Avengers: Secret Wars Could Set Up A Comic-Accurate Reboot
It won't be your parents' MCU anymore.
Seven years removed from the cultural event that was Avengers: Endgame, it feels nearly impossible to fathom another Marvel movie coming close to that level of importance. It marked the culmination of 11 years of interconnected storytelling, something unprecedented when the original Iron Man arrived in theaters back in 2008. In fact, Endgame was such a definitive culmination for so many people that you could argue the decision to keep releasing projects hurt them in the long run‚ for what felt like such a weighty, emotionally heavy “ending” of the Infinity Saga, some of the finality of those stakes felt deflated by a steady stream of TV shows and movies released afterwards.
As impossible as it seems, the MCU is about to try and capture lightning in a bottle once again with Avengers: Doomsday and its planned sequel Avengers: Secret Wars. Both films will serve as the climax to the “Multiverse Saga,” which began with 2021’s WandaVision and has been defined by the franchise introducing the concept of alternate universes and revisiting previous depictions of Marvel characters from other franchises. However, unlike Infinity War and Endgame, we know that Secret Wars will be far more of a new beginning than any sort of ending — and the source material might just give us insight on how that will unfold.
Not only will Dr. Doom be the MCU’s most formidable foe yet, but he’ll also be the catalyst for a soft reboot for the franchise.
In a recent interview with Chinese outlet Watching Hollywood (translation via CosmicMarvel), Kevin Feige pretty much confirmed the longstanding rumor that Avengers: Secret Wars will serve as a soft reboot of the MCU. “It will establish a streamlined, simplified, single universe that’s easier for audiences to follow,” the longtime Marvel architect said. He also went even further and clarified exactly what the focus for the franchise will be moving forward, saying that this new incarnation of the MCU will feature the X-Men “at its core.”
The idea that the MCU would be creatively overhauled post-Multiverse Saga is not a new one, and it makes sense why it’s a possibility that everyone has been preparing for. The upcoming film Secret Wars isn’t based on the original 1980s storyline of the same name (a battle royale isekai designed explicitly to sell toys), but instead borrows heavily from Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 reimagining of the concept, a company-wide crossover event that was responsible for the destruction of the Ultimate Universe as well as a very subtle restructuring of the mainline 616 Marvel Universe.
Although the Fantastic Four and the X-Men currently share separate universes from the Avengers, that will certainly change if 2015’s Secret Wars is any indication.
Hickman’s Secret Wars was the culmination of an extended story he had been writing in the pages of Avengers since December of 2012, one in which the heroes (and villains) of the Marvel Universe become aware of the threat of multiversal incursions, aka the violent and cataclysmic collision of two alternate universes. As the heroes bicker over how best to proceed (with some of them opting to outright annihilate any universes that 616 might potentially collide with), Victor Von Doom concocts a plan to steal the powers of the Beyonder, a reality-warping cosmic being. Eventually, time runs out for the heroes and the Ultimate Universe and the mainline 616 universe begin to collide…only to be saved at the last moment by Doctor Doom, who uses the Beyonder’s power to create a safe-haven planet under his governance named Battleworld.
Battleworld is a hodge-podge combination of countless different alternate universes fashioned into independent domains, each ruled over by a baron loyal to Doom, with their continued fealty enforced by a police force known as the Thor Corps (made up of alternate Thors). No one remembers reality prior to Battleworld, except for a collection of heroes and villains who survived the destruction of the Multiverse due to an arc spacecraft created by Reed Richards. Naturally, these characters end up fighting to wrest control of the Beyonder’s power from Doom, with Reed eventually besting his rival and restoring reality to its rightful status — except for the presence of Miles Morales, his supporting cast, and a villainous alternate version of Mister Fantastic named The Maker, each of whom was saved from the destruction of the Ultimate Universe and brought into the mainline 616 dimension.
Hickman’s Secret Wars cleaned up Marvel Comics canon and folded multiple popular alternate universe characters into the same reality...something the film adaptation will no doubt be attempting in its own way.
The MCU has been building up the concept of multiversal incursions as far back as Loki, and it's been heavily rumored that Doom’s grievances in Doomsday will be the result of an incursion caused by Steve Rogers’ voluntary time displacement. There’s a strong chance that Doomsday might revolve around the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers initially fighting each other in an effort to stop the destruction of their respective realities, only to end up perishing in a three-way incursion that sets the stage for Doom to create Battleworld (more than likely using the time-governing powers Loki earned in the season 2 finale of his Disney+ show).
The existence of the Multiverse, the idea of Doom creating Battleworld from the essence of other alternate universes, all of this perfectly sets the stage for Secret Wars to end with reality being rewritten in a way that resembles a soft reboot. It’ll be functionally similar to the MCU that has existed for almost 20 years now, but it’s highly likely this new streamlined universe will feature the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers all as part of the same reality (and in the case of the X-Men, they’ll more than likely be a brand new cast unrelated to the Fox canon). It’s all speculation as of right now, considering Doomsday is still a few months away and Secret Wars won’t arrive until 2027 — but just based on what Feige has said and the source material, it’s a safe bet that the MCU of 2028 won’t be exactly like the one now.
