Marvel Wants Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy to Direct Avengers 5
Marvel may finally be looking to one of its (probable) successes as a springboard to its next Avengers film. Deadline reports that the studio wants Shawn Levy, director of the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, to helm the movie previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. According to Deadline’s sources, Marvel has given Levy a copy of the current script, which was written by Michael Waldron, who also wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and created the Disney+ series Loki. However, Levy has not committed to the film yet, and he’s got the final season of Stranger Things and a possible Star Wars movie on the horizon. Deadline also claims that Avengers 5 will have a huge cast of possibly “more than 60 MCU characters “ who will have relatively equal time rather than the film focusing on a few main Avengers. Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, and Simu Liu are all mentioned as potential returning players. The plan is to start shooting Avengers 5 in 2025.
Well, at least Marvel is thinking about rehiring someone who’s made them money for a change – or, at least, who will likely make them money. Deadpool & Wolverine is projected to be a huge hit, something Marvel rarely sees these days, so it makes sense they’d want to keep Levy around for more, especially an Avengers movie, on which a lot will be riding. Deadpool & Wolverine appears to feature a big, multiverse-hopping plot with tons of characters, so it may be better practice for Avengers 5 than it initially seems. But if they want to start filming next year, Levy may not be available; while he may be waiting for that Star Wars movie longer than he would Godot, Stranger Things is an actual thing that will happen, although filming should be done by the time Avengers 5 gets going. But even if Deadpool & Wolverine is great, Levy’s involvement will be far from a guarantee of Avengers 5’s quality. Marvel and Disney will be breathing down his neck much more than they were for this summer’s release, and of late, their brainstorms have not exactly led to golden eggs.
You can see that from the description of Avengers 5 in the Deadline piece. At first glance, a cast of thousands that doesn’t focus too hard on any one hero brings to mind Infinity War, but I tend to think it’s more about their lack of any decent heroes than an attempt to replicate the success of one of their best films. Pride (not that kind) won’t allow them to leave the sucky characters behind, but they’re at least somewhat aware that these nobodies can’t carry a film, even one where they share the limelight with each other, as The Marvels proved. They’ll need the Hulk (preferably not this obnoxious version they’ve replaced the real one with), Thor, Doctor Strange, and as many other heavy hitters as they can get; I’m sure Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, and whoever else they can rope into coming back are on the table. And you’re crazy if you don’t think they’re talking to Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlet Johansson. Part of me wonders if their offer to Levy is at least partly designed to get Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on board. I expect Avengers 5 to be a convoluted mess, but if they pack enough superheroes audiences actually like into the movie and get the director of an honest-to-God crowd-pleaser behind it, maybe they can convince people to show up.
