Somewhere in the multiverse, there’s a timeline where Avengers: Secret Wars released on schedule. In that branch of reality, the internet is currently abuzz with discussion over how the movie compares to Avengers: Endgame, whether it serves as an effective launchpad for the impending Mutant Saga, and whether the critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is fair. That’s right; in that branched timeline, Secret Wars released today.
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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced Secret Wars at San Diego Comic Con back in 2022, mirroring 2014’s epic Phase Three announcement. Marvel’s plans have always been a lot more flexible than most viewers realize, but the scale of the changes that followed is absolutely unprecedented for the MCU; far from releasing on November 7, 2025, Secret Wars is instead coming out on December 17, 2027. What went wrong?
Marvel’s Original Secret Wars Plans Fell Through
Feige should have always known his announcement made him a hostage to fortune; Hollywood’s plans had already been disrupted for the last two years by the pandemic. Secret Wars was initially delayed in June 2023, when the WGA strike meant MCU productions were paused. Thunderbolts* and Blade were pushed back (Blade still hasn’t happened), leading to a domino effect. The next two Avengers movies were delayed with The Kang Dynasty moving to May 2, 2025, and Secret Wars heading to May 7, 2027.
There were yet more problems in December 2023, with actor Jonathan Majors convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend. Before his arrest, Majors had been on track to play the main villain in Marvel’s future plans; he’d been cast as Kang the Conqueror and his various variants, appearing in Loki and set to star in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Marvel and Disney had been monitoring the situation since Majors’ arrest in March, and immediately dropped him after he was found guilty.
In truth, Marvel had already begun to pivot. Screenwriter Jeff Loveness had parted ways with Marvel in November 2023, after Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania seemed to suggest the Kang direction was a bad idea; director Destin Daniel Cretton left The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars just two days later, although he continued working with the studio. Not long later, there were reports Marvel had internally begun to refer to The Kang Dynasty as Avengers 5, signifying a change of direction that would inevitably affect Secret Wars as well.
Phases 4-6 Haven’t Been the Success Marvel Hoped For
The MCU’s Phases 4-6 haven’t quite landed the way Marvel hoped, and the road to Secret Wars has been a difficult one. First reactions to Loki season 1 were pleasing (especially to Majors’ cameo as a Kang variant named He Who Remains), but the MCU as a whole began to struggle. A push for Disney+ content left the franchise’s overarching narrative confused and directionless; worse still, both popular reaction and box office performance began to decline. Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, established as a major stepping stone to Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, grossed only $476.1 million worldwide.
Marvel turned to the Russo brothers for help. Celebrated as the directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers had been openly discussing their love for the very idea of “Secret Wars” since 2019. But the MCU had grown in scale and complexity since Endgame, and even they found it intimidating. Speaking about this with The Times, Anthony Russo admitted this made returning to the franchise something of a challenge:
“Yes, the MCU has got quite large, that’s for sure. I mean, frankly, we struggle with that same issue. But part of the reason Joe and I decided to go back is exactly what you’re talking about. There needs to be more of a central narrative. That was something we were very specific about when we worked with Marvel [before]. We would like to bring the focused narrative back.”
Even Marvel now openly admits that the MCU as a whole has been damaged by making too much, too quickly; the brand has been diluted, while the need to churn out a steady stream of content meant VFX work wasn’t always of the right standard. Marvel is currently working to correct this, with a reduced slate of upcoming MCU movies and TV shows; the Russo brothers, meanwhile, clearly believe they are part of the solution. Under their watch, The Kang Dynasty became Doomsday – and Robert Downey Jr. returned to the MCU as well, as new big bad Doctor Doom.
The Scale of Avengers: Secret Wars Is Too Big to Rush
Earlier this year, Marvel announced yet more delays to both Doomsday and Secret Wars. The two blockbusters moved to new December slots, with Secret Wars now set to release on December 17, 2027. Insiders noted two reasons for the delays; the need for “more time to execute on a gargantuan vision,” and the hope of hitting success in the holiday corridor. Conveniently, these changes moved the MCU blockbusters away from Star Wars releases; there seems to have been a change in strategy at Disney, with Star Wars allocated May releases and the MCU moved to December.
It’s not entirely clear what insiders meant by “executing” such a vast vision for Doomsday and Secret Wars. That could potentially mean allocating more time for filming or editing. But the most likely explanation is that delaying the movies a little allows more time in post-production, specifically for VFX work. Marvel had come in for heavy criticism over the likes of Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and there’s intense pressure for these Avengers movies to prove the studio has learned from past mistakes.
All these delays build up, of course. In some alternate timeline, Avengers: Secret Wars came out today, but it would inevitably be a very different production – with Destin Daniel Cretton as director, Jonathan Majors’ Kang as the main villain, and no doubt a completely different script. Marvel will surely keep those original plans under close guard, avoiding talking about them as much as possible – which means they’ll remain the ultimate “what if?” of the Multiverse Saga.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
