5 Things Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars Need to Include From the Comics

The hype train has already left the station for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. This began with San Diego Comic-Con in 2024, when Kevin Feige announced the return of Marvel heavyweights Robert Downey Jr. and filmmakers the Russo brothers, and continued with the news that Chris Evans will also return to the MCU. These movies are looking to revolve around RDJ’s Doctor Doom and seem to be taking their marching order from the Secret Wars comics, the name of a series of excellent Marvel event comics.

Marvel has bungled the Multiverse Saga and these two movies are their tickets back to the top. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten further and further away from its comic-accurate roots, there are several things from the Secret Wars comics that these movies could use to great effect. Secret Wars stories have some tropes that have helped them become beloved, and Marvel Studios would do well to include the best ones.

Battleworld

Battleworld appeared in both the original Secret Wars from 1984 and the 2015 one. The original Battleworld was an amalgamation of different planets created by the Beyonder. The Beyonder made it so that the heroes and villains would have places to fight — hence the name — for the ultimate reward. The second Battleworld was made up of pieces of the Multiverse that Doom, Doctor Strange, and Molecule Man were able to save after the Incursions destroyed the Multiverse.

Battleworld is an integral part of the Secret Wars mythos. No matter where Marvel takes the story — whether it goes more towards the 1984 or the 2015 Secret Wars — Battleworld needs to be part of it. Each version has its charm — the original has high-tech alien bases and a variety of flora, fauna, and geographic conditions while the latter has pieces of the coolest worlds from the Marvel Multiverse. The latter is probably the version that the movies will use, as the Incursions have already been teased in the MCU, letting MCU fans experience Battleworld.

The Beyonder/Beyonders

Without the Beyonder and his people, there is no Secret Wars. The first Secret Wars revolved around the Beyonder, then known as One from Beyond, bringing together the heroes and villains of Earth to test them against each other. The character would get fleshed out in Secret Wars II, when he took on a human body and went to Earth to learn about being human. The Beyonder became a fixture in the Marvel Universe, showing up to do crazy stuff and then disappearing for a while.

Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers/New Avengers would introduce readers to the Beyonders and go more into the origin of the Beyonder — it was part of a race of all-powerful beings who dwell outside the Multiverse. They created the Celestials and maintained the Multiverse, and eventually started the Incursions as an experiment. Much like Battleworld, it’s impossible to imagine a Secret Wars story without the Beyonder or Beyonders. Things are pointing to them appearing, again because of the Incursions, and that’s a very good thing.

Molecule Man

Molecule Man first appeared in 1960 Fantastic Four #20. Owen Reece gained the power to control molecules and fought the Fantastic Four many times over the years. He was part of the villains gathered by the Beyonder. He’d become a major part of the Secret Wars mythos in Secret Wars II, his powers allowing him to stand against the Beyonder. His godlike power had its drawbacks — they drove him crazy — and it was revealed that they came from the universe of the Beyonders, linking him to them. The Molecule Man would allow Doom to manipulate the powers of the Beyonders in 2015’s Secret Wars, kept secret from the rest of Battleworld by Doom and Doctor Strange.

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Molecule Man is an important factor in Secret Wars stories. His relationship to the Beyonders and the Multiverse — it’s revealed that he can exist on a multiversal level, with one of him in every universe — is unique in the Marvel Universe, and he’s a rather sympathetic villain, having tapped into something he doesn’t understand. The MCU could always use more sympathetic villains, and Doomsday/Secret Wars could use Molecule Man to great impact.

God Emperor Doom

The announcement of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom was a massive surprise, and it’s one that fits the tropes of the Secret Wars comics. Doctor Doom plays an integral role in the first and last Secret Wars. In the 1984 one, he’s basically the leader of the villains and eventually is able to steal the power of the Beyonder, becoming a god and the main villain of the story. In the 2015 Secret Wars, he’s the savior of the Multiverse and the leader of Battleworld, ruling as God Emperor Doom.

Doom became a god twice in the Secret Wars stories and he needs to become one in the movies as well. It’s still unknown how Doom is going to work in the new movies — whether RDJ Doom is the actual Doom or a multiversal Iron Man pretending to be Doom trying to fight the true Doom — but regardless, God Emperor Doom has to appear. It’s such an important part of what Secret Wars is.

Superpowered Warfare

This one might seem like a no-brainer, given the name, but Secret Wars has always revolved around the concept of superpowered warfare. The 1984 version pits two sides against each other for the ultimate prize, while the 2015 version started with the 616 and 1610 Marvel Universes fighting each other for survival. This opened on a Battleworld that had been living under a fragile peace which is shattered when survivors of Earths-616 and 1610 start agitating the various factions and cause them to rise up against Doom. War is very important to these stories and the movies need to remember that.

The MCU has shown that they know how to cool superpowered war scenes — Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame have excellent, large-scale battle scenes — so it should be a snap to include that sort of thing in the new films. A multiversal war, manipulated by the Beyonders, Doctor Doom, or both, has to be the main focus of these movies. Marvel Studios needs to bring things to the next level with these films, and superpowered war is the road they need to take to get there.