Back in mid-2020, the Russo Brothers, famous for top MCU movies, namely Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, mentioned they would only return to the franchise IF they could adapt Secret Wars.
What is Secret Wars?
This is where it may get confusing. When I heard about this, I thought the Russo Brothers were referring to a massive comic book series from 2015. But they may also have been alluding to a classic event from the 1980s (it’s the event where Spider-Man received his black costume, the alien symbiote that would eventually lead to the creation of Venom).
The 1980s event revolved around a cosmic being known as The Beyonder, who was fascinated with the superhumans on earth. Because of this fascination, he decided to pit a group of superheroes against supervillains. He teleported everyone against their will to a planet he created. Among the heroes, he brought now MCU favourites such as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and She-Hulk, and X-Men characters like Cyclops, Wolverine, and Storm, Colossus, among others. The villains included Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Ultron, and Kang the Conqueror. Afterwards, the characters were made to forget what happened, and that’s where the name “Secret Wars” came in.
The 2015 event (my favourite and very different), was a huge event which involved plenty of world-building and an epic build-up known as “Time Runs Out”. The bulk of the first act covers the activities of the Illuminati (a secret group of the smartest and most influential characters of earth, including Iron Man, Namor, Black Bolt, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange). They discover, to their horror, that the multiverse is collapsing, with the respective earths of each universe colliding with each other. These collisions were called ‘Incursions’. The only way a universe could survive was either by destroying its respective earth before an incursion, or by destroying the other universe’s earth during an incursion.
Who had caused this to happen? They didn’t have time to figure this out as their universe would soon face its first incursion. It was only as the last few universes were left that Ant-Man (Hank Pym, under the moniker of Yellowjacket) discovered the cause to be The Beyonders (I know, you’re probably thinking this is a spelling error, but no, these were a completely different set of characters and far more powerful). The mysterious beings were also actively working to kill anyone who could stop them from fulfilling their plan. Their targets included powerful cosmic entities who were far more powerful than the heroes of earth.
This frightening series of events and the horrific actions to ensure survival eventually led to a clash of wills. While the Illuminati committed to destroying other worlds to protect their universe, their actions later led to them being branded as criminals by Captain America.
On top of that, the entire universe learned of the incursions, and realised the destruction of the earth would ensure their survival. The Guardians of the Galaxy came to warn them and Rocket Raccoon ended up insulting them for staying and defending their planet.
Many amazing actions took place during Time Runs Out. One of them was an epic weapon Iron Man created, a massive construction outside of the earth’s orbit. He named it ‘Sol’s Hammer’, since it was able to use energy from the sun to emit powerful blasts. He had originally aimed to use it to destroy earths that were set to collide with his. It became a critical weapon when the heroes of earth had to defend the planet against an armada that represented the entire universe.
While Tony Stark is no longer around in the MCU, up and coming tech geniuses could take his place to create powerful weapons such as Sol’s Hammer.
Eventually, the entire multiverse was destroyed, but its inhabitants were immediately saved by the actions of an unexpected character. Then, a new multiverse was created, but it ended being ruled by a tyrant.
While some characters from the source material would be missing, the MCU has proven it can adapt most stories to make them unique and memorable.
How Could Secret Wars be Adapted?
While there is no official news of Secret Wars being planned as the next massive crossover event, some groundwork is already underway.
With WandaVision currently airing, and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness plus the untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home currently under production, the stage for a Secret Wars adaptation is actually being set. The upcoming Eternals movie will also feature the Celestials in greater detail (who also had their part to play in the lead up to Secret Wars). The upcoming Fantastic Four movie could also set up major players who were part of the main story of Secret Wars.
The Avengers weren’t the only major team to take part in the event. Besides the FF, the X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, and a sinister group led by Thanos played a part (there is a way for him to return, although that can be explored much later in the MCU).
As you can see the entire scope of the later Secret Wars event make for ideal source material. Should it be done right, it could outdo the epic finale that Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame provided for us. If you want Secret Wars to be adapted, what else do you think needs to happen for this massive crossover event to be adapted?
MCD 
Great article sir. Like your insight and snippets of history.
Would like to read more…
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Thank you!
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