The entire Marvel Studios slate is full of upcoming movies and TV shows that only make the entire MCU bigger than ever. Of course, as we are in the middle of the San Diego Comic Con 2022, it is nearly impossible to avoid thinking about any future MCU projects, even though a few have already been announced. But thanks to a leak of some patents filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, there are rumors of Avengers: Secret Wars happening in the future. So, what could Avengers: Secret Wars be about?
Avengers: Secret Wars is a possible crossover between several Marvel universes and intellectual properties in what could become an even bigger than the Infinity Wars. This movie could follow the Secret Wars comic book series that involved heroes and villains squaring off against their will on an alien planet.
It is worth noting that Secret Wars is one of the most popular comic book series in Marvel Comics history due to how massive it is and how it was able to do the crossover event almost perfectly well. In that regard, if Avengers: Secret Wars were to happen, it would promise to be a project so big that it could very well trump the Infinity Saga all on its own.
Is Avengers: Secret Wars Happening?
At this point in time, it might be a little tough to think about where MCU is headed and who could be waiting for the heroes at the end of Phase Four, considering that this phase has no clear direction as of this writing. Nevertheless, what has been hinted at is that the next opponent is going to be even bigger of a threat than Thanos ever was, as there is a good possibility that the enemy will be multiversal in terms of its threat level.
This is where it gets interesting, as people are now wondering about what’s next for the MCU. As we are in the middle of the San Diego Comic Con 2022, there have already been plenty of projects announced by Marvel Studios. But the biggest news happened outside of Comic Con when leaks of patents filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office were revealed.
One of the titles that were filed for a patent was Avengers: Secret Wars, which could be one of the next two Avengers movies in the MCU slate, considering that there are still a lot more movies and TV shows that are scheduled for release. Nevertheless, nothing has been confirmed by Marvel Studios regarding this. But is Avengers: Secret Wars happening?
There was a rumor earlier this month that the Russo brothers were called to direct a new Avengers movie, but such rumors were quickly shot down. Nevertheless, the Russo brothers did say that the one storyline that they wanted to direct for Marvel is the Secret Wars storyline in the comics because of how they believe that it could be a lot bigger than the entire Infinity Saga.
“Our love for Marvel is based on the books that we read as kids, the books that we fell in love with,” Joe told Deadline. “The one series that we adored growing up was Secret Wars. It’s incredibly ambitious. It would be bigger than Infinity War and Endgame. But it’s a massive undertaking. Those two movies were very hard to make. So, trying to imagine making another two movies even bigger than those two? We’re going to have to sleep on that.”
What we could simply say about what the Russo brothers said is that Secret Wars is their dream project. But neither they nor Marvel ever said anything about it happening, and that means that there hasn’t been anything confirmed regarding it.
Of course, Marvel Studios Kevin Feige said that he had heard rumors about Secret Wars being the Avengers movie that will end Phase Four. However, he has yet to confirm anything about it and has only dismissed any rumors regarding the possibility of Secret Wars happening.
“I’ve seen those rumors as well. Why is everyone talking about that now? That’s what I want to know,” Feige said. “I think one person writes about it, and then another person writes about it, and then everybody’s writing about it, and then it’s happening.”
Nevertheless, Feige did say in an earlier interview that Marvel Studios is going to be a lot clearer in the future about what’s to come in the MCU slate, considering that the Phase Four direction has been quite confusing at this point. But the fact is that Avengers: Secret Wars is still just a rumored movie that only has an intellectual property leak as its evidence.
What Could Avengers: Secret Wars Be About?
Nevertheless, even if Avengers: Secret Wars is still just a rumor at this point, there is still a chance that it could happen and that it could be the next big Marvel Studios Avengers hit. So, what could Avengers: Secret Wars be about?
As mentioned by the Russo brothers, Secret Wars is a comic book storyline that was published in the 80s and was once again given life in the middle of the 2010s during its 30th anniversary. Secret Wars is one of the most popular Marvel Comics storylines of all time because of the fact that it was so ambitious in allowing a lot of different crossovers.
Basically, Secret Wars follows the story of how the Beyonder, one of the most powerful entities in the history of Marvel Comics and is a being that is basically at the omnipotent level and is second only to the One Above All in terms of power in the Marvel universe. The Beyonder, after observing the Marvel universe, decided to bring the heroes and villains of different Marvel stories together on one alien planet in an attempt to pit them against each other.
As such, we get to see different groups of Marvel characters, such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and even solo heroes appearing on the alien planet to fight different villains that also come from different Marvel groups.
In that regard, it is possible that this could happen in the MCU, especially now that we are looking at something that could possibly merge different universes together in the greater Marvel multiverse. The Disney acquisition of Fox, which holds the licenses for X-Men and the Fantastic Four, made this possible, but we do know that the main MCU timeline, which is Universe-616, doesn’t have those characters.
That means that an event could possibly cross different universes together so that the different heroes from the different universes could end up working together. This event, known as the Incursion, was hinted at during the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as it is quite possible that some sort of an Incursion, which is the merging of multiple universes into one before such universes get destroyed, could happen and could be the reason why the X-Men and the Fantastic Four could end up in the MCU.
At this point, we believe that Avengers: Secret Wars won’t follow the comic book storyline faithfully, considering that the MCU is now becoming an entity entirely different from the comic books. As such, several changes (such as the Beyonder) might be introduced. But the crux of the matter is that the gist is the same in the sense that Avengers: Secret Wars could bring together several characters from different Marvel stories into one storyline to fight for a common cause.
When Will We See Avengers: Secret Wars?
We did mention that there have been several rumors regarding a Secret Wars storyline becoming the movie/s that will eventually conclude what has been a long and quite confusing Phase Four. While Kevin Feige did say that those rumors are just rumors, the possibility of Avengers: Secret Wars happening is still high due to the multiversal direction of the MCU at this point.
That means that there is a good chance that this will indeed be the storyline that will conclude Phase Four, which has introduced different universes and dimensions in the various movies and TV shows that have been released ever since the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. And if we look at the Phase Four slate, there are still plenty of movies and TV shows scheduled for release in 2022 and 2023.
In that regard, we may have to wait until late 2023 or even 2024 to see Avengers: Secret Wars becoming a reality if ever it is indeed going to happen. Of course, all of the MCU movies and TV shows scheduled for release have their purpose, which is to expand the different stories of the characters involved while also building up the story for the big event that is going to conclude Phase Four.
We know that Avengers: Kang Dynasty is also rumored to be one of the next Avengers movies, but we do believe that it’s going to happen after Secret Wars. In that regard, there is a good possibility that Secret Wars is indeed the next Avengers movie and will happen sometime between 2023 and 2025.
