Are ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Secret Wars’ Secretly Adapting ‘The Children’s Crusade’?
The road to Marvel’s next big team-up is getting more personal. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ opens on December 18, 2026, followed by ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ on December 17, 2027, and fans have been searching every new MCU release for clues about what the 2 films will adapt. ‘Secret Wars’ was always the obvious comic book source, but another storyline is now getting a lot of attention.
The latest wave of theories came out of the finale of ‘VisionQuest.’ The episode premiered on Disney+ on November 10, reunited Billy and Tommy with White Vision, and ended with a post-credits scene that set off a huge debate online.
That debate has now produced a bold claim. Fan accounts on X say ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ will seemingly adapt ‘Avengers: The Children’s Crusade,’ a comic arc that puts Wanda Maximoff at the center of a family story involving Doctor Doom.
The post-credits scene returns to the collapse of Mount Wundagore from ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom pulls rubble off Wanda, tells her to wake up, and says her power will belong to him.
‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ and ‘AVENGERS: SECRET WARS’ will seemingly adapt the ‘Avengers: The Children’s Crusade’ comic book storyline. https://t.co/CC73q26Nzy
— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) November 11, 2026
If that timeline holds, the reveal changes Wanda’s story significantly. ‘VisionQuest’ is set a few years after the second ‘Doctor Strange’ film, which means Wanda may have been serving Doom ever since. The heroes might not learn she survived until ‘Doomsday.’
‘The Children’s Crusade’ is a Marvel miniseries written by Allan Heinberg and illustrated by Jim Cheung. It stars the Young Avengers and features the Avengers, the X-Men, and the return of the Scarlet Witch. It ran from 2010 to 2012.
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— MLB (@MLB) October 24, 2026
The story centers on Wiccan, who is losing control of his reality-altering powers. Convinced that the Scarlet Witch is his mother, he sets out to find her. In the comics, Wiccan and his brother Speed eventually discover that Doom has been holding Wanda as his prisoner.
Doom’s role keeps escalating. He reveals that he intends to marry Wanda, and later he gains full access to her reality-warping powers. The first thing he does with them is heal his own face.
New trailer for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ In theaters December 18 https://t.co/1wsiTk1Nnv
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) August 15, 2026
This theory didn’t appear out of nowhere. Insider James Mack previously claimed that ‘Secret Wars’ could adapt most of the elements of ‘The Children’s Crusade.’ Another rumor says the film will draw mainly on the 2015 ‘Secret Wars’ comic event while borrowing key elements from ‘The Children’s Crusade.’
Fans are also connecting the theory to ‘Doomsday’ marketing. Some believe Wanda could be one of the Latverian witches on Doom’s side, perhaps under his mind control after the regret she showed at the end of ‘Multiverse of Madness.’ The Latverian witches don’t appear in the comics, so all of this remains speculation.
Elizabeth Olsen’s possible return is a big part of the conversation. Outlets have reported that the ‘VisionQuest’ scene appears to confirm she’ll return as Wanda in ‘Doomsday,’ but other coverage notes that Marvel hasn’t officially confirmed her involvement.
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— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 6, 2026
One unverified rumor even claims Wanda’s added scenes have pushed the runtime of ‘Doomsday’ to 2 hours and 58 minutes, up from a previously reported 2 hours and 45 minutes. Marvel hasn’t announced an official runtime, and the insider behind that claim has a mixed track record.
Even if the theory is right, an exact adaptation seems unlikely. Marvel hasn’t confirmed any connection to ‘The Children’s Crusade’ or said the films will follow the comic. Still, the basic setup of Billy and Tommy searching for their mother while Doom tries to control her power fits neatly with what the MCU has shown so far.
Fans will find out soon enough. With ‘Doomsday’ just over a month away, we should learn whether Wanda really is Doom’s captive and whether ‘The Children’s Crusade’ was the blueprint all along.
Would you like Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars to adapt elements of The Children's Crusade?
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