With Sebastian Stan Out as Bucky, Marvel Officially Reveals Avengers Plan for 2025

Marvel Studios has given fans a more in-depth look at the future of Phase Five, including a plan to seemingly resurrect the Avengers.

Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe is on rocky ground. With the box office misses of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and The Marvels (2023) behind them, the superhero studio is looking to reignite its once-untouchable brand with characters Deadpool, Wolverine, Captain America, and the Thunderbolts.

On Thursday, April 11, 2024, The Walt Disney Company’s showcase at CinemaCon took place and revealed all sorts of key information and updates regarding the likes of Marvel, Disney Animation, Pixar, and other subsidiary studios such as Searchlight and 20th Century Studios. With Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels ending its theatrical run as the worst-performing MCU movie to date, Feige is looking to reignite love for the franchise with this year’s only feature film, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

Ryan Reynolds’ MCU debut as the Merc with the Mouth, alongside Hugh Jackman, who also makes his franchise debut as Logan, is set to reboot the cinematic universe audiences have grown accustomed to over the last 16 years. Exactly how is unclear, but with news of a mechanic called “The Anchor” and time spent in the Void, Deadpool could be the key to reining in the Multiverse Saga.

Looking past Shawn Levy’s Deadpool movie, Marvel Studios will return to bringing multiple films out in 2025. Commencing that string is the return of Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World. Formerly titled Captain America: New World Order, the fourth installment in the Cap series is directed by Julius Onah from a screenplay by Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, and Matthew Orton. Spellman was the creator behind The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which aired on Disney+ and saw Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson finally leave his Falcon status behind to become the next Captain America. Just as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) would have wanted.

At CinemaCon, the first official look at Captain America: Brave New World was shown and revealed Mackie’s Sam Wilson attending the White House to meet the President: General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Star Wars legend Harrison Ford. Replacing the late William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross, Ford asks Sam to help him “rebuild the Avengers.” This is an interesting comment, considering audiences haven’t seen an Avengers squad since 2019. The clip goes on to show Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) go berserk after hearing loud music.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which also starred Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, tackled the elements of racism in America, with Isaish Bradley and Sam Wilson discussing how a Black man can be the next Captain America. This discourse is likely to transfer over to Captain America: Brave New World when it releases in February next year. Surprisingly, something that won’t be returning is Sebastian Stan. While discussing the upcoming film in early March 2024, Mackie said that “he doesn’t have his friends [on set] anymore” (via ComicBook).

Stan will, however, star in the film directly after Captain America: Brave New World—Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts sees a team of morally gray characters team up in a kind of anti-Avengers event movie. Brought together by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra Du Fontaine, the team includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky/Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, and Harrison Ford as “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Related: Disney Seemingly Fires Two Marvel Stars as Actors’ Social Media Goes Dark

Another surprise from CinemaCon was that Kevin Feige revealed that Thunderbolts had received a new name. The Marvel film will now go by the name of Thunderbolts*. The asterisk is officially part of the title, with Feige saying, “Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts, and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out” (via ScreenRant).

Related: ‘Thunderbolts’ Star Breaks Silence on Quitting MCU, Confirms Leaving Role Behind

It seems Marvel has got a spring back in its step, and with Bob Iger and Kevin Feige course-correcting the comic book franchise as we speed through Phase Five and into Phase Six with The Fantastic Four (2025), this next wave of movies may turn the tide once again.

Are you looking forward to seeing Captain America: Brave New World?

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