5 Things the MCU Will Change From Secret Wars (2015)
Table of Contents
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- Introduction: Why the MCU Must Adapt Secret Wars
- Change #1: Doom Won’t Take Reed’s Family
- Change #2: Battleworld Will Be Smaller and Character-Focused
- Change #3: The Beyonders Will Be Removed
- Change #4: Tony Stark’s Role Will Expand
- Change #5: Heroes vs Heroes, Not Just vs Doom
Secret Wars is coming to the MCU.
Marvel confirmed Avengers: Doomsday (December 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (December 2027) as the culmination of the Multiverse Saga. Robert Downey Jr. is returning as Doctor Doom. The Russo Brothers are directing. This is happening.
But if you’ve read Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars (2015), you know the MCU can’t adapt it beat-for-beat. The comic is massive, sprawling, and built on a decade of Fantastic Four and Avengers continuity that the MCU doesn’t have.
So what will the MCU change from the Secret Wars comic? What has to be different based on what Marvel has already shown us in the Multiverse Saga?
Let’s break it down. No speculation. Just evidence-based predictions rooted in what the MCU has built and what Secret Wars requires to work on screen.
Change #1: Doom Won’t Take Reed Richards’ Family
What Happened in Secret Wars 2015
In Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars, one of the most devastating moments is Doctor Doom taking Reed Richards’ family as his own on Battleworld. Sue Storm becomes Doom’s wife. Franklin and Valeria Richards call Doom their father. Reed is erased, forgotten, replaced.
It’s personal. It’s cruel. It’s the ultimate power move from Doom, who spent his entire life in Reed’s shadow. When Doom finally has godlike power, he doesn’t just defeat Reed. He erases him from the people who matter most.
Source: Secret Wars #1-9 (2015), written by Jonathan Hickman | Confidence: High
What the MCU Has Shown
The MCU hasn’t built the Doom vs Reed rivalry yet.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to release in July 2025. That’s 17 months before Avengers: Doomsday. Even if Reed and Doom are positioned as rivals in that film, there’s not enough time to establish the decades-long obsession and jealousy that defines their relationship in the comics.
Reed’s family won’t carry the weight they need for this twist to hit. Audiences won’t know Sue, Franklin, or Valeria well enough to feel the loss. And Doom stealing Reed’s family only works if we’ve seen that family mean everything to Reed first.
Source: The Fantastic Four: First Steps release date (July 25, 2025), Marvel Studios | Confidence: High
Why the MCU Will Change It
Because it’s not earned yet.
The MCU might show Doom taking something from Reed, but it won’t be his family. Not this early. Instead, expect Doom to take something the MCU has already built emotional investment in.
What could that be? The Avengers themselves. The multiverse. Earth-616’s place as the ‘sacred timeline.’ These are things the audience cares about because they’ve spent 15 years with them.
Doom stealing Reed’s family is devastating in the comics. But in the MCU, it would feel hollow. So they’ll pivot to something that actually lands.
Change #2: Battleworld Will Be Smaller and Character-Focused
What Happened in Secret Wars 2015
Battleworld in the comic is enormous. It’s a patchwork planet made of fragments from dying universes, ruled by God Emperor Doom. You’ve got entire regions: the Marvel Zombies domain, the Age of Apocalypse domain, the Old Man Logan wasteland, Weirdworld, the Deadlands, and dozens more.
Each region has its own rules, its own barons appointed by Doom, and its own version of Marvel history playing out in isolation. The scope is massive, and the comic uses it to tell parallel stories across multiple tie-in series.
Source: Secret Wars #1-9 (2015) and 40+ tie-in series | Confidence: High
What the MCU Has Shown
The MCU doesn’t have the narrative space to build 20 different Battleworld domains. Avengers films run 2.5 to 3 hours. Even if Secret Wars is the longest MCU film ever made, you can’t service that many locations and still tell a coherent story.
Marvel also doesn’t have the catalog of alternate realities to pull from. The comics had decades of What If? stories, alternate timelines, and Elseworlds-style arcs. The MCU has the main timeline, a few TVA variants from Loki, and the multiverse cameos from Multiverse of Madness and No Way Home.
That’s not enough to justify a sprawling Battleworld.
Why the MCU Will Change It
The MCU’s Battleworld will be focused. Three to five key locations, tops. Each one built around characters the audience already knows.
Maybe one domain is ruled by a variant Tony Stark. Maybe another is a wasteland controlled by a corrupted Wanda. Maybe there’s a Sakaar-style gladiator zone overseen by Hulk. The point is, every domain will have a familiar face and a direct connection to the main cast.
This approach keeps Battleworld visually dynamic without overwhelming the audience. It also gives each location emotional stakes tied to characters we’ve spent years caring about.
Instead of breadth, the MCU will go for depth. Fewer domains. Higher stakes. Every location matters.
Change #3: The Beyonders Will Be Removed
What Happened in Secret Wars 2015
The Beyonders are cosmic entities who exist outside the multiverse. In Hickman’s run, they’re the ones destroying universes through incursions, forcing realities to collide until only one survives. Doom kills the Beyonders, steals their power, and uses it to create Battleworld from the last fragments of existence.
They’re the ultimate threat. But they’re also abstract, near-incomprehensible beings who exist more as a cosmic force than characters.
Source: New Avengers #29-33 (2015), Secret Wars #1-9 (2015) | Confidence: High
What the MCU Has Shown
The MCU already established how the multiverse works through Loki.
He Who Remains created the Sacred Timeline. Sylvie killed him. The multiverse branched out of control. The TVA is now trying to manage infinite timelines without a central authority. That’s the setup.
Introducing the Beyonders as a new cosmic threat on top of that setup would overcomplicate things. You’d have to explain who they are, why they matter, how they’re different from He Who Remains, and why Doom can kill them when no one else could.
That’s too much. The MCU has a cleaner path forward.
Source: Loki Season 1 finale (2021), Loki Season 2 finale (2023) | Confidence: High
Why the MCU Will Change It
Because Loki already gave them the mechanism.
Instead of the Beyonders destroying universes, the MCU will show the multiverse collapsing on its own. Timelines are unstable. Incursions are happening because there’s no one holding the structure together anymore. The Sacred Timeline’s collapse is the threat.
Doom doesn’t kill the Beyonders to gain power. He finds a way to harness the multiverse’s dying energy and reshape what’s left. Same result, simpler explanation.
This keeps the focus on characters the audience knows (Loki, the TVA, Doom) instead of introducing abstract cosmic beings two movies before the finale.
Change #4: Tony Stark’s Role Will Expand Significantly
What Happened in Secret Wars 2015
Tony Stark has a minor role in Secret Wars. He’s part of the group that survives the multiverse’s collapse, but he’s not a central player. The story focuses on Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, and the cosmic conflict over who has the right to reshape reality.
Tony is there. He’s smart. He helps. But this isn’t his story.
What the MCU Has Shown
Robert Downey Jr. is playing Doctor Doom.
That’s the game-changer. Marvel didn’t bring RDJ back to play a supporting role. They brought him back because his presence guarantees box office, fan engagement, and emotional investment.
But here’s the wrinkle: Is RDJ playing a variant Tony Stark who became Doom? Is he playing Victor Von Doom who happens to look like Tony? Is Doom wearing Tony’s face as part of his god-level manipulation?
We don’t know yet. But what we do know is this: the connection between Tony Stark and Doctor Doom will be central to the MCU’s version of Secret Wars in a way it never was in the comic.
Why the MCU Will Change It
Because you don’t cast Robert Downey Jr. and then sideline him.
If Doom is a Tony variant, the emotional weight of the Avengers facing their fallen leader becomes the heart of the story. If Doom is using Tony’s likeness to manipulate the heroes, that’s psychological warfare on a level the MCU has never done before.
Either way, Tony Stark’s presence in this story will be expanded massively. His relationship with Pepper, with Peter Parker, with the remaining Avengers, all of it becomes ammunition for Doom to use or subvert.
The comic could keep Tony on the sidelines. The MCU can’t. And that fundamentally changes the story.
Change #5: The Focus Will Be Heroes vs Heroes, Not Just Heroes vs Doom
What Happened in Secret Wars 2015
In the comic, the conflict is clear: the heroes versus God Emperor Doom. Yes, there are factions and disagreements among the survivors, but the ultimate showdown is Reed Richards confronting Doom over who deserves the power to reshape reality.
It’s a philosophical battle between two geniuses with opposing worldviews. Doom believes only he can save existence. Reed believes saving existence means letting people choose their own fate, even if it leads to chaos.
The other heroes are there to support Reed or survive Doom’s world. But the central conflict is Doom vs Reed.
What the MCU Has Shown
The MCU loves heroes fighting each other.
Civil War worked because it was Avengers vs Avengers. Infinity War’s tension came from the heroes being scattered and unable to unite. Endgame’s climax worked because everyone finally came together.
The Multiverse Saga has leaned into this even harder. Multiverse of Madness gave us Wanda vs everyone. No Way Home gave us three Spider-Men trying to save villains instead of kill them. What If? showed us dark versions of heroes we know.
The setup is already there for a Secret Wars where the conflict isn’t just ‘stop Doom.’ It’s ‘do we trust each other enough to stop Doom, or do we fracture under the weight of impossible choices?’
Why the MCU Will Change It
Because moral complexity sells.
Doom won’t just be a tyrant to defeat. He’ll be a problem with no clear solution. Maybe Doom’s Battleworld is terrible but stable. Maybe letting it collapse means condemning trillions to nonexistence. Maybe some heroes think Doom’s rule is better than the chaos of a free multiverse.
Imagine this: Captain Marvel wants to destroy Battleworld and restore the multiverse. Doctor Strange thinks that’s suicide and wants to negotiate with Doom. Spider-Man is trying to save everyone and refuses to accept that some realities can’t be saved. Wanda sees Battleworld as a chance to rewrite her own trauma.
That’s more interesting than ‘everyone teams up to punch Doom.’ And it’s more in line with what the MCU has been building.
The heroes won’t just fight Doom. They’ll fight each other over what to do about Doom. And that’s where the real drama lives.