The big Marvel news of the last few weeks came at the San Diego Comic Con, where Marvel took the stage in Hall H and presented the plans for the end of the Multiverse Saga. Along with the revelation of Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, Marvel officials brought the Russo brothers back as directors of the upcoming Avengers films. Avengers: Endgame And Avengers: Secret Wars.
While we’re all still not sure what kind of influence Robert Downey Jr. will have on the character of Doctor Doom—will he play the main version of the villain or a variant of him?—we have a rough idea of how the second of these Avengers films might turn out.
Rumors have been circulating for months that with the end of the Multiverse Saga, we’ll be introduced to the Mutant Saga, which brings the X-Men into the MCU. Of course, it’s unlikely that Marvel will put the Avengers on hold, and we know there are more Spider-Man movies in the works with Tom Holland returning to the role. So how will Secret Wars kick off this new saga, and what does it mean for the MCU?
To explore what might happen, we’ll have to spoil some storylines from the comics and possibly the two Avengers movies. If you’d rather jump in with no prior knowledge, you can check it out here.
Secret Wars (2015) – Marvel Comics
So there have been two Secret Wars events in the Marvel comics. The first ran from 1984 to 1985 and brought together a band of heroes to fight against a group of villains after The Beyonder wiped out the universe. The second event ran from 2015 to 2016 and saw the Marvel comic book franchises come together in a battle for supremacy with Doctor Doom becoming God Emperor Doom, wielding immense power and being stopped by Molecule Man (please cast Cillian Murphy in that role) and Reed Richards.
Essentially, the Marvel Comics universe was pretty bloated at the time. The company had released so many versions of its characters that it was making things pretty muddy. There was the “Ultimate” universe that introduced Miles Morales; the classic “2099” universe; a “1602” universe; as well as several splinter versions of familiar characters that emerged from events like “House of M” and the “Age of Apocalypse” storylines.
These comic book characters were brought together in “Battleworld,” which was made up of fragments of these comics, and various battles and shock moments ensued. Eventually, the comic book series were merged, canceled, or rebooted, and the monthly Marvel Comics program was somewhat simplified. The multiverse was basically done away with. You can probably guess where this is going.
Knowing that Doom is on his way to the MCU and the Fantastic Four are on their way as well, we could end up seeing the final moments of Avengers: Secret Wars Put together all the multiverse nonsense of the last few years, remove movies, shows, and characters that didn’t work for one reason or another, and clean up the mess.
Secret Wars (2015) – Marvel Comics
So what could this mean? Let’s look at the last few years of the MCU. Ant-Man, for example, isn’t the most popular character despite having three movies and the charismatic Paul Rudd playing the role, and the character is linked to Kang. Kang, as we all know, was quietly killed off by Marvel after Jonathan Majors was fired. Coming clean means Marvel can “kill” Ant-Man and never have to worry about using the franchise again. They could also use it to kill off projects like She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and basically anything else that didn’t quite work out in this multiverse saga. It would also bring in the 20th Century Fox universe we’ve seen in Deadpool and Wolverineinto the MCU and give us the X-Men, ready for the next saga.
However, this raises an interesting question: what happens to our favorite heroes?
Well, technically Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Thor, and even Captain America could return, albeit with entirely new actors in the roles. And while I think that’s a bad thing, it would allow Marvel to reuse and reboot the characters that are at the core of their universe and business model.
But remember, Secret Wars also merged the universes, so they could very well stay as they are but introduce variants that become that character in the future. Let’s face it, we’re all waiting for Miles Morales to appear as Spider-Man in a live-action movie, and this is the chance to do so.
This can go in two directions.
While it may be a little confusing for moviegoers when the Russo double bill rolls around, Marvel has a great opportunity to start from scratch again. There’s no need to go back to previous films, no need to honor old characters and the actors associated with those roles. The previous versions of someone like Captain America still have a legacy, but Marvel can try something new with this character.
Secret Wars (2015) – Marvel Comics
Staying with Cap for a moment, there was a big storyline a few years ago where Captain America became a Hydra agent and started working for his arch-enemy and basically became an evil version of himself. If Marvel wanted to explore options and stories like that, maybe they would want to use a new actor in the role instead of Chris Evans, who is so tied to being a paragon of good. Or Kevin Feige says, “To hell with it, it worked for RDJ,” puts a bag in front of Chris Evans and makes him a Hydra agent that Sam Wilson has to fight after he Secret Wars summarizes.
Or things could turn out differently.
Marvel is using this as an opportunity to move on and forget the past. They could focus on the X-Men, which would easily run for 10 years with spin-off solo films, while also establishing things like Young Avengers (and maybe X-Force) who would then step into the Avengers’ roles as they get older and are ready for the next big saga. That means we’d get a new Iron Man, but it would be Riri Williams; Hawkeye is already cast for Hailee Steinfeld; and Miles Morales could be Spider-Man once Tom Holland is ready to move on.
Who knows, maybe we’ll actually get Avengers vs. X-Men.
Secret Wars is exactly what the MCU needs. Essentially, it gives them options and allows them to dig into the comic book boxes. Going back to where they started also gives them a platform to acknowledge what has and hasn’t worked in the years since. Captain America: The First Avenger And Iron-Man.
Let’s call it what it is. This is a huge gamble for Marvel and we see them starting to push all their chips into the middle of the table by casting RDJ as Doctor Doom. Kevin Feige and the Marvel creators can put it all on the line and take a few risks or play it safe. Playing it safe hasn’t worked in recent years, but gamble means shaking things up so much that it could turn off longtime fans of the MCU. Regardless of how this all plays out, Avengers: Secret Wars is the reset button that needs to be pressed.
