Draft:Avengers: Secret Wars

Avengers: Secret Wars is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Avengers 5 (2026), the sixth film in the Avengers film series, and the 43rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was written by Michael Waldron.

Two new Avengers films, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, were announced in July 2022 as the conclusion of the MCU's Phase Six and "The Multiverse Saga". Waldron joined the film as writer that October.

Avengers: Secret Wars is scheduled to be released on May 7, 2027, as the final film of Phase Six of the MCU.

Development
Discussing the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, which saw the return of the film rights of Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, Joe Russo—co-director of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) with his brother Anthony—said in April 2018 that it would be interesting to introduce those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) using a Secret Wars film that brings together different characters and realities. Secret Wars is the name of a 1984–85 comic book crossover event written by Jim Shooter and a 2015–16 comic book storyline written by Jonathan Hickman that both follow various Marvel characters who converge on the planet Battleworld. In April 2019, Infinity War and Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said they would return to write a Secret Wars film if the Russo brothers were directing it. Joe Russo discussed the idea again in July 2020, saying "to execute something on the scale of Infinity War was directly related to the dream of Secret Wars, which is even larger in scale". In August 2021, Shooter said executives from Marvel had attempted to secure the rights to his Secret Wars storyline and he assumed they were planning a film adaptation, though Marvel would not confirm that. The film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), part of the MCU's Phase Four that followed Endgame, introduces the idea of "incursions" where one universe destroys another within the multiverse. This was a key idea in the 2015 Secret Wars comic. The film's writer, Michael Waldron, compared this to introducing Thanos to the MCU long before he became the main villain of "The Infinity Saga" (which grouped the first three MCU phases).

In July 2022, the Russo brothers reiterated that they were fans of the Secret Wars comic books, but said there were no plans for them to direct a film version. The pair added that they would have to consider the implications of such a project because it would be a "massive undertaking" and making Infinity War and Endgame had already been very difficult. At San Diego Comic-Con later that month, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced the films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, to be released on May 2, 2025, and November 7, 2025, respectively. The films were set to conclude Phase Six of the MCU and complete "The Multiverse Saga", which covers Phases Four, Five, and Six. Feige compared the films to Infinity War and Endgame, which concluded "The Infinity Saga". He said a lot of the Phase Four projects had been building to the larger story of "The Multiverse Saga", and this would continue throughout Phases Five and Six. He added that the Russo brothers would not be directing Secret Wars, but Marvel Studios was looking for another project to work on with the pair. Unlike Infinity War and Endgame, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars were expected to have different directors; Destin Daniel Cretton was set to direct The Kang Dynasty soon after the Comic-Con announcement. Marvel Studios met with potential writers for Secret Wars in September 2022. Waldron was considered the frontrunner due to the studio trusting him after he wrote Multiverse of Madness and created the Disney+ television series Loki. He was hired to write the film's screenplay in early October. Shortly after, the release date was pushed back to May 1, 2026. Jonathan Majors was revealed to be reprising his MCU role of Kang the Conqueror in January 2023.

Following Majors's arrest in March 2023 and subsequent assault allegations, Marvel Studios had not yet discussed removing the actor from the MCU by the following month, and he was still attached to star in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Disney was reportedly monitoring the situation. In June, the film's release was pushed back to May 7, 2027, in part due to the script not being ready before the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. In October, Joanna Robinson, co-author of the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios which was released that month, said the book included a quote from Feige that implied Secret Wars was being developed to serve as a soft reboot of the MCU, allowing Marvel Studios to keep what was working, remove what was not, and bring back characters that audiences thought were "gone forever". The next month, Tatiana Siegel at Variety reported that Marvel Studios executives had discussed potentially bringing back the original Avengers cast, including Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow after those characters died in Endgame. Feige denied that they had discussed the idea. Siegel also reported that Marvel Studios executives had started discussing alternative plans for the Multiverse Saga due to Majors's legal issues, including pivoting to focus on another comic book antagonist such as Doctor Doom; that character was already expected to be a major antagonist, if not the primary antagonist, in Secret Wars. In mid-November, directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead expressed interest in directing Secret Wars after they directed episodes of the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight (2022) and the second season of Loki (2023). Shortly after, Cretton stepped down as director of The Kang Dynasty, and it was reported that Marvel now wanted a writer and a director who could develop both The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars as a two-part finale to the Multiverse Saga. Journalist Jeff Sneider suggested that Marvel retitle the films Secret Wars part one and two, believing this to be a convenient way to generate excitement for the films while avoiding further questions about Majors's involvement.

By mid-November 2023, Markus and McFeely had reportedly been acting as "unofficial advisors" at Marvel Studios for several months. Waldron was hired to re-write the screenplay for The Kang Dynasty, alongside his work on Secret Wars, at the end of the month. In December, Majors was fired by Disney and Marvel Studios after he was found guilty of harassment and reckless assault in the third degree. It was unknown if Marvel would recast the Kang character or refocus their plans on a new villain, but the studio had started referring to The Kang Dynasty internally as Avengers 5 by then. Sneider soon reported that, like his earlier suggestion, Marvel Studios was now developing Secret Wars as a "giant five-hour movie" split into two parts, with a year between their releases, and that the studio was searching for a director for the films. In February 2024, Aaron Couch and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter said Marvel was "cleaning up the creative mess" caused by Majors's legal issues and firing, as well as the disappointing box-office performance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), with both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars being re-written to minimize the role of Kang or remove the character entirely. By mid-July, the Russo brothers were in early talks to direct both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars. Matthew Belloni of Puck reported that talent agency Creative Artists Agency had suggested Greg Berlanti and Noah Hawley to Marvel Studios as potential directors for both films, both of whom were turned down by Feige. Waldron was reported to only be writing Avengers 5, with no screenwriter attached to Secret Wars at that time. Discussing the characters that would appear in both Avengers 5 and this film, Feige explained that not all of the new characters introduced in the Multiverse Saga would be able to appear given the story they were trying to tell, adding that if someone did not appear, that did not mean they would not make a future appearance elsewhere in the MCU in a later project.

Release
Avengers: Secret Wars is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 7, 2027. It was previously scheduled for November 7, 2025, and May 1, 2026. It will be the conclusion of Phase Six of the MCU.