Though Marvel Studios movies and Disney+ shows have used the titles in some cases (Civil War, Secret Invasion, Infinity War), no MCU project has ever directly adapted the comic book run it was loosely based on.
We didn't expect this to change for the next Avengers films, but Joe and Anthony Russo have now confirmed that Doomsday and Secret Wars won't completely disregard the source material.
During a new interview with Tech Radar, the Russo Brothers revealed that they will "draw inspiration" from both the first Jim Shooter-written Secret Wars that was published in 1984, and the Jonathan Hickman-penned version that was released in 2015.
"Well, we always create our own version of the story," said Joe when I asked if they'd be looking to one comic run over the other. "So, we use the comics as loose inspiration."
"But, you know, I grew up on the original run," he added. "That's something that got me into Marvel comic books. The Hickman run is also fantastic [and they're] very different from each other in a lot of ways, so we'll draw inspiration from both of them."
Based on what we've seen from the recent concept art, certain elements of Hickman's run will inform Avengers: Secret Wars, but we wouldn't be at all surprised if Doomsday introduced the likes of the Beyonder and Battleword, which were staples of Shooter's original tale.
The '80s run also saw the debut of Spider-Man's black suit, which ultimately led to the introduction of Venom. With Spider-Man 4 set to release between Doomsday and Secret Wars, we might just see Tom Holland's webhead finally don that symbiote costume.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.