Kevin Feige Just Gave Marvel Fans a Big Clue About ‘Secret Wars’

Marvel fans have been waiting years to see what Avengers: Secret Wars will actually look like, and Kevin Feige has now given them one of the clearest clues yet. The Marvel Studios boss has confirmed that the upcoming movie is taking major inspiration from Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić’s 2015 Secret Wars comic run. That does not mean Marvel plans to copy the comic exactly, but it does tell us that some of its biggest ideas could play an important role in the movie.

The 2015 comic is not a simple superhero adventure. It is a massive story about the collapse of the Marvel multiverse and what happens when reality itself is destroyed. The surviving pieces of different universes are brought together to create Battleworld, a strange world made from different versions of Marvel’s reality. At the center of it all is Doctor Doom, who has gained almost unlimited power and becomes the ruler of this new world.

That version of Doctor Doom could be especially important for the MCU because Robert Downey Jr. is returning to Marvel in a completely different role. Instead of coming back as Tony Stark, Downey is playing Victor von Doom. Marvel has already made it clear that Doom will be a major part of the story leading into Secret Wars, and Feige’s comments suggest that the character could become even more important as the multiverse crisis grows.

Speaking about the movie’s connection to the comics, Feige explained that Marvel is not simply taking one storyline and putting it directly on screen. He said, “Like Loki gathering up stray branches of the timeline at the end of all things, we’ll pick up the threads of Hickman and Ribić’s run and all those who came before and weave a new story inspired by the vast tapestry of our comics and films.” That statement gives Marvel plenty of room to change things while still using the comic as the foundation.

That is probably necessary because Hickman and Ribić’s Secret Wars contains some extremely wild ideas. Battleworld is filled with different realities, strange versions of familiar heroes, huge battles, and some completely unexpected combinations of Marvel characters. Feige even pointed to some of those images when discussing the upcoming movie, including Steve Rogers fighting on top of a dinosaur and heroes facing Marvel’s zombie characters.

Those moments may not appear exactly as they did in the comic, but mentioning them is still a major tease. Marvel has spent years building its multiverse storyline, introducing alternate versions of characters and bringing back stars from older Marvel movies. Secret Wars could be the movie where all of those worlds finally crash together in a way the MCU has never attempted before.

Feige also gave fans an interesting description of Doctor Doom. He explained that Doom can be both admirable and terrifying at the same time, saying, “On one hand, Doom is noble and loyal. He’s true to his word. But he’s also a monster. He seeks power over all things, and he will use whatever means necessary to achieve his ends.” That sounds very close to the complicated version of Doom seen in the comics, where he is not simply a villain destroying everything for fun.

In Hickman’s story, Doom actually believes he is saving reality. After the multiverse falls apart, he uses incredible power to create Battleworld and keeps what remains of existence alive. The problem is that Doom also makes himself the ruler of this new world. He becomes both the person who saved reality and the person who controls it, which makes him far more interesting than a standard supervillain.

Feige also made it clear that Marvel is not planning to erase everything that came before. He said, “All the stories of the past remain true, but now all things are possible. We hope to carry that inspiration forward into a new medium.” That could be one of the most important clues about Secret Wars. Rather than pretending older Marvel stories never happened, the movie may use them to create one enormous crossover that brings different eras of the franchise together.

For now, Marvel is keeping most of the movie’s story under wraps, so fans will have to wait for Avengers: Doomsday and the marketing for Secret Wars to reveal more. Still, Feige’s comments give audiences a much better idea of what Marvel is preparing. If the studio really does use Hickman and Ribić’s comic as the main inspiration, Secret Wars could feature Battleworld, a powerful Doctor Doom, alternate realities, returning heroes, and some of the strangest Marvel moments ever seen on screen.

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