Now that we’re well into Phase 5, there are some diehard MCU fans who are already looking forward to Avengers: Secret Wars. We still have a few years before were scheduled to get to that film, which will be the final movie in Phase 6, but Marvel’s got a plan, and we know some of the details of it.
Below, we’ve tried to compile everything we know about Secret Wars, including what might happen in it, who the key characters are likely to be, as well as key information about the movie’s cast and release date. To be clear, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the project, including who will ultimately be responsible for directing it. For now, though here’s everything we know about Avengers: Secret Wars.
What will Avengers: Secret Wars be about?
For this, will have to rely almost entirely on the comics, where an event called Secret Wars has happened on two separate occasions. It seems likely that the MCU movie will follow the template laid out by the 2015 version of the event, which sees the collapse of Marvel’s Earth 616 as we know it.
In this version of the story, the multiverse collapses thanks to a series of incursions, and Doctor Doom takes advantage of this collapse to create a battle world where Earth’s heroes are forced to endlessly battle a huge array of villains. The Avengers ultimately come out on top in the arc, but not before a lot of change is brought to our prime Earth as well as the multiverse.
This story is likely to be adapted somewhat as it makes its way to the big screen, in part because Kang is supposed to play a central role. Given that Secret Wars will come just a year after The Kang Dynasty, it seems likely that Kang will emerge triumphant at the end of the first installment, and the Avengers may look to the multiverse to find other heroes capable of defeating him. How exactly that plays into the question of incursions remains to be seen, and all of this is really just speculation at this point.
Who will direct Avengers: Secret Wars?
Now that the Russo brothers have stepped away from the MCU, we don’t know who will step into the shoes they left behind. There are plenty of rumors about who may fill the role, with the chief rumors circling around Ryan Coogler. Kevin Feige said that there have been no conversations with the Wakanda Forever director, but we do know that Deston Daniel Crettin, who helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is set to direct Kang Dynasty. For now, the director of Secret Wars remains a mystery. We do know that Michael Waldron, who wrote Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multi-verse of Madness, will be writing the script.
Who will be in the cast of Avengers: Secret Wars?
The cast of Secret Wars is likely to be massive, on the scale of something like Infinity War or even Endgame. Depending on how his legal troubles suss out, Jonathan Majors could be set to return to Kang the Conqueror, alongside all the Avengers who are still left in the MCU, which include Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Thor, some version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and several others.
It’s also possible that Secret Wars will mean the integration of characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the Marvel universe, and some fans have also speculated that we could even see the return of characters like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark as they travel from other multiverses. No official cast list has been announced, so until then, many different things are possible.
What is the release date for Avengers: Secret Wars?
Right now, the plan is for Secret Wars to hit theaters on May 1, 2026, roughly seven years after Endgame hit theaters. Secret Wars was originally supposed to hit theaters in November of 2025, just six months after The Kang Dynasty hit theaters. A shakeup in the schedule pushed it back, though, so the two movies are now a full year apart.
Feige has explained that he feels there’s less need for regular Avengers movies in part because there are far more Marvel projects overall now.
“When we were doing Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3, there were [fewer] projects over more years,” Feige said, explaining the gap between Endgame and The Kang Dynasty. “They were smaller projects and individual character stories, and it felt appropriate at that point, that after every two or three years that it took for a phase, we would do an Avengers film.”
