Avengers: Secrets Wars will destroy the MCU as you know it

The big Marvel news of recent weeks came at San Diego Comic Con where Marvel took the stage in Hall H and laid out the plans to end the Multiverse Saga. Along with the reveal of Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, the Marvel execs brought back the Russo brothers as directors of the upcoming Avengers films, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

While we’re all still unsure of how Robert Downey Jr will impact the character of Doctor Doom - will he play the main version of the villain or a variant? - we have some idea of how the second of those Avengers films could play out.

There have already been rumours swirling for months that with the end of the Multiverse Saga, we will be ushered into the Mutant Saga, bringing the X-Men to the MCU. Of course, it’s unlikely that Marvel will shelve the Avengers, and we know there are more Spider-Man films in the works with Tom Holland returning to the role. So, just how will Secret Wars set up this new saga and what does it mean for the MCU?

In order to explore what could happen, we have to spoil some comic book plotlines and possibly the two Avengers films. If you’d rather go in with no prior knowledge, feel free to check out here.

Secret Wars (2015) - Marvel Comics

So, there have been two Secret Wars events in the Marvel comic books. The first ran from 1984 - 1985 and brought together a host of heroes to battle it out with a bunch of villains after The Beyonder wiped out the universe. The second event ran from 2015 - 2016 and saw Marvel’s comic book lines come together in a battle for dominance with Doctor Doom, who became God Emperor Doom, wielding a massive amount of power and being stopped by Molecule Man (please cast Cillian Murphy in this role) and Reed Richards.

Essentially, the Marvel Comics universe had become rather bloated at the time. The company had spun off so many versions of their characters that it muddied the waters a fair bit. You had the ‘Ultimate’ universe, which introduced Miles Morales; the classic ‘2099’ universe; a ‘1602’ universe; along with several splintered versions of well-known characters that spun out of events like ‘House of M’ and the ‘Age of Apocalypse’ storylines.

These comic line characters were brought together on ‘Battleworld’ made up of fragments of those comics and various fights and shock moments transpired. Eventually, the comic lines were merged, cancelled, or rebooted and the Marvel Comics line-up each month got a dose of simplicity. They basically did away with the multiverse. You can probably see where this is going.

Given that we know Doom is making his way to the MCU, and the Fantastic Four are on their way too, we could end up seeing the final moments of Avengers: Secret Wars merge all of the multiverse shenanigans of the past few years, put aside films, shows, and characters that haven’t worked for one reason or another, and wipe the slate clean.

Secret Wars (2015) - Marvel Comics

So what could this mean? Well, let’s look at the recent years of the MCU. Ant-Man, for example, isn’t the most popular character, despite having three films and the charismatic Paul Rudd in the role, and the character is tied to Kang. Kang, as we all know has been quietly killed off by Marvel after the firing of Jonathan Majors. Wiping the slate clean means Marvel could ‘kill off’ Ant-Man and never have to worry about using the franchise again. They could also use it to put a full stop on projects like She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and basically anything else that didn’t quite work in this Multiverse Saga. It would also bring the 20th Century Fox universe, which we saw in Deadpool and Wolverine, into the MCU and give us the X-Men ready for the next saga.

However, this brings up an interesting question, what happens to our favourite heroes?

Well, technically, we could see Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Thor, even Captain America, all make a return but with completely new actors in the roles. And while I think this is a bad thing, it would allow Marvel to recycle and reboot those characters who are the core of their universe and their business model.

But remember, Secret Wars also merged the universes, so they could very well stay as they are, but bring in variants who become that character going forward. Let’s be honest, we’re all waiting for Miles Morales to show up as Spider-Man in live-action, and this is the chance to do that.

This could go two ways.

While it may be a little confusing for cinema-goers when the Russo double-bill launches, it gives Marvel the prime position of going back to square one and starting from scratch. No need to call back to earlier films, no need to honour old characters and the actors tied to those roles. The previous iterations of someone like Captain America still have a legacy, but Marvel gets to try something new with that character.

Secret Wars (2015) - Marvel Comics

If we stay with Cap for a moment, there was a huge story a few years ago where Captain America became a Hydra agent and started working for his archnemesis, essentially becoming an evil version of himself. If Marvel wanted to explore options and stories like this, perhaps they’d want to use a new actor in the role, rather than Chris Evans who is so tied to being a paragon of good. Or Kevin Feige says ‘To hell with it, it worked with RDJ’ puts a bag in front of Chris Evans, and makes him a Hydra agent for Sam Wilson to battle after Secret Wars wraps up.

Or it could go another way.

Marvel uses this as an opportunity to evolve and forget the past. They could focus on the X-Men which would easily run for 10 years with spin-off solo films, while establishing things like Young Avengers (and perhaps X-Force), who would then step into the roles of The Avengers as they age up, ready for the next big saga. This means we’d get a new ‘Iron Man’ but it would be Riri Williams; Hawkeye is already cast in Hailee Steinfeld; and Miles Morales could be Spider-Man once Tom Holland is ready to move on.

You never know, maybe we really will get Avengers Vs X-Men.

Secret Wars is exactly what the MCU needs. Essentially, this gives them options and allows them to dig through the comic boxes. Going back to square one also gives them a platform to acknowledge what has and hasn’t worked over the years since Captain America: The First Avenger and Iron Man.

Now let’s call it what it is. This is a huge gamble for Marvel and we’re seeing them starting to push all their chips into the centre of the table by casting RDJ as Doctor Doom. Kevin Feige and the Marvel creators can go all in and take some chances, or play it safe. Playing it safe has not worked in the last few years, but gambling means shaking things up so much it could put off long-running fans of the MCU. Regardless of how this all shakes out, Avengers: Secret Wars is the reset button that needs to be pushed.