Marvel Studios put all of their eggs in one basket back in 2008 when they decided to launch their unprecedented shared universe model. Having a number of blockbuster franchises tied together into one single overarching narrative had never been attempted before on such a scale, and in the decade since the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven to be so successful that virtually every other studio has seemingly attempted to launch a cinematic universe of their own at some point.
The culmination of the twenty-two movie arc came to an end with Avengers: Endgame, which brought the Infinity Saga to an immensely satisfying conclusion, became the highest-grossing flick in history, and now finds itself in the midst of a massive awards season push. In short, the MCU has done alright.
The franchise has since moved on, of course, expanding into television with a raft of shows announced for Disney Plus, while the future on the big screen looks set to be a mix between the studio’s established heroes and several new faces. Given the success of Endgame, it wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility for Marvel to simply try and repeat the formula and build the next several phases of the MCU towards another game-changing crossover event. And sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who revealed that Wiccan will debut in WandaVision and that the Inhumans are being rebooted in Ms. Marvel, both of which turned out to be true – have told us that they might be planning exactly that.
Our intel says that Marvel are in the early stages of developing a Secret Wars movie, based on one of the most famous comic book arcs in the company’s back catalogue. All we know so far is that it will definitely be happening, but not until at least Phase Six or possibly even later. There are also whispers of the studio wanting the Russo brothers to direct given their previous success, and while they seem to be done with the MCU for now, they have admitted that Secret Wars could bring them back into the fold.
Obviously, plot details are incredibly scarce for now, but our sources have hinted that Doctor Doom, who we’ve reported in the past is set to be the MCU’s next Thanos-level threat, will play the main villain in the movie adaptation of Secret Wars, transporting the heroes of the franchise to an island/planet in space and forcing them to fight, which will sound familiar to those that’ve read the source material.
Secret Wars will also mark the first Marvel Studios crossover event to feature characters from the upcoming Disney Plus shows, which massively opens up the playing field. In theory, the project could include everyone from Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange, the Hulk and Blade to Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Moon Knight, without even mentioning the X-Men and Fantastic Four. On paper, it has the potential to be even bigger than Avengers: Endgame, and we’ll keep you posted with any new developments as soon as we get them.
