Ever since the 2019 release of the Infinity Saga's record-breaking climax with Avengers: Endgame, Marvel fans have been left pondering when they'll eventually be treated to more team-up action on the big screen.
With the Phase 4 slate having been mostly announced up until the end of 2023, it looks as if the inevitable Avengers 5 is still several years away. However, that hasn't stopped fans from speculating what comic storylines could influence it with theories ranging from the Kang Dynasty to Doom Quest.
One prediction that seems to come up more than most is Secret Wars, Marvel's first-ever comic crossover event written back in 1984. The story centers around a cosmic being known as the Beyonder who destroys an entire galaxy to create Battleworld, an arena for him to force heroes and villains to face off for his own entertainment.
As speculation continues, the storyline's original writer revealed why he believes an MCU adaptation could be on the way.
SECRET WARS WRITER SHARES MCU ADAPTATION SUSPICIONS
According to a report from CBR, Marvel's original Secret Wars comic event writer Jim Shooter recently appeared at the MegaCon convention in Orlando. During the panel, the writer was asked if his storyline could be adapted into the MCU, leading him to reveal why he thinks this could be the case.
Shooter was initially contacted by “some executive of property management” from Marvel who “asked [him] if [he] wanted to write a novelization of Secret Wars.” Following this, the former comic writer was sent a work-for-hire contract which he opted to decline:
“This one clown called me from Marvel. He wasn't an editor, but some executive of property management which was a little odd. He asked me if I wanted to write a novelization of Secret Wars.”
The writer was later contacted by the previous employee's boss, David Bogart, to apologize for the previous interaction and offered a new $10,000 deal. The reason behind Marvel's pursuit of this deal was that “they didn't have a single piece of paper” to say they owned the characters created for Secret Wars:
“But they didn't have a single piece of paper to say they owned Beyonder, Titania, Volcano, any other characters that we put in there, the new Spider-Woman [too] for that matter, and the whole black [symbiote] costume thing. They had no piece of paper to say they owned it.”
While Shooter did offer to sign over the rights for free, Bogart insisted that he “[take] the money dummy” which he eventually did, finally giving Marvel ownership of these characters several decades later.
Following his negotiations with Marvel, Shooter then asked if “this means [they're] making a movie,” a question Bogart played coy on, further supporting his suspicions:
SHOOTER: “This means you're making a movie, right?”
BOGART: “I'm not allowed to tell you that.”
SHOOTER: “Well, I think you just did.”
IS MARVEL STUDIOS ADAPTING SECRET WARS?
With Secret Wars serving as the debut of key characters like Spider-Woman, Beyonder, Titania, and even Spider-Man's black symbiote suit, it's safe to say its long-term effects on the Marvel world are still felt to this day.
It's hard to determine why exactly Marvel is just now trying to obtain legal ownership of these characters, but it's entirely possible it may be looking to adapt Secret Wars for a future Avengers film or Disney+ series.
Alternatively, the studio may have simply been looking to acquire several of these characters for other unrelated purposes. Titania, played by The Good Place's Jameela Jamil, is heavily rumored to serve as the main villain of She-Hulk, potentially offering an explanation for Marvel's legal pursuit.
As the MCU continues to expand, Marvel Studios is bound to find some use for most of these characters and plot devices in the years to come. Sony is already working on a Spider-Woman film while Tom Holland will likely don the iconic black symbiote suit at some point down the line when he inevitably crosses over with Tom Hardy's Venom.
The next Avengers film still looks to be several years away, so who knows when the heroes and villains of the MCU will finally travel to face off in Battleworld. With Kang the Conqueror currently being set up as the Marvel universe's next big bad, it could be some time to come before Secret Wars becomes the focus of an Avengers blockbuster.
