With two Avengers films in the Multiverse Saga, you can expect Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to take cues from both Infinity War & Endgame.
Since it is the first Avengers film to come out in 2019, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has the opportunity to combine two of the best storytelling techniques from Infinity War & Endgame. Marvel Studios confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con 2023 that such Avengers would come back to theaters in 2025 with two consecutive films after fans had to wait for much of Phase 4 without hearing anything about the next Avengers film. With Kang The Conqueror as the primary antagonist in the first installment, The Kang Dynasty, we may expect a superhero dynamic not dissimilar to that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe & Endgame.
Read More: How Significant Are the Four Unknown Figures in The Lord of the Rings?
After the Infinity Saga culminated in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel had few places to take the Avengers besides the cosmos. Only by unleashing the boundless potential of the Marvel cinematic universe, a process that began with Loki and that will be rewarded in Secret Wars, could the events of those two films be topped. But the MCU hasn’t just introduced the multiverse, it’s also brought Kang, and the time-traveling villain will become the Avengers’ first foe before Secret Wars.
Read More: Matt Smith Hints at Shocking Turn in Next Week’s House of the Dragon Episode
While it’s hard to predict whether or not Kang will be involved in Secret Wars, it’s reasonable to assume that now the Kang Dynasty will present the Avengers with their toughest battle to date. Kang and his clones might not be as strong as Thanos, but they have an advantage in that they are cunning and have the ability to exploit the time to their advantage. Fighting Kang will require a much larger and more nuanced effort than Iron Man, Thor, & Captain America mustered against Thanos.
Because eliminating a Kang is often just the beginning of a much larger problem, the Avengers would not be able to battle Kang in the traditional sense, as Loki’s He Who Remains demonstrated. Due to this, The Kang Dynasty has its own rhythm, similar to that of Infinity War & Endgame, wherein the Avengers are divided into factions to take on Thanos. The Kang Dynasty has a comparable ability, predicated on the theory that countering Kang necessitates simultaneous actions across multiple timeframes.
Because of Infinity War, the Avengers were divided (& Solved Its Pacing Problem)
Infinity War had the largest cast of any Marvel film or superhero film overall because it was the conclusion of a century’s worth of stories. This film was Marvel’s most grandiose to date, uniting what was left of the Avengers, Captain America’s squad of sought heroes, non-Avenger characters like Doctor Strange & Spider-Man, Black Panther’s Wakanda army, and also the Guardians of the Galaxy. Since the bulk of Infinity War’s advertising campaign centered on the potential for this big crossover between all parts of the MCU, the film was under pressure to tell a story in which each of those characters could be the star.
The toughest issue of Infinity War was figuring out how to give each Phase 3 hero, Avenger or not, their time in the spotlight. Even while it had been challenging enough to give each Avenger a fair share of screen time in both The Avengers & Avengers: Age of Ultron, this new film added even more players to the mix. The approach was straightforward and effective: disperse the Avengers to different areas. Fighting Thanos and his army on multiple fronts, the film was organized so that each “team” had an important part to play. This includes the Avengers and other heroes involved. In one instance, the Avengers on Earth were tasked with safeguarding Vision and also the Mind Stone in Wakanda, while in another, superheroes on Titan led by Iron Man & Doctor Strange attempted to remove Thanos’ gauntlet. The arrangement helped Avengers: Infinity War sidestep a pace issue that could have destroyed the movie.
Time Travel in Endgame In a nod to the MCU’s past, MacGuffin served as an integral plot device –
Although not as many actors were involved, the same tactic was used in Avengers: Endgame. Breaking up the Avengers into smaller squads was more of a plot device than a pacing device this time around. The Avengers would have to go to various places in the MCU chronology, but at the same time, in order to acquire all 6 Infinity Stones & undo Thanos’ snap. With the Avengers dispersed once more, this time to revisit key moments in the MCU’s history, Endgame was able to offer each of the original team members one last mission before their showdown with Thanos. It was the time-heist aspect of Endgame that allowed the film to have a conflict other than confronting Thanos, which had to be reserved for the third act.
Reasons Why the Avengers Can’t Fight Kang Together
Although details about Avengers: The Kang Dynasty are still scarce, it can be safely assumed that in order to defeat Kang, the Avengers will have to work in pairs. When battling Kang The Conqueror in comics, it’s common to travel through time and space to do so. When dealing with a time-traveling villain like Kang, it’s impossible to pinpoint his exact whereabouts. Marvel might incorporate Kang’s several incarnations from the comics by having the Avengers confront him in different time periods. Since the MCU’s Kang appears to be more related to the universe than to the time machine, it is also possible that the Avengers will have to confront several Kang forms across the multiverse. The Avengers and other parties participating in The Kang Dynasty will have to split up in order to have any chance against many Kangas.
It looks like the Kang Dynasty will steal a page out of the Avengers’ playbook in Endgame –
The Kang Dynasty has the potential to be an even bigger global event than Endgame, despite the fact that several Avengers have perished or retired by the end of Endgame. Since Marvel still has over two years until the next Avengers film, not to mention the Fantastic Four’s debut in 2024, it’s possible that The Kang Dynasty will feature a cast of characters at least as huge as that of Infinity War & Endgame. The pace and story could benefit from dividing the heroes into groups and assigning each group a specific objective. Since Kang may exist in multiple locations, timelines, and universes at once, he can now serve as the MacGuffin himself, rather than the Infinity Stones, such as in Infinity War & Endgame. Since the MCU has expanded to the point where each Avengers film must be a big crossover event, future films like Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and possibly even Avengers: Secret Wars will likely take cues from Infinity War & Endgame in terms of pacing and storytelling techniques.