“Avengers 5” update? Benedict Cumberbatch says he's 'looking forward' to new movie 'next year'

The Doctor Strange star says it's "cooking up a storm."

It's funny, Benedict Cumberbatch is usually the one who has to stop his frequent costar Tom Holland from spilling the beans on the Marvel movies. Now it appears the star behind Doctor Strange has let it slip himself.

While shooting a career retrospective interview for Netflix in support of his most recent series Eric, Cumberbatch mentioned, "I'm very much looking forward to Avengers next year, which is cooking up a storm."

EW reached out to reps for Marvel and Cumberbatch for comment.

Related: Benedict Cumberbatch is a troubled puppet master in new Netflix series Eric

So it seems that Cumberbatch will reprise his part of Dr. Stephen Strange in what was supposed to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty but is since being revamped in light of the firing of Kang actor Jonathan Majors. It also seems as though filming will commence next year, with the movie slated for release on May 1, 2026.

The Hollywood Reporter pinpointed Deadpool and Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy as in consideration for the directing job on Avengers 5, though other directors are in the mix, as well. Loki creator Michael Waldron was the last screenwriter to set hands on the script.

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The original plan was to spin out Majors' Kang, first introduced in Loki season 2 and followed by a more prominent role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as the new Thanos-level villain working menacingly behind the scenes. This was all meant to lead first to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2026 and then to Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027 — with a number of other Marvel titles in between, like Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four.

Related: Eric replicated Benedict Cumberbatch's eyes for the puppet

Marvel parted ways with Major within hours of a New York jury finding him guilty of two counts in his highly publicized assault trial. The studio is now pivoting directions for the next phase of the MCU.

Cumberbatch was last seen as Doctor Strange in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw a lot of magical multiverse tampering that caused Spidey villains from all different dimensions to pop into the reality of Holland's Peter Parker.

"The joy of playing him is immense, but also the joy of playing him means I can help create and platform stories and writing and less-commercial fare into being. So he's a gift in many, many ways in my life, as a producer, as an actor," Cumberbatch says of the role in the Netflix video. "I love playing him. He's great fun."

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