Avengers: Secret Wars executive producer and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige hyped up the "pinch-me" crossovers to come. The Multiverse Saga has allowed the MCU to introduce many new heroes and villains, but also to bring back familiar faces from previous non-Marvel Studios projects in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine. The studio is gearing up for one more dip into the nostalgia sandbox with Phase 6's two-part climax, Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Marvel Comics recently republished Jonathan Hickman's acclaimed Secret Wars comic storyline from 2015 as part of the Premier Collection, and the nine-issue reprint included a special foreword from MCU boss Kevin Feige. Beyond offering up his thoughts on Secret Wars' significance, Feige teased that the MCU adaptation will feature "pinch-me" crossovers between iconic characters.
First, Feige noted that the modern classic Secret Wars resulted in a Multiverse that was "rebuilt and retooled for the modern age," setting Marvel up to "[branch] out in all-new, all-different directions." Next year's Secret Wars is similarly expected to soft-reboot the MCU into a single timeline with minor tweaks:
"[Jonathan Hickman's] intricate story, which developed across multiple series, and [Esad Ribic's] bold, beautiful art hit some of the same notes as that earlier comic but remixed and reframed its event. It starts with a collision of worlds, and it ends in a Marvel Multiverse rebuilt and retooled for the modern age. They invented something new, seamlessly picking up where the old universe left off, but branching out in all-new, all-different directions."
He teased that the MCU's take on Secret Wars will "weave a new story inspired by the vast tapestry of our comics and films" before it leaves behind this new and improved Multiverse that will form the franchise's future:
"We do the same thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We pick and choose from Marvel's rich, nearly 90-year comics history and make movies that honor the source but become something entirely different. That cycle continues as we head toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe's own version of 'Secret Wars.' Like Loki gathering up branches of the timeline at the end of all things, we'll pick up the threads of Hickman and Ribic's run and all those who came before and weave a new story inspired by the vast tapestry of our comics and films."
Concluding, the Avengers executive producer promised to crossover "characters we know and love in pinch-me moments" that fans have always wanted to see:
"We will bring together the characters we know and love in pinch-me moments that we as fans have always dreamed of but have never seen realized. And we will call on Doctor Doom, the greatest villain in the history of the Marvel universe, to become a centerpiece of that story."
What Will Avengers: Secret Wars' Pinch-Me Crossovers Entail?
As far back as 2022, when Jonathan Majors' Kang was intended to be the villain of the MCU's Avengers: Secret Wars, there were rumors that Kevin Feige wanted to replicate Avengers: Endgame's Portals sequence on a grander scale, uniting familiar characters from across the Multiverse for a final stand.
Even though Marvel Studios' plans have evolved significantly since then, including a pivot from Kang to Doctor Doom, the goal will still be for Secret Wars to feature the MCU's biggest crossovers yet. That ought to involve familiar faces from Marvel history, as well as new ones who will lead Phase 7 and shape the MCU's future.
Doomsday will be the first time that the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four truly share the screen as the Multiverse as we know it ends, but Secret Wars is bound to increase the scale even further, just as Endgame did after Infinity War.
As Secret Wars ought to take place on Battleworld, a patchwork reality made up of the Multiverse's remnants, opportunity is ripe for anybody and everyone to appear. Anybody from Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man to Nicholas Cage's Ghost Rider is truly on the table, making it impossible to predict what Marvel Studios has planned.
Reportedly, Secret Wars will give both Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man major roles after they face off during an Incursion in Doomsday's opening sequence. That in itself will be a true "pinch-me" moment for longtime fans, given how iconic their portrayals remain, even two decades after they first fronted the Marvel universe in the early 2000s.
Feige previously confirmed his own "blue sky dream" MCU crossover would bring together Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm and Tom Holland's Spider-Man, as the pair are one of comics' most famous friendships. Interestingly, Human Torch is confirmed to return in Secret Wars, and the MCU's Peter Parker is rumored to come along for the ride, making their meeting a very real possibility.
