Now that MoM is over, it’s time to start thinking ahead. Maybe very far ahead.

I think the biggest fan moment in MoM wasn’t the cameos or the mention of Earth 616. It actually came at the end of the film and at that moment those versed in the comics and those who only watch the films (both still mean you’re a Marvel fan, I promise) were separated. This took place when the word Incursion was uttered by Clea in the end credit scene. And ever since, if you have been anywhere on the internet, then you know the words of Secret Wars have been being thrown around. You might not have any clue what that is or you might be an expert, but either way, MoM opened the door to all discussions relating to it. We are here to give some of the less comic-versed people some background on Secret Wars, why we think we are heading there, and what the effects might be. But before I get into all of that, make sure to listen to our full explanation and thoughts in our latest podcast episode by either clicking the button below to find your listening platform of choice or hitting the link to start listening right now.

Let me start by saying that Secret Wars technically has two different runs. This means that Marvel will likely cherry-pick from both but we are a firm believer that they will rely most heavily on the 2015 version. So while Secret Wars is a pretty out-there comic line as it has many different offshoots, the main quick summary is that Earth 616 pretty much hits another universe (an Incursion) and they destroy each other, leaving fragments of each of them behind in one universe. This is a very short version, but there isn’t really a way for me to explain this using names that will make a lot of sense because I don’t want to overwhelm people. So instead of trying to explain and confuse people, check out the Marvel Database that I linked that gives a summary of what happens in Secret Wars.

So why did everyone suddenly start talking about Secret Wars? As I said earlier, Secret Wars is caused by an Incursion that Earth 616 is a part of (higher stakes for our universe). When Clea came out of her little portal and said she needed Strange’s help to stop the Incursion, many believed this was a direct reference to the Incursion being the one that causes Earth 616’s downfall. And it would make sense why Clea summoned our Dr. Strange directly since it is his universe that is smacking into another, along with the fact he may have slightly caused it. I also don’t think it makes sense to give Dr. Strange another film (Dr. Strange 3) when it would have to involve an Incursion due to this set up. It would essentially make a third Dr. Strange film a stepping stone to a path that we simply don’t need. This means we have to assume his next appearance would be elsewhere, specifically in a story in which he plays a major role (which he does in Secret Wars).

When you boil everything down from Secret Wars, this storyline is basically a Fantastic Four story, Doom vs Reed Richards style. So I think we can confidently say that we need the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom in order to see Secret Wars play out. But no worries because if you think seeing John Krasinski on our screen during MoM was ironic or a fan favor then you’re dead wrong. First off, the Illuminati has various members and Marvel was taking their pick of them when deciding who would show up in MoM. So why’d they choose to show us Reed over maybe an Iron Man or a Black Panther? From the perspective we took it, it comes across that they were confirming who would be playing our Reed Richards in the upcoming Fantastic Four film that is slated to come in the next few years. Another important story that plays a role is Dr. Strange (here’s the major connection), as he helps Dr. Doom try and stop the Incursion from killing everyone and then becomes his main man in the new world that Doom oversees. I don’t think I need to go too deeply into this one, as MoM made it pretty clear how important Strange is in this storyline.

Next, Spiderman actually plays a pretty large role and even takes on the symbiote suit for the first time in Battleworld. And well isn’t that interesting, since we see that Venom left a little gift for Peter in his universe before popping back to the Venomverse. I think this would be a super cool way to have Tom’s Peter become Venom, since we have gotten the original version already done back in Tobey’s era. Lastly, Black Panther is also a fairly large role in Secret Wars and unfortuntely I would have probably stood behind this more when Chadwick was alive. I am intrigued to see how they pick up that franchise, so for now I am going to table whether I think we will see our Black Panther be as prominent as he should be in the Secret Wars story.

I want to wrap this up with the fact that there are quite a few people we could see come out of Secret Wars, including characters who could be comic book accurate to the storyline and those who Marvel will take artistic license to bring in. The first person that would be fairly accurate to the story to get would be Miles Morales. I am a strong supporter of the possibility of getting him out of Secret Wars, since I think a lot of people keep asking when we are finally going to get him in the MCU. I also think this might be how Marvel brings in the Mutants. This one would certainly be more of an artistic license to Marvel, but I believe it could help them bring the Mutants in without overcomplicating the Mutant’s storyline. Especially because up until now, the only ‘Mutants’ we had were Pietro and Wanda. Mutants are not something that would just fly under the radar in the current MCU timeline as you already have all these other heroes doing things out in the open. I will mention now, though, that Secret Wars is eventually resolved and leaves most people back in their original universe. I do believe this will be used to put the MCU back to its regular programming, but in the comics Miles is allowed to go to Earth 616, so if we do get him we will get to keep him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel let us keep quite a few people we might get, but who knows.

So this was just a little blurb about Secret Wars, as it is currently our best lead for where the MCU is going and helps to tie in that very sticky point of the Multiverse that we keep running so close to but never quite hitting. I hope this was at least a little bit informational and fun for you to read as we come off another quiet week from Marvel. Not to worry! We have plenty coming up and will have a super busy summer. And you know us, if Marvel is busy then that means we are busy. This week, we dropped our birthday podcast, discussing some of our favorite moments from the past year and where our podcast is going in year two and we wrap up this week with our Ms. Marvel predictions. I know it seems crazy, but we are in fact in the next era of Marvel starting next week with Ms. Marvel on Wednesday, so keep up with the content, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Secret Wars”, Marvel Database