steadily setting up its own version of the Next Avengers.
The process really started with the introduction of Tony Stark’s daughter Morgan (played by Lexi Rabe) in Endgame. Morgan ultimately plays a fairly small role in the film. However, the fact that there’s a deleted scene featuring an older version of Morgan played by Katherine Langford suggests Marvel had more ambitious plans for the character.
In fact, there’s no reason to assume they don’t still have plans for Morgan Stark. It’s no great stretch to assume Morgan inherited her father’s brilliant mind and engineering talent. Characters like Peter Parker and Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams may be positioned as Iron Man’s heirs right now, but what happens when the daughter of Tony Stark comes of age? Will she build her own suit of armor?
2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder was next in line. The film ends with Thor finding his new purpose in life by adopting Gorr’s young daughter Love (India Hemsworth) and raising her to become a warrior defending the innocent people of the MCU. Love even proves herself worthy of wielding Mjolnir, suggesting she has a very bright future ahead of her.
Next came 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The film’s mid-credits scene features a big reveal, as Letitia Wright’s Shuri travels to Haiti and discovers the existence of Toussaint, the son of Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and the late T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). Toussaint’s existence is, for now, a closely guarded secret, but it seems inevitable that the son of T’Challa will make himself known and attempt to carry on his father’s legacy.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now the latest MCU film to follow this growing trend. The sequel introduces a character named Phyla (Kai Zen), who is one of the many white-haired children created by the High Evolutionary during his genetic experiments. Despite her young age, Phyla winds up joining Rocket’s new Guardians crew in the mid-credits scene.
Phyla is based on the character Phyla-Vell from the comics, a sword-wielding cosmic heroine who sometimes also carries the mantle of Quasar. This version of Phyla doesn’t appear to have the family connection to Mar-Vell that exists in the comics, but she definitely fits the mold of a young, promising hero being introduced as a child. Like Love, Phyla is well on her way to becoming a proper Avenger despite her young age.
When Will We See the MCU’s Next Avengers?
There definitely seems to be a strategy behind Marvel’s decisions to introduce characters like Phyla, Morgan Stark and Toussaint. The MCU is clearly building to a point where these young characters will come of age and carry on the legacy of their parents. Whether or not Marvel is actually planning a movie titled “Next Avengers,” it seems only a matter of time until we see these characters become the next wave of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
That said, we’re also not expecting these teases to fully pay off in the near future. Characters like Morgan, Love and Toussaint are still very young; far too young to be building franchises around them. Moreover, it would be premature to introduce the third generation of Avengers before the MCU has even had a chance to properly establish the second.
That second generation will surely be the focus of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. If Captain America: New World Order is anything like Civil War, we may even get an early taste of the new Avengers lineup in that sequel first. But the climax of the Multiverse Saga is where we’ll finally see veterans like Cap, Ant-Man and Black Panther team up with the likes of Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk. That Avengers team is going to be Marvel’s focus for the foreseeable future.
Who Will Be the New Avengers in the MCU?
And let’s not forget all the focus on the Young Avengers. It’s also inevitable that we’ll eventually see a movie or series that brings together Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang, Elijah Richardson’s Eli Bradley, the sons of Scarlet Witch and other teen heroes.
That all being said, eventually the MCU will reach a point where even these rookie heroes become grizzled veterans. Despite what the Internet may claim, Paul Rudd isn’t an ageless immortal. Eventually, the MCU will have to bid farewell to another wave of iconic Avengers. If not at the end of the Multiverse Saga, then certainly in the years following.
That’s probably where these Next Avengers come in. Marvel is laying the foundation now so that there’s a third generation of Avengers ready to go when the need arises. That need may not come for another 10-20 years, but we have little doubt Kevin Feige and his team are beginning to think that far ahead. It’s a chance for Marvel to start fresh without actually rebooting the MCU. The Next Avengers allow for more of a soft reboot – new versions of Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther and other heroes that still have direct links to the ones that came before. What starts now as a series of teases and post-credits cameos will eventually grow into the future of the MCU.
For more on the future of the MCU, brush up on every upcoming Marvel movie and series in development and every project being impacted by the writer's strike.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.