With Avengers: Endgame drawing a line under the decade-long Infinity Saga and disbanding the current lineup of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, as well as removing both Iron Man and Captain America from the equation entirely, the Avengers are sorely lacking in leadership at the moment. However, while we know that a fifth movie is on the way eventually, we won’t be seeing it until the end of Phase Five at the earliest, so there’s plenty of time to decide who will take point for the team’s next mission.
A recent poll showed that most fans are expecting Captain Marvel to be established as the next leader of the Avengers, something that won’t sit well with the trolls who seem strangely determined to have Brie Larson replaced as Carol Danvers. However, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Ryan Reynolds had a cameo in Hobbs & Shaw and Ahsoka Tano will appear in The Mandalorian season 2 – that Tom Holland has gone straight to the top in order to have Spider-Man positioned as the superhero in charge.
From what we’ve heard, the plan right now is indeed for Captain Marvel to take the lead, but Holland has reportedly asked Kevin Feige about the possibility of Spidey being named as the next leader of the Avengers instead. And while Spider-Man is no doubt the MCU’s most popular and marketable character in their post-Endgame lineup, it’s understandable why the studio is intent on sticking with Carol.
For one, she has decades of military experience on multiple different planets and is also the most powerful character in Marvel’s onscreen arsenal. Meanwhile, Peter Parker is a high school student hugely dependent on Tony Stark, even in death, that looks set to spend the majority of his next solo outing as a fugitive on the run. Apparently, Feige has said he’ll consider some kind of co-leader role for Spidey, but for right now, at least, it seems Brie Larson’s heroine will remain the team’s primary leader.
Of course, certain sections of the fanbase would be more than happy if Captain Marvel was shunted to the background in the next Avengers movie, but the more likely option seems to be Tom Holland taking top billing and playing a major role, as opposed to leading the team outright.