‘It is a possibility’: ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ rumored to replace the Council of Kangs in the most mind-blowing way possible

The firing of Jonathan Majors hit the Marvel multiverse hard, as it meant the MCU suddenly lost its overarching villain for the entire Multiverse Saga. The studio certainly rebounded in the most ambitious way possible, though, by bringing back Robert Downey Jr. to replace him, with the Iron Man icon stepping in as Doctor Doom for 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Secret Wars. Yet this might just be the beginning of the mind-blowing developments to come.

We’re all expecting Secret Wars to bring back essentially every Marvel movie hero under the sun to battle Downey’s Victor Von Doom, now that both Doctor Strange 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine have established that the doors are wide open for anyone who’s ever been in a Marvel production to potentially pop up. But what we’ve overlooked, however, is the idea that not all of them may return on the side of good. Should we be preparing ourselves to meet Earth’s Mightiest Villains?

Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom could be joined by a squad of evil Avenger variants

As we know from the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the Council of Kangs was supposed to be a big deal in the Multiverse Saga going forward. But with every one of them played by Majors, these guys are a no-go from now on. Luckily for Marvel, the 2015 Secret Wars comic book event offers a perfect replacement for them, one with some serious star potential.

According to insider Alex Perez, “it is a possibility” that Marvel will replace the Council with the Barons from the comics. In Secret Wars ’15, Doom recruited various villainous variants from across the universes to act as his barons on Battleworld, the combined reality created when he restructured the multiverse. His Barons included the likes of evil Hulk Maestro, Jean Grey’s clone Madelyne Pryor, Apocalypse, Ultron, and Mister Sinister.

As per Perez, it would make sense for Marvel to use the Barons as the Council was essentially going to serve as Kang’s henchmen in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, comparable to how Thanos had the Black Order in Infinity War and they tussled with the different factions of Avengers before the team got to battle the big bad. As this was such a winning formula last time, it would make sense for Marvel to continue this in Avengers 5 and 6, but with a shocking update.

Perez opines that, although this is “90% speculative” at this point, going by all the signs, it’s possible that “the Barons [will] end up being a variation of the Multiversal Masters of Evil.” In other words, Marvel could “recast the former OG 6 Avengers as the members of said group, given that RDJ has been recast as Doom.”

Yes, don’t lose it just yet, but there is an opening for Marvel to bring back Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeremy Renner as Doom’s minions, realizing every fan’s dream Avengers reunion but with a dark multiversal twist. We can see it now, Evans as HYDRA Cap, Ruffalo as the aforementioned Maestro… The Evil Avengers practically write themselves.

It’s worth pointing out that Renner himself has already teased such an eventuality occurring. Shortly after the announcement of Downey’s MCU return in July, the Hawkeye star sure seemed certain he and his co-stars would be joining him in reuniting with the Russo brothers. “It’s going to be challenging to get everyone together. But I am excited about it,” Renner hinted. “We’ll see. I think we’ll probably be doing it.” Suddenly, we don’t mind that Quantumania post-credits scene going nowhere anymore.