Upcoming MCU releases such as Fantastic Four could be key to setting up Avengers: Secret Wars, but its most important foundation already exists.
Following Kevin Feige’s unveiling of the MCU roadmap at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, fans have been speculating about which Multiverse Saga release is directly setting up Avengers: Secret Wars. MCU Phase 4 has already made several nods to the comics’ “Secret Wars” storyline, such as the introduction of incursions in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, yet none so far seem directly concrete. This would seem to imply that an upcoming release, such as Fantastic Four, will offer a more important setup for Avengers: Secret Wars. Yet that is not the case.
Marvel’s most important Avengers: Secret Wars setup has already been released, and it isn’t what fans expect. Considering Marvel Studios appears to be adapting Jonathan Hickmans 2015 Secret Wars comics, the animated series Marvel’s What If…? is the most critical Avengers: Secret Wars set up to date. Hickman’s Secret Wars primarily focuses on Doctor Doom utilizing incursions to design a new universe in his image, and given Marvel’s What If…?‘s overabundance of other realities, the show offers the best foundation for what audiences can expect to happen in Avengers: Secret Wars. Additionally, comic readers were able to be directly impacted by 2015’s Secret Wars due to their emotional attachment to characters across a multitude of universes, and Marvel’s What If…? is a great way to expose viewers to other characters in the multiverse and build those connections.
Avengers: Secret Wars Has To Be Bigger Than The MCU
Avengers: Secret Wars cannot be another Avengers: Endgame. If Marvel wants it to be more successful, the movie must have more stakes than the Infinity Saga. Therefore, this multiverse event needs to be bigger than the current MCU. While it’s great that the MCU is introducing an abundance of new characters into Phase 4, audiences have only seen characters from other universes a handful of times. Therefore, an adaption of Secret Wars wouldn’t be as effective with the current MCU superhero lineup, especially if it is going to have the same outcome as the comic storyline. This is what makes Marvel’s What If…? so crucial in the build-up toward Avengers: Secret Wars because it is constantly exposing viewers to alternate realities.
Marvel’s What If…? Can Set Up New Timelines Ahead Of Secret Wars
While Marvel is busy releasing projects in Phases 5 and 6 focused on storylines in Earth-616, Marvel’s What If…? can continue to set up new timelines in preparation for Avengers: Secret Wars. Characters from Marvel’s What If…? have already gone on to appear in the MCU, such as Captain Carter in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel even used Marvel’s What If…? to reframe the relationship between Doctor Strange and Christine before that film’s release. This highlights how important Marvel’s What If…? will be to the future of the MCU and how, despite seeming as though it is separate from other MCU projects, it is the most important of them all. Marvel’s What If…? provides Marvel with endless storytelling opportunities while their live-action projects continue to build toward Avengers: Secret Wars, which will then see them blend to create an epic end to the Multiverse Saga.
How Will Marvel Decide Which What If…? Universes To Use In Avengers: Secret Wars?
Marvel has already incorporated elements of Marvel’s What If…? into the MCU, though they haven’t directly tied it into the MCU’s main continuity just yet. For example, Marvel’s What If…? season 1, episode 4, titled “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?,” introduced an evil version of Doctor Strange and quickly became regarded as one of the season’s best episodes. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness incorporated parts of this episode in numerous ways, such as through the corruption of Earth-838’s Strange, and Doctor Strange facing another evil variant of himself. Therefore, it’s likely that Marvel will choose which Marvel’s What If…? characters will appear in Avengers: Secret Wars based on the popularity of the character as well as the originality of the concept.
The more original the concept, the easier it will become for viewers to separate Marvel’s What If…? characters from their MCU variants. Therefore, audiences will then be able to build separate connections to these characters, so it wouldn’t feel messy if they were to then appear on the big screen in Avengers: Secret Wars. If Marvel continues to use Marvel’s What If…? to set up Avengers: Secret Wars, and throw in parts of the show into their live-action projects, then the moviewill ultimately become as enthralling and epic as its comic book counterpart, overshadowing Avengers: Endgame.
