Secret Warshasn’t been officially announced by Marvel and Disney yet, but it seems inevitable that the iconic comic book story that united all characters in a 12 issue miniseries will be brought to the big screen. And when it happens, Joe and Anthony Russo may be the only ones who can get the job done.
It’s been speculated thatJoe and Anthony Russowill be done with the MCU onceAvengers 4is in theaters. It will be their fourth Marvel movie afterCaptain America: The Winter Soldier,Civil War,Infinity WarandAvengers 4. They have these Marvel superhero wars down pat. AndSecret Wars, which has the potential to be even bigger than the two-partInfinity Wararc, could entice the Russo brothers back into the fold.
It’s anyone’s guess what theMarvel Cinematic Universewill look like afterAvengers 4hits theaters. None of Marvel Phase 4 has been officially announced with the exception ofSpider-Man: Far From Home, which reportedly picks up just moments afterAvengers 4ends, though there are new unfounded murmurs that it may actually be anInfinity Warprequel. If the Russos have their way, they’d like to seeSecret Warsland on the upcoming roster.
Secret Warsmay be one of the few ways to raise the stakes when it comes to taking the MCU into the future. Joe and Anthony recently held a Q&A forInfinity Warat the Arc Light Theater in Hollywood, where they refused to answer any questions aboutAvengers 4. Especially in terms of determining when the first trailer might drop. They did field some other interesting inquiries. And the pair were asked to confirm thatAvengers 4 was their final MCU movie.
The two brothers brought forth a surprising response. Some took their tone as a joke, but it’s hard to say, as they proclaimed they would be staying away from Marvel studios, “until they’re ready to make Secret Wars.”
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars debuted back in 1984. The simple idea behind the story was that the world’s biggest superheroes would fight the world’s biggest villains, but know one on earth knew about it. The idea came from Mattel, who launched a tie-in toy line of action figures and accessories. Characters included heavy hitters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man and the rest of the usual suspects. The title came from research that claimed ‘Secret’ and ‘War’ were two words that scored high with young boys.
Marvel Comics' then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was responsible for constructing a story around this idea. The comic books follow an alien race who kidnap all of the Marvel heroes and villains and make them brawl for entertainment purposes. The winning side would be awarded whatever they wished.Secret Warsbecame one of Marvel’s all-time biggest titles. But Mattel failed to find similar success with their toys, which flopped.
Infinity WarandAvengers 4bring pretty much every Marvel character in the MCU to the screen together to fight in some amazing action scenes. Anything else is going to pale in comparison. Marvel could go the other way, and make more intimate superhero fare. But it seems like a no brainer that Marvel would be working to bringSecret Warstogether as their next big ensemble movie.
With Fox being absorbed into Disney, it would also be a great way tointroduce Wolverine and the X-Men into the MCU, as the Mutants played a big role inSecret Wars. Fox’s villains could also finally be utilized. There was also a 2015 Marvel comic calledSecret Wars, which repurposed the main concept, though it proved to be even more epic in scope.
So, will fans actually seeSecret Warsbrought to life on the big screen? It’s entirely possible. Though onlySpider-Man: Far From Homehas been officially announced, it is known that Disney and Marvel are currently working on other Phase 4 movies that includeBlack Panther 2,Doctor Strange 2,The Eternals, and aBlack Widowstandalone movie.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3was also part of the lineup, but after director James Gunn was fired, it has yet to find a new director, and is sitting in purgatory while Marvel figures out what it wants to do with the sci-fi franchise, once expected to launch the next few years of the MCU as we know it. This news arrived from The Hollywood Reporter.
