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According to press reports, Canadian director Shawn Levy is being seriously considered to direct Marvel Studios’ next Avengers film, the fifth in the series. Destin Daniel Cretton had originally been attached to the project, but he left in November of 2023 to work on his Shang-Chi sequel.
Deadline reported this week that Levy is reviewing the script by Michael Waldron but hasn’t yet given a definitive answer about whether he will take on the job. Meanwhile, Marvel has said that it’s talking with other candidates in case Levy turns down the offer. Levy is also currently involved in the development of a new Star Wars film.
Levy, who is the founder of 21 Laps Entertainment, is arguably best known as the director of the Night at the Museum film franchise. He recently directed the soon-to-be-released Deadpool & Wolverine for Marvel and also serves as a director and executive producer of the final season of Stranger Things. His other directorial credentials include The Adam Project, Big Fat Liar, Cheaper by the Dozen, Free Guy, The Internship, Just Married, the Pink Panther reboot, and Real Steal.
Marvel has plans to shoot the new Avengers project in 2025, with more than five dozen MCU actors reprising their roles. According to press reports, the script had to be written to account for the departure of Jonathan Majors from the role of the villainous Kang the Conqueror. It’s not yet known whether Kang will be replaced by another actor or written out of the script altogether.
The Avengers are a team of fictional superheroes based on the Marvel Comics characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. Plans for the first film in the series were announced in 2005, and the four films in the franchise (The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War, and Endgame) have since generated some $7.7 billion in box office revenues.