After recent comments suggesting the MCU Avengers' leadership could change in Avengers: Doomsday, we thought we would look back at a complete timeline of all four heroes who have led Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the super-powered franchise. The iconic superhero squad is headed back to the big screen next December, with the release of Avengers: Doomsday, marking the first time the team has assembled since 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
This new Avengers lineup will look vastly different from when they were called into action. Mainstays like Chris Evans' Captain America, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man will all be absent. Instead, characters like Anthony Mackie's new Captain America, Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, and the Fantastic Four will make up most of the squad, with a potential new leader emerging from these fresh faces.
Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman shocked the Marvel fandom with some recent comments about who may lead the Avengers by the end of Avengers: Doomsday.
In a recent interview promoting his upcoming MCU film, Shakman posited that Pedro Pascal's new-to-the-franchise Reed Richards will go "from being the nerdy scientist who’s locked away in the lab" to "leading the Avengers:"
"He goes from being the nerdy scientist who’s locked away in the lab, to the husband and the father who’d do anything to protect his family, to the guy who’s leading the Avengers. I realized that the version we were building had to have all of those elements."
This suggests that the baton at the head of the Avengers table may be passed once again in the franchise's not-too-distant future. Thus far, only four heroes have held the seat of Avengers leader in the MCU's more than 17-year history on the big screen.
Avengers: Doomsday is due out in theaters on December 18, 2026. The new film from Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo follows Earth's Mightiest Heroes as they go up against the reality-bending Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.) in a battle for the Marvel Multiverse. Doomsday will feature not only classic MCU heroes fans have come to know and love but also characters/actors from Fox's now-defunct X-Men franchise (i.e., Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto).
A Complete Timeline of the MCU's Avengers Leadership
Tony Stark (Iron Man—The Avengers)
While technically the Avengers did not officially form until the events of 2012's The Avengers, Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark would like to think he sat at the head of the table in the team's earliest iteration before that.
After donning an armored suit and becoming the iron-clad Iron Man in 2008, Tony was the first hero from outside SHIELD to join what Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury described as the Avengers initiative. However, after their first battle in New York City, Tony passed off the leadership title, serving as the team's co-head and Chris Evans' Captain America.
Tony Stark & Steve Rogers (The Avengers—Captain America: Civil War)
Following the Chitauri invasion of New York City, and the Avengers' subsequent thwarting of their alien plans, the team's leadership took a bit of a turn, with two heroes leading the group for the first and only time in MCU history.
From The Avengers to Captain America: Civil War, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were dubbed joint grand poobahs of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This partnership would last several years (including a conflict with the rogue A.I. Ultron) until a dispute over the controversial Sokovia Accords broke them apart.
Steve Rogers (Captain America: Civil War—Avengers: Infinity War)
The time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War is a weird one for the Avengers team. One could argue that after Tony Stark and Steve Rogers' final Civil War battle, the Avengers failed to exist at all.
However, Chris Evans' star-spangled man with a plan did keep a tight group of heroes together (made up of Falcon, Bucky Barnes, and Black Widow) between Civil War and Thanos' becoming an immediate threat in Infinity War, so you could make the case that he was keeping the Avengers together during this time.
Natasha Romanoff (Avengers: Infinity War—Avengers: Endgame)
While technically leading the Avengers for the short span from real-time between project-to-project, Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow actually led the Avengers for roughly five years between the end of Avengers: Infinity War and the time jump early in Avengers: Endgame. Like the Avengers team post-Civil War, after Thanos' cataclysmic snap in Infinity War, Earth's Mightiest Heroes essentially fail to exist.
Most of the characters went into hiding, and others gave up superheroing entirely. Meanwhile, Natasha remained vigilant, continuing to survey the team's options, now missing half the universe. She led the team until the Avengers reassembled, and she died as a sacrifice for the Soul Stone.
Sam Wilson (Avengers: Endgame—Avengers: Doomsday)
And now we come to the most recent leader of the Avengers team. While fans knew Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson was gifted the Captain America shield (and, in turn, moniker) at the end of Avengers: Endgame, it was unclear if that meant he was now the lead of the Avengers (or if the Avengers even existed).
Fans got confirmation that he is, in fact, in charge of the super-powered team in the Thunderbolts* post-credit scene where that movie's New Avengers (Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Winter Soldier, etc) were made aware that Sam had been bristling at the fact that they were using the Avengers name.
Fans will finally see Sam leading the Avengers team in next year's Avengers: Doomsday.
