Marvel boss Kevin Feige has already teased that what comes after 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars isn’t a reboot, not exactly. Instead, the phrase he’s been throwing around is “reset,” implying that the status quo on many characters may go back to a different point in time, while others perhaps remain untouched. This will be especially clear with characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, who will no doubt become a part of the mainline MCU universe despite not existing in that timeline currently. The other possibility with this reset is changing up what faces are even wearing the capes and tights starting in 2027.
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It will no doubt be seen as a challenge for Marvel to change up some of their biggest heroes, but if they want the MCU to survive even longer than the Multiverse Saga, they need to embrace change. For the longest time, there has been a debate about whether doing this will be a death sentence for interest in certain Marvel heroes, but time has already proven that this is a non-issue. Six different actors have played James Bond (with a seventh on the way), while six other actors have played Superman in films, and nine have taken on the role of Batman. Marvel will need to recast some of its biggest heroes in a few years, and these are the ones most likely to see a new name on the call sheet.
7) Loki
One could argue that the arc Tom Hiddleston carried out over a decade with Loki is one of the greatest achievements of the MCU. Not only did he successfully redefine the hero from plucky antagonist to beloved hero, but he literally holds the multiverse in his hands now. The good news for Loki, though, is that there is a lot of precedent in the pages of Marvel comics for the character to undergo extensive change and rebirth with varying appearances. Granted, the Loki TV series did have some fun with this already, but there’s no reason not to deploy the same logic for the all-new MCU. Plus, assuming Thor and the world of Asgard get reset to a more traditional space as one of the nine realms, the god of mischief will need to be lingering somewhere in the shadows.
6) T’Challa
After the death of Chadwick Boseman, this has been one of the biggest question marks to hang over the entire MCU. Though Wakanda Forever made it clear that there was a plan to have someone succeed him in the role, it seems likely that the upcoming Secret Wars and its reset may very well offer Marvel Studios the chance to accelerate that timeline. As a result, it seems likely that a new actor will become the MCU’s T’Challa after Secret Wars, though whether he’s playing T’Challa’s son from the ending of Wakanda Forever now all grown up and ready to take the mantle himself or a version of the Panther that started in another universe, like the Fantastic Four, remains to be seen. In any event, this hero is too big to still be missing in action after the reset.
5) Cyclops
James Marsden will no doubt be getting a victory lap with Cyclops in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, but one thing that is very clear about the MCU’s plan for the X-Men in the post-Secret Wars world is that they want to do their own thing. Rumors have circulated widely about what characters might take center stage in the MCU’s X-Men, and even if we ignore those it would be impossible to imagine a new take on the team without this character present. Though fans have already seen Marsden replaced by a younger actor once before, Tye Sheridan played the part in Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, it’s almost guaranteed that the MCU version will be a fresh face, too.
4) Gambit
Channing Tatum will reprise his role from Deadpool & Wolverine in Doomsday, fulfilling a role that seemed lost to time previously. The thing about Gambit, however, is that the character is simply too popular to be left off the board entirely. Even though the X-Men feature films from Fox largely ignored him (Taylor Kitsch did play him briefly in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Gambit is a fixture of the ’90s era of X-Men, which remains the clear blueprint from which Marvel Studios is bringing the characters to life. If an MCU take on Rogue is also in the cards, then Gambit cannot be far behind.
3) Professor X
We can only see Patrick Stewart return to the role of Professor X and die on screen so many times, that is assuming Avengers: Doomsday continues the trend we’ve seen across X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Though it would be tough to imagine an X-Men team in the MCU without a Cyclops, it’s impossible to consider one where Professor X isn’t present at all, especially with the fresh start that they can achieve. It remains to be seen which actor will take the part, but given the central place Charles Xavier has in X-Men as a whole, a new version of the character will no doubt recast the role.
2) Captain America
Chris Evans’ return to Steve Rogers was confirmed in the first teaser for Avengers: Doomsday, but this is a trick that can only be deployed so many times. Though it remains to be seen if Evans will return for Secret Wars (it seems likely), there’s almost no chance he continues to suit up as Cap in the MCU post-reset. Steve Rogers as Captain America is too big a Marvel pillar for Marvel Studios to ignore completely. Even with Sam Wilson carrying the shield, the universe can absolutely sustain two different heroes with the title. There’s also the potential for two different Caps to lead to greater storytelling capability, maybe another MCU Civil War.
1) Iron Man
As tough as it will be to imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. really can’t claim the role belongs to him anymore after also taking on the part of Doctor Doom, too. That said, Iron Man should join the ranks of the great superheroes on film and become a character played by multiple actors. Marvel comics have routinely shifted the origins of Tony Stark to account for which real-life conflict shaped the arms dealer into the Avenger, so the feature films need to follow suit. Imagine a world where the MCU continues into another decade without anyone in the Iron Man role; it seems unthinkable and would be narrative malpractice if they want to continue dominating pop culture. Not only does the return of Tony Stark to the Marvel mythology give the MCU a major character back, but it opens up the story potential too, and at the end of the day, that should be the most important thing to Marvel.
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Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme
