RUMOR: Here's How AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Will Reboot The MCU (And What It Means For The X-Men & Fantastic Four)

RUMOR: Here's How AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Will Reboot The MCU (And What It Means For The X-Men & Fantastic Four)

New insights into Marvel Studios' plans to reboot the MCU after Avengers: Secret Wars have been revealed, including the introduction of a new timeline that will merge several different realities...

By JoshWilding - Aug 16, 2025 12:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Avengers: Secret Wars
Source: The Cosmic Circus

When Marvel Studios regained the rights to the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises from 20th Century Fox, it was cause for celebration among most Marvel fans. However, Kevin Feige and company were left to figure out how and when to reintroduce Marvel's First Family and mutants. 

We've just met the Fantastic Four of Earth 828, of course, and Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier will helm an X-Men reboot after Avengers: Secret Wars is released. Rumour has it that the movie will essentially reboot the MCU, with certain roles recast and the introduction of a new timeline shared by the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man (who still belongs to Sony Pictures). 

The Cosmic Circus has shared some insights today, revealing that the post-Secret Wars MCU will combine elements from all the different realities we've visited (and have yet to visit) to create Earth 616 as it was "originally."

As the site puts it, "Back when Avengers 5 was still 'The Kang Dynasty,' one of the big twists was how the Earth we have seen in these films and shows was not Earth-616, but rather a version of Earth-616 cultivated by He Who Remains that removed many heroes from what was ORIGINALLY Earth-616. This would have been called Earth Prime."

"It’s why Doctor Strange vaguely remembers the Fantastic Four as a 'band' that charted in the 60s instead of them being world-renowned astronauts who gained powers after a space exploration," the piece explains, "or why Erik Lehnsherr never became Magneto, or why Charles Xavier was a simple college professor."

"The reset expected in Avengers: Secret Wars would alter that course of events and bring with it an Earth that was always meant to be filled with Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. And we’d basically be in the middle of a timeline where everyone in the world thinks that this has always been the case since the beginning of time," it concludes. 

This isn't all that different from how The Flash TV show handled its reset following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (which, as we're sure you'll remember, made it so that Supergirl, for example, had always been part of the Arrowverse). 

There are a few other interesting tidbits in the article, including the Eternals not returning in the next Avengers movies, the door being open to Kang returning down the line, and the fact that "everything is fair game to be brought back" after the reboot, including "previously dead heroes and villains."

Interestingly, "certain events that we know happened in the MCU will have occurred in a different way" as well, suggesting Marvel Studios will use this opportunity to make a few retcons and reshape this franchise for a new era of storytelling. 

There's never been a franchise like the MCU, and it will be nearly 20 years old by the time Avengers: Secret Wars is released in December 2027. It's time for a reboot, and time for some fan favourite characters (Iron Man, for example) to return with new faces. 

Let us know your thoughts on these rumoured details about the MCU's future in the comments section.

RUMOR: Surprising Plans For X-Men And Fantastic Four Heading Into AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Revealed - SPOILERS
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RUMOR: Surprising Plans For X-Men And Fantastic Four Heading Into AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Revealed - SPOILERS

Everything We Learned From The AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY/SECRET WARS Concept Art That Leaked Online Earlier This Year
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Everything We Learned From The AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY/SECRET WARS Concept Art That Leaked Online Earlier This Year

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NGFB
NGFB - 8/16/2025, 12:35 PM
Reboot, retcon, reshape, reimagine. Nobody cares. Just make good movies.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 8/16/2025, 1:02 PM
@NGFB - wisest thing ever said on this site.
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 8/16/2025, 1:52 PM
@NGFB - So much easier to say than do though....multiple actors, alot of people with financial interest (it is a business after all and they won't do this shit for free) and alot of creatives who have individual visions...not to mention all the shit that goes along with shooting these movies in multiple places, tempering fan expectations, which is becoming increasingly difficult with leakers and the internet age we're in.


Im just saying we are lucky enough to be living in a time where we can complain about not getting great cbm movies/tv shows when 20 years ago all we had was a couple x men and blade movies that stayed on repeat.

Thank you Feige.. I hope it continues to work out.
NGFB
NGFB - 8/16/2025, 2:01 PM
@UnderBelly - Good point! Agreed!
bobevanz
bobevanz - 8/16/2025, 4:20 PM
@NGFB - long live the Marvel Callback Universe!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/16/2025, 7:23 PM
@NGFB - "Just make good movies" and this whole time they've been trying to make bad movies. If only they knew that it should have been good movies all along. I think you just saved the future comic book movies with that advice. It would never have occurred to them to attempt such a thing otherwise.


/s
MutantEquality
MutantEquality - 8/16/2025, 11:20 PM
@NGFB - Good movies instead of gag movies with no legs. If Ryan or DP is in this movie it kills it for me. I want an epic with deep story and stakes. That’s the opposite of movies with him.
NGFB
NGFB - 8/16/2025, 11:41 PM
@ObserverIO - I did just save the future of comic book movies, didn't I !!! Thanks!!!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/17/2025, 3:51 AM
@NGFB - Oy vey! If only it were so easy.

If we start getting good movies from now on, you sir are owed a historical debt of gratitude.
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 8/16/2025, 12:37 PM
Fire feige and the creative team and give a 5 years break. The desperation is palpable
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/16/2025, 1:12 PM
@SteviesRightFoo - at this point, i wont mind if they cancel doomsday and secret wars and start the hiatus. And i agree on firing feige and a full reboot
Makiveli21
Makiveli21 - 8/16/2025, 2:07 PM
@vectorsigma - good thing nobody cares what the fry cook at McDonald’s thinks. Now go stock up the ketchup packets loser.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 8/16/2025, 4:21 PM
@Makiveli21 - struck a nerve? Sheesh lmao think must be Feige's alt
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/16/2025, 7:25 PM
@vectorsigma - A full reboot without Secret Wars?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/16/2025, 7:35 PM
@Makiveli21 - ah, insults in the internet from butthurt fanboys. Hilarious! 😂
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/16/2025, 7:37 PM
@ObserverIO - why not? Just pull the plug and stop bleeding money (the casting cost is now uncontrollable). DC did this without going to their version of crisis
cubrn
cubrn - 8/17/2025, 1:58 AM
@SteviesRightFoo - Fire the most successful film producer of all time? Yikes.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/17/2025, 3:45 AM
@vectorsigma - The DCEU didn't make the same kinda cultural impact that the MCU did. But even then they had a Flashpoint movie that reset the universe and they didn't even use it to reset the universe. This kind of reboot did cause some confusion. And the box office is not great.

Secret Wars being a very big deal would be very loud in terms of promotion. It would be the MCU film to end all MCU films. So anyone still invested in the MCU at all would go see it and the transition to the reboot would be seamless.

You don't want want angry fans or confused normies.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/17/2025, 6:29 AM
@ObserverIO - im all for SW if there is enough set up. Something that will feel compelling and earned. But atm, i dont see it.

Now we see casting news, both confirmed and rumored, left and right and it only increases the casting cost to a point of no return. With this cast, 1B in the BO might just be breakeven and 1B is not an assurance anymore due to a lot of factors.
OmegaBlack13
OmegaBlack13 - 8/16/2025, 12:40 PM
The thing about Strange doesn’t make since because The Fantastic Four really were a real life a band in the 60s lmao

Also I find it funny that Josh’s frame of reference is specifically the CW Crisis and not the comic that did the exact same thing.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 8/16/2025, 12:48 PM
@OmegaBlack13 - Josh is not big on reading comics …. Or in reading at all.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/16/2025, 12:49 PM
@OmegaBlack13 - true but I always took that from Strange as a meta joke since the comic FF started in the 60’s as you know

I guess you could take it both ways
NonPlayerC
NonPlayerC - 8/16/2025, 1:39 PM
@OmegaBlack13 - the comic with the exact name as the movie too lol
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 8/16/2025, 12:42 PM
That’s actually kind of interesting.

Doesn’t make up for the crap to mid story telling of the last two phases that have so tarnished the brand. But I think that could work.

The question remains, when the dust settles, even if the next two Avengers movies are a success, will it be enough to get people back to showing up for Marvel movies outside of Spider-Man and Big event movies, like they did prior to endgame?
JDL
JDL - 8/16/2025, 2:26 PM
@Oberlin4Prez - You will not see a full return to the same level of Box Office for non event movies. That day has passed. This is due to streamng and covid. End of story.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 8/16/2025, 3:11 PM
@JDL - big facts
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/16/2025, 12:42 PM

The X-Men will be so important to all this.

If they let the Hollywood pervert agenda squad ruin it, the MCU may be destroyed.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 8/16/2025, 1:56 PM
@DocSpock - I've been saying X-Men will be their real test. People were saying F4 would be, but no. Doomsday and Secret Wars will likely make money, and Spider-Man will ALWAYS make money.

But, after Secret Wars, if X-Men fails, then you might as well kiss the MCU goodbye. It will never recover.

The X-Men are the 2nd largest recognizable, fan favorite superhero team to the general audience. If they can't get asses in seats for them then they might as well call it quits. It will be the true sign that people just don't care about superhero movies or the MCU anymore.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/16/2025, 4:05 PM
@CorndogBurglar -

I think you are right. I just wonder if X-Men will be what Hollywood wants to see or what the audience wants to see.
Leatherface
Leatherface - 8/16/2025, 4:10 PM
@DocSpock - just wait until you see what they’re going to call them. Feige/Disney will not use the title “X-Men.” That’s a fact.
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