Destin Daniel Cretton Says He Left ‘Avengers 5’ Because He “Didn’t Feel Like The Right Fit” For Marvel’s Story

When Destin Daniel Cretton exited “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” in November 2023, the split was amicable. Cretton remained deeply involved with Marvel Studios, going on to co-create “Wonder Man” and eventually direct “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (read our review). But subsequent tellings from the filmmaker have made “The Kang Dynasty” sound largely like a project that went away around him as Marvel overhauled its Multiverse Saga. But

But remember, Cretton left the project before Jonathan Majors was fired, and before “The Kang Dynasty” was eventually reworked into “Avengers: Doomsday.” So the filmmaker’s latest comments offer the clearest, perhaps most honest, explanation yet of what actually happened: he wasn’t swept up in Marvel’s later overhaul. He chose to leave because he didn’t feel like the right filmmaker for the story the studio was pursuing.

READ MORE: Destin Daniel Cretton Sad About ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ Exit, Confirms Recently Developing ‘Shang-Chi 2’ With Dave Callaham

“Avengers 5 didn’t work out for many reasons,” Cretton told ScreenRant in a new interview. “I had a conversation with Kevin at that time about, you know, the reasons why I didn’t feel like the right fit for the story that they were chasing.”

That’s a notably clearer account of his departure, and an interesting wrinkle given how Cretton has characterized his time developing “The Kang Dynasty” elsewhere.

Speaking this week on The Brandon Davis Show, Cretton sounded enthusiastic about the version he had worked on. Asked about ideas from the abandoned movie, he said, “I had a great time doing that. It was really fun. It was really fun creating that document,” adding that they had “mapped out a really— what would have been a really fun movie.”

“Sad it didn’t happen,” he continued, “but I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair talking about Spidey. So yeah, I’m not complaining.”

So it wasn’t necessarily that Cretton disliked what Marvel and his team had developed—he plainly remembers the process fondly and says they had the movie mapped out. But his ScreenRant comments make clear that, somewhere along the way, he decided he wasn’t the right filmmaker for whatever story Marvel ultimately wanted to pursue. And given how often Cretton talks about needing intimacy and human connection inside these giant movies—and how central both are to “Brand New Day”—it sounds like he wasn’t finding that connection in the direction “Avengers 5” had taken.

Cretton was originally announced to direct “The Kang Dynasty” in July 2022 after the success of “Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.” He departed in November 2023, roughly 16 months after signing on, shortly before Jonathan Majors was convicted and subsequently dropped by Marvel, prompting a much larger overhaul of the studio’s Avengers plans. The Kang-focused version was eventually abandoned, with Joe and Anthony Russo returning to direct what evolved into “Avengers: Doomsday.”

Whatever was happening behind the scenes, Cretton’s exit apparently didn’t hurt his relationship with Marvel Studios‘ chief Kevin Feige. In fact, Feige had another assignment waiting for him during the very conversation in which they discussed why “Avengers 5” wasn’t working out. “And then, in that same room, he mentioned Spidey to me,” Cretton said.

That conversation eventually led to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the fourth solo Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland, and Cretton’s latest Marvel project following “Shang-Chi” and the Disney+ series “Wonder Man.”

The choice also fits with how Cretton says he approaches blockbuster filmmaking. “I personally am not in it to do these giant movies just because they’re big, or just because they’re Spider-Man, or just because they’re Shang-Chi,” he told ScreenRant. “I fall in love with each of these movies the moment that I find the thing about that story that connects with me deeply and personally.”

With Spider-Man, Cretton found that connection in the ending of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” He said the consequences of Peter Parker allowing everyone he loves to forget him were “the reason why I signed on to the movie,” specifically Peter retreating into Spider-Man and cutting himself off from everyone around him.

“That exploration of that stage in his life, and being able to watch Peter relearn the importance of connecting with other human beings—that was the sole reason why I wanted to do this movie,” he said.

And despite moving from “The Kang Dynasty” to “Wonder Man” and then Spider-Man, Cretton’s Marvel future still includes another long-gestating project. ScreenRant says “Shang-Chi 2” is “in active development right now,” while Cretton separately reiterated to Brandon Davis that the sequel is “still happening.”

Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free.

That follows Cretton’s comments last week that he and original “Shang-Chi” co-writer Dave Callaham had recently jumped back into developing the sequel. So while “Avengers 5” proved to be the Marvel movie Cretton couldn’t find his way into, he clearly hasn’t run out of stories there that he does connect with.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” opens July 31.