So far, all we know about Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars on an official level is that they’re set for release in 2026 and 2027, but that’s about it.
Both projects have writers, but rumors abound that Jeff Loveness and Michael Waldron may have been removed from their positions on the fifth and sixth assemblage of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, while the ongoing saga surrounding Jonathan Majors and his potential future – or lack thereof – as the Multiverse Saga’s big bad continues to generate plenty of speculation.
Beyond that, everything else remains consigned to the realms of rumor and hearsay, but a new slab of scuttlebutt being perpetuated by noted “scooper” MyTimeToShineHello has the potential to undermine almost 20 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe storytelling by leaning heavily into fan service in an effort to differentiate The Kang Dynasty from Secret Wars.
As the story goes, the first half of the two-part spectacular will find the MCU’s core crew of Avengers gather together in an attempt to take on the Council of Kangs, only to pull an Infinity War and come out on the losing side. Following on from that, Secret Wars will see the TVA recruit a multiversal squad gathered from franchises past – including Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool – to try and finish the job, which they will.
Sound in theory, but the lingering danger is that by having characters and heroes who didn’t originate at Marvel Studios winning the multiverse’s ultimate battle, it makes the MCU’s in-house Avengers look weak and incompetent by comparison.
Having Sony and Fox’s icons do what Kevin Feige’s crew can’t has the potential to undermine almost 20 years of world-building and storytelling by making it canon that the household names who carried all six phases for two decades are comfortably overshadowed and out-performed by a stack of glorified cameos, opening the door to accusations that fan service has taken precedent yet again.
Published: Oct 2, 2023 10:26 am