Avengers, assemble! After Avengers: Endgame, those words will never be the same again, because when Captain America dropped the phrase, a flood of major Marvel heroes all portaled in and joined a massive fight against Thanos to save the universe. Since that iconic scene, Phase 4 of the MCU has unfolded (with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left to round it out later this year), and with it, a number of great Marvel heroes who would be a great fit for the next Avengers team.
Phase 4 started with WandaVision at the top of last year, and between six feature films and seven live-action Disney+ series, we’ve met, or will soon meet, a ton of new heroes who should be considered for the Avengers in 2025’s Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, which were announced during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. As we get ready for those back to back team-up films, here are the characters who should be part of it, ranked by their power levels.
12. Kate Bishop
Our only hero on the list without superpowers is Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, who was introduced across six episodes of Hawkeye alongside the original Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton. The young hero proved herself to be quick with a bow and was mentored by the founding Avenger to take over the Hawkeye mantle. While she’s the least powerful of the new heroes introduced, she’d be a valuable addition to the Avengers in its next era.
11. Ms. Marvel
Kamala Khan already might have won best personality of the Phase 4 heroes, but when it comes to her readiness to defeat some big league villains, she’s not the first one we’d call, yet. The high schooler is rusty around the edges for now, but that being said, she might be the MCU’s first mutant, is able to shoot out crystal-like formations (allowing her to float in air) and can enlarge parts of her body in fights, not to mention has a family supporting her. Just wait til Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel shows her a few pointers in The Marvels.
9 & 10. Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab
Another pair of Marvel heroes you know about if you have a Disney+ subscription is Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight and May Calamawy’s Scarlet Scarab, who were introduced earlier this year in the Moon Knight series. As the show showcased, Moon Knight has some incredible powers, including enhanced strength and healing abilities, as well as impressive fighting skills, despite struggling with dissociative identity disorder. Over the course of the series, we also met Scarlet Scarab, who has comparable abilities and can fly. The Avengers could use the power of Egyptian gods on their side.
8. Black Knight
Now this one hasn’t technically been all introduced yet, but there’s some major potential here, and there was definitely a tease hinting it happening in the future: Kit Harrington’s Black Knight from Eternals. In the movie, we’re introduced to Dane Whitman, who received his Ebony Blade during Eternals’ end credits scenes. Once he is transformed into the hero from Marvel Comics, Black Knight is a badass swordsman, martial artist with knowledge of magic and a straight-up genius.
7. Hercules
During the one of the Thor: Love and Thunder end-credit scenes, it is revealed that Brett Goldstein is playing Hercules in the MCU. Yes, Hercules, as in Zeus’ son from Greek mythology, the latter who we met as played by Russell Crowe. While his introduction wasn’t a lot to go off of, in Marvel Comics, Hercules has served as an Avenger before. His godlike abilities, which include amazing strength and immortality, would make him another especially powerful recruit for the Avengers. However, Thor taking a shot as his dad knocks his reliability score a bit.
6. She-Hulk
We haven’t quite met She-Hulk yet as of this article’s publish date, but Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters is about to open for business and get real green. When she does, she’ll be among the more powerful heroes introduced on Disney+. She-Hulk is the cousin of Bruce Banner, and in the comics, Jennifer inherits her abilities via blood transfusion Bruce gives her to save her life. In her green form, she’d be a major help to the Avengers, just as Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk was to the original lineup. Plus, it looks like she'll have support from Hulk as well.
5. Shang-Chi
One of the strongest hero introductions in Phase 4 has been Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Shang-Chi is one of the more powerful characters on this list because not only because he's incredible at fighting, but also because he's now empowered by the Ten Rings, which gives him a range of superhuman abilities, like energy manipulation, firing the Rings as projectiles and moving them around as a means of transportation. Plus, it’s likely Awkwafina’s Katy Chen will join as well given where we left off with her in Shang-Chi.
4. Namor The Sub-Mariner
So far, we’ve only seen Tenoch Huerta’s Namor in the emotional first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer, but as comic book fans already know, he’s an especially capable hero in the Marvel Universe. Think of him as the MCU’s Aquaman. He has mutant/Atlantean physiology that allows him to live and breathe underwater along with possessing aquatic telepathy and echolocation, along with the bonus power of being able to fly. Don't mess with him!
3. America Chavez
During Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we met Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez, a young hero with the distinct ability to travel to different universes. While she didn’t exactly know how to harness the power in Multiverse of Madness, through the arc of the film, she gained the ability to control it, making her perhaps the strongest young hero we’ve met in Phase 4. Because America's able to go to different worlds, her power creates infinite possibilities that could be incredibly helpful to the Avengers more than many of the others.
2. Spectrum
After knowing Captain Marvel in her childhood, we caught up with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, where she gained some insane abilities. Although she’s not fully formed as a hero just yet, the character goes by Spectrum in the comics and can transform, absorb and fire back any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum – including gamma rays, infrared radiation, microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet radiation and so forth. Talk about some major power! She’ll be featured next in The Marvels.
1. The Eternals
Although Eternals was the worst-received Marvel movie in a while, it introduced the most powerful forces that could be absolutely crucial to the upcoming threats coming the Avengers’ way. This is a team of heroes who have been around throughout much of Earth’s history, and each have incredible powers to show for it. Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos in particular can create some incredible technological inventions, Makkari’s super speed is unmatched and Thena’s combat skills are top notch. Plus, during the Eternals end credits, Harry Styles’ Eros was introduced, who is the brother of Thanos.
This is a solid roster of new heroes, and that’s without including the heroes who have previously been established in the MCU. Hopefully in the upcoming Marvel movies, including the two Avengers films, we’ll see these established characters team up together.
