2 Years Later, I Still Can’t Believe This MCU Story Wasn’t An Avengers Movie

It’s been two years since the lowest-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe project hit our screens, and, in retrospect, it would have benefited from being an Avengers crossover event. Ever since they first came together to battle Loki and save the world in 2012’s The Avengers, the titular Avengers superhero team have been central to the MCU. They went through many changes in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, but unfortunately haven’t been seen since the Infinity Saga’s penultimate movie.

The MCU’s original Avengers team comprised Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Over the years, they gained some formidable members, while losing others in some emotional scenes, but the Avengers have been inactive since Endgame. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will be reforming the team in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, and they won’t be the only Avengers team in the MCU, but the group could have made this criticized Phase 4 Disney+ series better if they’d returned.

Secret Invasion Should Always Have Been An Avengers Movie in the MCU

Released in June and July 2023, Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion series acted as Samuel L. Jackson’s first solo MCU project as former SHIELD Director Nick Fury. In the wake of Avengers: Endgame’s Battle of Earth and Fury’s departure to the SABER Space Station, Secret Invasion brought him back to Terra firma to deal with a rising rebellious faction of shape-shifting Skrulls, led by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir). Unfortunately, Secret Invasion became one of the MCU’s lowest-rated and most-criticized projects, most notably because of its differences to Marvel Comics’ massive Secret Invasion storyline from 2008.

The Marvel Comics event saw an army of Skrulls travel across the universe to exact an all-guns-blazing invasion of Earth, following months of Skrulls quietly infiltrating humanity by replacing notable figures, including many superheroes. This storyline meant that 2008’s Secret Invasion marked the crossover of most of the Marvel Universe’s characters, including the Avengers, the Thunderbolts, the X-Men, Inhumans, the Fantastic Four, and many, many more. Leaning on themes of paranoia and espionage while including many iconic characters, Secret Invasion was one of Marvel’s biggest and most celebrated events.

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The expansive nature of Marvel Comics’ Secret Invasion made it the perfect event for an Avengers-level crossover event in live-action. The Skrulls replace Captain America, Captain Marvel, the Invisible Woman, Spider-Man, Thor, the Scarlet Witch, and many more in Marvel Comics, but Nick Fury routinely refused to call in any help from the world’s heroes in the MCU’s Secret Invasion adaptation. This would have been the perfect opportunity to develop some of the MCU’s new heroes before they return in Doomsday, and would have made the Disney+ series much more comic-accurate, but this didn’t come to fruition.

Why Were There No Avengers Movies in Phases 4 & 5?

While there is a huge amount of anticipation for 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, there has been some criticism that there have been no other Avengers movies since Endgame. Phases 4 and 5 were the first in the MCU not to include an Avengers movie, but this could have been rectified had Secret Invasion been an Avengers crossover event. This would have made the project more inspired by its Marvel Comics source material, and would have brought more star-power to the project that could have made it one of the MCU’s most popular and successful instalments.

Phase 5 did solve this problem somewhat by introducing the New Avengers team at the end of 2025’s Thunderbolts*, comprising Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). While these new heroes have been given more development this year, making 2023’s Secret Invasion an Avengers movie would have provided the opportunity to develop more new heroes. This could have marked the return of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac), Shuri’s Black Panther (Letitia Wright), She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), and more, all of whom have instead been neglected.

Many of the MCU’s new characters will be returning in Doomsday and Secret Wars, so they’ll get their time in the MCU spotlight. Even so, it’s a shame they haven’t had more development already, and an even bigger shame that Marvel Studios missed the opportunity to make Secret Invasion more comic-accurate and more successful. Endgame set a huge standard for the MCU’s Avengers movies, so Marvel might have been worried about bringing the team back so soon. Thankfully, Avengers: Doomsday might solve these criticisms when it hits theaters in December 2026.

Would you have preferred Secret Invasion to be an Avengers crossover movie in the MCU’s Phase 5? Let us know in the comments!