Avengers: The Kang Dynasty head writer Jeff Loveness just confirmed who will be the leading "protagonist" of his upcoming MCU team-up movie.
With Avengers 5 coming a full six years after its predecessor, Avengers: Endgame, fans are highly anxious to see what heroes the movie's core line-up will feature as Earth's Mightiest Heroes go up against Kang the Conqueror.
In December 2022, a rumor indicated three expected heroes that would join the fray in this sequel, noting that Captain America, Shang-Chi, and the Black Panther would be part of the first wave of Avengers that will attempt to take Kang down.
More recently, Loveness teased the idea of Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova being the movie, although it still leaves the question of who will be the headliner in this epic Phase 6 story.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty's Expected Lead
Speaking with ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness teased who will be the protagonist in his next MCU project, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Host Brandon Davis spoke with Loveness about how the next movie would compare to Avengers: Infinity War - which utilized Thanos as its "protagonist" (main character) - and asked if Avengers 5 would be taking the same path with Kang the Conqueror.
Loveness noted that he plans to write the movie with this concept in mind, noting how Kang's "got to be his own hero" as he goes on his own crusade throughout the Multiverse:
"That's at least how I'm trying to write him. And, you know, we'll see how the structure changes and how the flow works, but like, he's got to be his own hero, and especially Kang the Conqueror and Ant-Man thought he was. Or, maybe he wouldn't use the word 'hero,' but he's on a crusade and he's doing it for a reason. So secretly, it is a Kang movie, but, of course, you have to keep the forward gas going with the Avengers. But yeah, in the back of my mind it's a Kang movie."
Infinity War screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely discussed that idea in a 2019 Hollywood Unscripted interview, via MovieMaker.
McFeely explained that it took "a few months" to decide on Thanos being the main protagonist of the story, having doubts as to whether this would work in the end:
"We had to decide on a main character and a main through line. And it took us a few months. But finally somebody just said, ‘Oh, I think this is Thanos’s story. Oh, he’s the hero of the movie.’ Are we going to really do that?"
He further noted that the "Avengers are the antagonists to Thanos" in that movie, so the Mad Titan got the opportunity for a story that truly focused on his journey and his own challenges:
"Yeah, I think we’re gonna do that, so that the Avengers are the antagonists to Thanos. He gets a proper hero’s journey. And so that means he gets the time to tell you what he really thinks. He gets to sacrifice things that are important to him, people that are important to him to get what he wants. He’s challenged all along the way. That’s because of the paradigm we chose. And because Brolin is really good and the technology is amazing."
How Jonathan Majors' Kang Will Shine in Avengers 5
Following in Avengers: Infinity War's footsteps, it's no surprise to see Jeff Loveness call Kang the main protagonist of Avengers 5, especially since the character's very name is in the title.
Jonathan Majors' antagonist even has the advantage of having already starred in an entire movie as a villain in Ant-Man 3 along with his guest-starring appearance in Episode 6 of Loki. This all comes before another huge role as Victor Timely in Loki Season 2, giving him another Variant to use to explore the depth of his character ahead of Avengers 5.
Kang should have the chance to be even more of a powerful force than Thanos as well due to the fact that he can exist through so many Variants across the Multiverse - something that Avengers 5 will surely use as an important plot point.
While fans only have a hint about what plot details will come in this new sequel, Loveness will be hard at work making sure that Majors' antagonist gets all the shine he deserves in this massive story.
And with countless Variants of Kang existing all throughout reality, he'll only serve as that much more of a presence throughout the Multiverse Saga before the adventure comes to a head in this next team-up outing.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will debut in theaters on May 2, 2025.
