After Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Deadpool & Wolverine, cameos are clearly the name of the game for MCU movies, especially ones exploring the possibilities of the multiverse. Audience expectations for these titles now firmly involve unexpected figures from past Marvel adaptations showing up (particularly ones that weren’t previously in the MCU) and making an auditorium full of moviegoers explode with joy. Undoubtedly, the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars will include any such cameos given that it’s basically the ultimate multiverse Marvel story, and frankly the possibilities are endless.
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There are a bunch of Marvel characters who should show up in this feature to really exploit the multiversal possibilities of this universe. These ten specific must-see Secret Wars Marvel characters, though, aren’t just past 21st-century Marvel movie adaptation stars. They’re some weird figures from all corners of the Marvel multiverse. Why settle for just routine cameos when you can go big and brash? If Secret Wars wants to really tap into its multiversal potential, let’s see these ten Marvel characters grace the silver screen.
Some Version of Storm
Ororo Munroe/Storm has never gotten her due in live-action X-Men movies. Despite being played by a deeply talented and Oscar-winning performer like Halle Berry, Storm has always been a background figure in X-Men motion pictures. Avengers: Secret Wars would be an optimal time to correct this flaw by giving some incarnation of Storm a chance to shine. There are so many different Storms across the multiverse to choose from, including Berry and Alexandra Shipp’s live-action versions and X-Men ’97’s Storm. Whichever one is picked, give Storm a grand Secret Wars set piece please!
Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man
Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home broke the seal of using Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man in MCU movies, why not bring him back for the grand multiversal showdown that is Avengers: Secret Wars? Even if it’s just for another brief appearance, it’d be wise to bring back this character given that Maguire’s varying cameos in No Way Home and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have intertwined his Spidey with the multiverse. Plus, the potential for seeing Maguire share the screen with other Marvel heroes would be welcome.
Madame Web
In 2024’s Madame Web, Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) only gets to suit up as Madame Web in brief flickering images of the future. It’s just one of many weird elements of that S.J. Clarkson movie that’s become a punchline for moviegoers everywhere. Still, No Way Home’s use of the various Amazing Spider-Man characters proved that bad comic book movies can be redeemed in multiversal movies. Maybe a brief appearance from a comics-accurate Madame Web could give Dakota Johnson some redemption in this cinematic realm.
David Haller/Legion
The acclaimed TV show Legion followed the trippy exploits of mutant David Heller/Legion (Dan Stevens) across three seasons. That project came to an end years ago, but who’s to say Heller couldn’t return for a brief Secret Wars appearance? After all, the MCU has been clearly intent on exploiting every possible piece of pre-existing mutant media in recent years. Why not shift the focus to a small screen X-Men property? Plus, Legion’s fluid reality means briefly intersecting it with the MCU wouldn’t capsize its atmosphere.
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Darryl Jacobson
After heading various Taika Waititi-directed short films like Team Darryl, Darryl Jacobson (Daley Pearson) finally appeared in a proper MCU movie in 2022 with Thor: Love and Thunder. Now working as a New Asgard tour guide, his close proximity to all things fantastical makes it inevitable that Jacobson’s path will cross with a superhero adventure. Perhaps even Secret Wars, which could use a fleeting Darry Jacobson appearance to solidify to viewers that anyone from the MCU, no matter how throwaway, could show up here.
Lockjaw
Lockjaw is a very good boy who deserved better than the 2017 Inhumans show, which couldn’t think of anything better to do with this character than knock him unconscious with a dirtbike. While it’s impossible to imagine Marvel is bringing the Inhumans Royal Family into Secret Wars, surely Kamala Khan will appear in this Avengers installment. Given her close bond with Lockjaw in the comics, it would only make sense for this teleporting bulldog to show up in some capacity during Secret Wars. Heck, maybe Lockjaw could even get revenge on that fateful dirtbike with his big screen debut.
Japanese Spider-Man
Tobey Maguire isn’t the only past version of Spider-Man that absolutely needs to appear in Secret Wars. If directors Anthony and Joe Russo want to get really wild with the multiversal cameos of this blockbuster, then let’s make room for Japanese Spider-Man. A wild reinterpretation of Spidey from the Toei Company in the late 1970s, this incarnation of the character is such an unpredictable blast. The possibilities of seeing this Spidey Variant rubbing shoulders with Tom Holland’s web-crawler are endless and conceptually enthralling.
Matt Salinger’s Captain America
For years, the 1990 Captain America movie starring Matt Salinger as the titular superhero was treated as nothing but a joke. However, in late 2024, director Albert Pyun’s original version of the feature finally screened for the public and garnered a significantly better reception. With the restored reputation of this feature, why not find a way to bring back Salinger’s Cap for Secret Wars? Whether it’s Salinger reprising the role or some new actor wearing the costume from this 1990 feature, Captain America’s redemption tour should really continue into Secret Wars.
Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl’s been overdue to come to the MCU for ages now, especially since a proposed and promising-sounding MCU New Warriors TV show starring Milana Vayntrub as Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl never made it past the pilot stage. With Avengers: Secret Wars being an “all hands on deck” situation for the multiverse, why not call in Vayntraub’s Squirrel Girl to help save the day? Plus, it’d be so fitting for Squirrel Girl to make her overdue MCU debut in a project as massive as Secret Wars.
1986’s Howard the Duck
Seth Green’s Howard the Duck has proven a resilient member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe across the three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and multiple episodes of What If…? Now that the MCU has made room for one Howard, though, why not have two in Secret Wars? That’s right, this multiversal blockbuster should, however briefly, feature the star of 1986’s Howard the Duck once more, preferably still in creepy puppet form and accompanied by his rollicking theme song.
Once an embarrassment for Marvel as it was their first movie, the feature is far from the worst adaptation anymore, thanks to subsequent films like Dark Phoenix and Fantastic Four. Between this and Howard’s new MCU incarnation, why not have Secret Wars provide a tip of the hat to one of the earliest live-action Marvel movie adaptations? Especially since this means audiences could hear that groovy Howard the Duck song in IMAX speakers!
Howard the Duck is now available for rental or purchase from digital retailers.
