Ever since the previous Avengers movie hit theaters in 2019, Marvel fans have been eagerly theorizing what the climax of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next saga will look like. And of all the many comic storylines that have come up as potential inspiration for an epic to surpass Endgame, one name came up as the most common guess of all: Secret Wars.

The name Secret Wars has been used by two comic storylines, both of which are among Marvel Comics’ most beloved crossovers. And sure enough, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the final film in Phase Six of the MCU will be November 2025’s Avengers: Secret Wars, the grand finale of the Multiverse Saga. So in the wake of this momentous news, it’s time to look at the Secret Wars comics to see what to expect from their film adaptation.

To Infinity and Beyond

The original 1984 miniseries Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars begins with a seemingly omnipotent cosmic being called the Beyonder selecting a group of Earth’s greatest heroes and villains to participate in a great contest on Battleworld: a patchwork planet built from pieces of other worlds, including Earth. The Beyonder proclaims that the two factions will wage war, and the winners shall have their hearts’ desires granted. A massive clash between good and evil ensues, with participants including the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Magneto Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Ultron, Galactus, and Kang the Conqueror — plus a few more obscure villains like Absorbing Man, Titania, and Molecule Man.

Granted, the 1984 Secret Wars has its fair share of odd creative choices. The X-Men are treated with an inexplicable amount of hostility from their fellow heroes, while the Human Torch and Colossus compete for the affections of an alien girl. There’s even a brief romance between Magneto and the Wasp, of all people. However, it’s easy to overlook those bits when the series also contains moments like Hulk lifting an entire mountain, or Spider-Man getting his Symbiote costume for the first time.

But of course, the most iconic part of Secret Wars is its climax, in which Doctor Doom challenges the Beyonder alone and manages to survive through sheer willpower alone, draining the Beyonder’s cosmic power into himself and becoming the most powerful being in the universe — over six years before Thanos first completed the Infinity Gauntlet. Yet despite nearly achieving victory, Doom is defeated by his own inability to control his power, as well as his own self-doubt. Doom’s power ends up being more than he can bear, and the heroes win yet again. However, that wouldn’t be the last time the heroes of Earth waged war on Battleworld.

All Hail Doom

The 2015 Secret Wars is a labor of love from a single writer: namely, Jonathan Hickman. After first rising to prominence with his 2009-2012 run on Fantastic Four, Hickman made an even bigger splash with his 2012-2015 run on Avengers and its side series New Avengers, which focused on the Illuminati (including Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Namor) dealing with a massive multiversal crisis. If you’ve seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, then you’ll likely recognize the premise — the multiverse is collapsing, causing parallel Earths to collide in events called Incursions. The only way to save Earth-616 from an Incursion is to destroy the other Earth, or else both universes will be destroyed.

Needless to say, this is a difficult ethical problem for the Illuminati, who deal with fierce infighting as they try to solve the problem of the Incursions. But in the end, their efforts are all for naught, and the multiverse is soon on the verge of total destruction. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom discovers that the Incursions were caused by the Beyonders — the same species as the original Beyonder, who was only a child by their standards. The Beyonders intended to destroy the multiverse as part of a grand experiment, but Doom turns their plans against them with the help of Molecule Man, killing them and stealing their power.

While Earth-616 is destroyed in the final Incursion, Doom uses his newfound cosmic power to salvage the remnants of the destroyed multiverse, creating a new Battleworld from pieces of dead Earths. Doom rewrites the memories of Battleworld’s inhabitants, making them forget the multiverse that once was. To them, Battleworld is all there’s ever been, and Doctor Doom is its benevolent God-Emperor. At long last, all of reality has fallen to Doom’s tyrannical rule. However, the story doesn’t end there.

Two escape vessels survived the final Incursion. One contained a group of heroes led by Mr. Fantastic, including Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Star-Lord. Meanwhile, the other contained Thanos and his followers. These heroes and villains awaken on Doom’s Battleworld, and they don’t like what they see. While Thanos plots to steal Doom’s throne, Mr. Fantastic leads the remaining heroes to take Doctor Doom down and restore the multiverse to normal.

Secret Wars in the MCU

Despite having similar premises — Battleworld, the Beyonder(s), competing factions of heroes and villains, and Doctor Doom attaining ultimate power — the ‘84 and ‘15 Secret Wars series are two very different stories. The former is a relatively standard superhero adventure with some memorable moments along the way. Meanwhile, the latter is the culmination of a years-long epic, serving as a poignant character study of Doctor Doom and Mr. Fantastic that explores themes of hope, fear, power, kingship, and redemption.

The most likely possibility is that Avengers: Secret Wars will draw elements from both adaptations. After all, several pieces already seem to be in place — after Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Venom Symbiote is now in the MCU, so we may see Tom Holland’s Spidey don it for Secret Wars just like in the original comics. Multiverse of Madness has introduced the concept of the Incursions, meaning that they’ll surely play a role as well. After all, this is the Multiverse Saga, so the MCU’s Battleworld will likely resemble Hickman’s interpretation. And of course, with Fantastic Four set to open Phase Six, there’s no way the FF and Doctor Doom will be missing out on a Secret Wars adaptation.

The biggest missing pieces right now are the Beyonder(s) and Molecule Man, who played major roles in both Secret Wars comics. Granted, it’s still two years until Phase Six even starts, so they may be on their way. Even so, it’s possible that a different character may be used as the architect of the Incursions whose power is usurped by Doom — possibly the Celestials, but most likely Kang. After all, Secret Wars will be the sequel to Kang Dynasty, and Doom and Kang are longtime rivals in the comics.

It’s worth noting that Hickman’s Secret Wars was meant as a pseudo-finale to the Marvel Universe, closing the book on the Richards-Doom rivalry and ushering in a new chapter. With Avengers: Secret Wars occurring so soon after Fantastic Four, it’s unlikely that it’ll carry that same finality for them specifically. Even so, both Secret Wars storylines have plenty of iconic, exciting moments and concepts that make perfect inspiration for the Multiverse Saga’s climax.