“The multiverse is dying. Only two universes remain. Today, earths collide.” Those are the words that open the first issue of Secret Wars, the 2015 Marvel event from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic, which begins with a universe-destroying incursion event between two worlds: Earth-616, the prime Marvel universe, and Earth-1610, the original Ultimate Universe. Assembling heroes and villains from across the multiverse — including the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Illuminati, their counterparts, the Cabal, and Doctor Doom — Secret Wars #1 ends with a collision between the last remaining universes, both destroyed in the final incursion.
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On the final page of the issue, an epitaph reads: “The Marvel Universe 1961 — 2015. The Ultimate Universe 2000 — 2015.” Might a similar message cap off Avengers: Secret Wars?
With The Fantastic Four: First Steps (in theaters July 25) kicking off Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which launched with Iron Man in 2008, Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige assembled press for an update on the MCU post-Secret Wars. Like 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which marked an ending of sorts by retiring Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, and Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars will be a new beginning for the MCU as the currently 37-movie, $32 billion-grossing franchise approaches 20 years of a single shared continuity.
“We’re utilizing [Secret Wars] not just to round out the stories we’ve been telling post-Endgame, just as importantly — and you can look at the at the Secret Wars comics for where that takes you — it very, very much sets us up for the future,” Feige teased of the followup to 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. “Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about is about beginnings.”
2015’s Secret Wars saw a white-clad Doctor Doom, wielding the cosmic powers of the Beyonders, reshape reality in his image as God Emperor Doom. He created Battleworld, a pastiche of fragments of the worlds destroyed in the final incursion, and ruled over this all-new reality which had reimagined characters to fit this new existence. By the end of the main nine-issue series that spawned tie-ins and miniseries set on Battleworld, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four overthrew Doom and restored the multiverse, resurrecting the likes of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers (who both died in the run-up to the final incursion that destroyed Earth-616).
Post-Secret Wars, the All-New All-Different Marvel initiative — a linewide relaunch of the publisher’s titles — brought the likes of Old Man Logan and Miles Morales, the Spider-Man of Earth-1610, into the rejiggered Earth-616. Along with dozens of new #1s, in which Laura Kinney became the All-New Wolverine, Sam Wilson was Captain America, Amadeus Cho was the Totally Awesome Hulk, and Jane Foster was the Mighty Thor, Marvel had two co-existing Spider-Men, an All-New All-Different Avengers team comingling veterans with young legacy heroes like Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel and Sam Alexander’s Nova, and also introduced new status quos for the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and more.
Like All-New All-Different Marvel, Feige characterized Avengers: Secret Wars as more of a “reset” for the MCU than a start-from-scratch reboot. Think of it another way: the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man can all exist simultaneously for the first time in one cinematic universe.
“Reboot is a scary word,” he said. “Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines.” Feige went on to reveal that “X-Men is where that will happen next,” confirming that the Jake Schreier-directed X-Men reboot will recast Marvel’s mutants after sending off the likes of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), and Beast (Kelsey Grammer) from the Fox-made X-Men movies in Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Feige also suggested that the MCU post-Secret Wars could recast characters like Downey Jr’s Iron Man, likening the role to James Bond or Superman, who have had many cinematic iterations over the decades. As for another actor taking over iconic roles from former MCU actors, Feige said, “I think it’s hard for anybody to do that when an actor has done such a great role. ‘How are they going to ever replace Sean Connery [as James Bond],’ right?”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps starts the MCU Phase 6 when it opens only in theaters July 25 and continues with Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026), Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (Dec. 17, 2027).
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
