What Will Be The New MCU Saga That Begins After Avengers: Secret Wars?
Marvel Studios started to lay out an ambitious plan for its next few phases, which will be unfolding in pretty rapid succession compared to the Infinity Saga. Marvel Phases 4-6 have been labeled "The Multiverse Saga", and it will culminate with a major event at the end of Phase 6, Avengers: Secret Wars. However, the real question is: what comes next?
Secret Wars are not a new event in Marvel Comics lore. Going back to the 1980s, the Secret Wars storylines have seen amalgamated collections of Marvel characters – or even entire realities – thrown together in a battle royale for survival. The details of the Multiverse Saga have already revealed how Marvel Studios can pull actors and characters from comics lore and/or previous films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as fun stunt cameos are short arc roles, and Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to pull out all kinds of such stops. The battle of shattered pieces of Marvel reality is expected to end with a new MCU timeline being established.
The purpose of an MCU Secret Wars event seems pretty clear: give the MCU a soft-reboot of sorts. The new franchise reality could do everything from recast or replace major characters (Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther (T'Challa), Thor Odinson), while making long-awaited characters like X-Men, Fantastic Four, and others established parts of the franchise on the same fresh-start ground as all the veteran MCU characters and properties.
So maybe the better question is: what will the next MCU Saga be called?
Ultimate MCU
One low-hanging fruit guess would be for Marvel Studios call back to the time Marvel Comics relaunched its line for a new era (the 2000s), and go with something like "Ultimate Marvel" or "The Ultimates Saga." That would resonate with fans especially well if the plan is indeed to recast characters like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
The "Ultimate" tag denotes a familiar but new take on Marvel characters, as was the case with the 2000s Ultimate Marvel Comics line. The Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men – all of them and more were re-imagined for the 21st century, and some of the ideas spawned within that imprint have changed the entire fabric of Marvel in major ways (Sam Jackson version of Nick Fury, creating Miles Morales, etc.). "Ultimate" is a safeword for Marvel Studios to lean on to let know why a new actor steps into an iconic role, or why some hero mantles (and franchises) are officially passed on to successor characters, without the fanbase turning against it.
Dawn of X
We know that Deadpool 3 is likely to arrive during Phase 5 of the MCU, in early 2024. Deadpool is the beginning of what will become an entire X-Men franchise relaunched under the MCU banner – but we have no idea when it will happen. All Kevin Feige would tell Phaze Zero host Brandon Davis is that we won't have to wait until Phase "X" to see it happen.
A lot of Marvel fans want to see the X-Men get their just due in the MCU, and not have the arc be rushed or mishandled in any way. We still don't know quite a bit about what's coming in Phase 6 of the MCU, leading up to Avengers: Secret Wars – It could be full of X-Men content, or maybe not. If Phase 6 isn't very heavy with X-Men projects, there is almost no doubt that Phase 7 will be. In fact, it may be the entire point of it.
"Dawn of X" was the recent X-Men comics reboot at the end of the 2010s – a bold re-imagining of the entire franchise and character concept. The debate is currently being had in hardcore fan circles about whether or not the post "House of X" X-Men concept is the one the MCU needs; either way, a "Dawn of X" focus (in name or theme) after Secret Wars would be understandable. The full-fledged presence of mutants in the Marvel world is something that could definitely play out across an entire Phase – especially at the rate we're burning through them now.
Phase Four of the MCU continues with She-Hulk on August 27th and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11th.