Patrick Stewart will return as Professor X.
Three years after the release of Avengers: Endgame, not much has been heard about the potential next Marvel event film, presumed to be Avengers 5. Instead, MCU Phase 4 is taking the time to introduce new heroes and better develop those already part of the franchise. Marvel's Disney+ series also offered a new form of storytelling for the MCU, and Phase 4 has already marked itself as being quite distinct from its predecessors in of the format.
The concept of an event film has changed faster than expected from what it was in Avengers: Endgame — the culmination of a 10 years arc — to a multiversal crossover with as many characters as a movie can fit in. This is thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home's three Spider-Men team-up, an effect that could be intensified if Doctor Strange 2 delivers on all the cameos audiences are expecting. This could create a problem in of the expectations for Avengers 5, especially if the movie is smaller in scale compared to Avengers: Endgame or Avengers: Infinity War and focuses more on setting up a new Avengers team.
The Avengers films should be the best the MCU has to offer, and No Way Home and Doctor Strange 2 may have set the bar too high in of what people expect to see. There's no guarantee that Avengers 5 will continue the multiverse trend and jump straight into something like Secret Wars, and the movie may be closer to the first two Avengers movies than the last two. After so much exposure to the MCU's multiverse in such a small amount of time, it could be difficult for audiences to get used to a more straightforward superhero movie event again.
The mere possibility of seeing the multiverse to The Flash.
The MCU is setting new standards for the industry with every movie, but Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's use of the multiverse may have created one that is too difficult for even Avengers 5 to achieve. Catering to audiences’ expectations is always a tricky challenge, especially at a time when so much is being produced both for film and television. The impact of the multiverse cannot be denied, but the MCU will eventually have to find a way to engage audiences without the need for that device.
