After Avengers: Endgame, many fans wondered how Marvel Studios was going to top not only the 2019 superhero blockbuster, but the whole Infinity Saga that comprises the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Well, if a recent rumor is to be believed, Marvel might be leaning all the way into the multiverse with its next Avengers crossover film.
In a tweet, a user named Moth Culture said that the next Avengers film will be an adaptation of Secret Wars, the name of two limited-series comic crossover events. The idea is for the adaptation to span a trilogy of films that will be shot back-to-back (similar to how Infinity War and Endgame were filmed).
(Avengers: Secret Wars) decisions are heating up, with early drafts having the story coming as a trilogy. Ideas are massive, with Marvel planing the three parts to be filmed back-to-back. pic.twitter.com/cZxRNNoOR4
— Moth Culture (@Moth_Culture) January 19, 2022
Now take that tweet with a grain of salt, but it’s worth exploring just for shits and giggles. The possibility of Secret Wars being the next Avengers film isn’t a crazy idea. In fact, back in 2020, during an interview with BroBible (via IGN), the Russo brothers explained that doing an adaptation of the original Secret Wars comic series might get them to return to direct another MCU film.
Here are the relevant quotes from the brothers:
“It was one of the first major books to do that — that was really event-storytelling to me at its finest. And what happens when you put all of those personalities together. I also like the idea of villains having to team up with heroes. [Anthony] and I like complicated relationships between heroes and villains, we like villains who believe they’re heroes in their own stories, so it’s all sort of built into this notion of Secret Wars. To execute something on the scale of Infinity War was directly related to the dream of Secret Wars, which is even larger in scale.”
“It would be the biggest movie you could possibly imagine, so that’s what really excites us about the story — the ambition of it is even bigger than the ambition of the Infinity Saga.”
Okay, so the directors behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame are done to make another massive ensemble film. Awesome! But how do you top seeing all your favorite heroes come together when it’s already been done? The key is the multiverse.
Loki, What If…?, WandaVision, and Spider-Man: No Way Home have dived into the multiverse already with Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home featuring other actors playing the titular characters.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rumored to be including a number of cameos from past non-Marvel Studios films, such as the 2005 cast of Fantastic Four, various X-Men actors, and even Tom Cruise as an Iron Man variant. If that actually does happen, Secret Wars might not be far off.
Marvel also seems to be teeing up Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the new big bad of the MCU. If anyone could top Thanos as a serious threat, it would be a time-travelling villain with an army consisting of variants of himself.
Now Marvel Studios has a history of combining various comic storylines together, so imagine a combination of both Secret Wars stories. Maybe the Beyonder assembles various versions of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes from across the Multiverse to fight one another to determine who the strongest heroes are, so that they can fight off Kang in a sequel. That would be pretty cool to see.
Phase 4 of the MCU is far from finished with films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Blade, Fantastic Four, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and The Marvels as well as Disney+ shows like Ironheart, Armor Wars, and Secret Invasion yet to be released. If Avengers 5 was in development, it’s still years from entering production.
Whatever Avengers 5 ends up being, whether it’s Secret Wars or not, I’ll be ready for it. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is far from over. In fact, I’d say it’s just getting started.
Would you like to see Avengers 5 (and 6 and 7) adapt the Secret Wars comics? Which past Marvel film actors would you like to see return for multiverse appearances?
