Disney's Secret Wars Tease Featured the Beyonder, but the Art Was Fan Made

Marvel Studios apparently began teasing Avengers: Secret Wars while Avengers: Doomsday was still more than a year away from theaters. At a Disney fan event in Brazil, a Secret Wars slide featured Doctor Doom, the Beyonder and Miles Morales. Perhaps we should temper our expectations a little, partly because of a quote directly from Kevin Feige and partly because of where that image came from.

Even so, I found it an enormous reveal at the time. If Disney was looking that far ahead to Secret Wars, the story could be bigger than we think.

Disney's São Paulo slate included a Secret Wars image with the Beyonder and Miles Morales

This was an official Disney event in São Paulo, where the company teased its cinema slate through the end of 2027. The posters on stage covered far more than the MCU and Lucasfilm. They spanned everything at Disney.

Among them was a Secret Wars poster that included the Beyonder and Miles Morales, along with others who were cut off in the version first circulated. The full image shows Thor, Wasp, Hulk, Gambit, Doctor Doom, Captain Marvel, Reed Richards, Sam Wilson's Captain America, Miles Morales, Wolverine, Storm and the Beyonder.

I've long thought Loki, not the Beyonder, would fill that role in the story

It isn't outside the realm of possibility that Marvel Studios was teasing the Beyonder for Secret Wars. He was part of the original Secret Wars in the 1980s and also Jonathan Hickman's 2015 run.

Still, I've held firmly that Avengers: Doomsday doesn't have enough screen time to introduce Doctor Doom and also bring in the Beyonder and explain his role. It has always looked pretty clear to me that Marvel is going to use Loki as a surrogate, the same way they're replacing Molecule Man. In that version, Doom seizes the power of God Emperor Doom from Loki, God of Stories, instead of from the Beyonder. That seems logical, especially for the type of film the Russos are going to try to make.

I can't rule it out, though. Some things we considered pipe dreams during Infinity War and Endgame turned out to be in consideration. We later saw concept art for characters like the Living Tribunal, which back then seemed like it would take a miracle. But unless the Beyonder appears in Doomsday as well, Marvel would have to introduce a brand new character nobody has alluded to and explain his motivations after that film. There simply isn't enough time for that. With all the pieces on the chessboard, I think it's safe to say some things about this tease may not be what they seem.

Feige's comments on Miles Morales may or may not be the whole story

In his most recent interview at the time, Kevin Feige said Sony told Marvel to hold off on a live action Miles Morales until the animated Spider-Verse trilogy is finished. That's understandable, and Sony may have its own plans for him in a reboot of the Spider-Verse.

Still, Feige could be lying. That would be his MO, hiding the fact that we are going to see Miles Morales. Certain plot leaks and industry insiders even hinted at it. Halle Berry's Storm also wasn't included in the first round of cast announcements, but given the supporting cast that had been confirmed, it isn't a reach to think she may be part of the film too.

The Secret Wars image was fan made and had been online before the event

Here's the catch. This is a fan made image that was online before the event. It didn't come from Marvel Studios or Disney. Someone grabbed it and put it into the presentation slide that was shown on stage.

I've worked with Disney in the past, interviewing their actors and attending red carpet premieres, so I know firsthand how closely they police their content. When I did interviews, they recorded and edited them, because it's easier to quality control a product you make and distribute yourself. If there was a question they didn't want asked, or a moment they didn't want seen for the actor, they cut it out. That's why a fan image turning up somewhere official is puzzling. It goes against their MO, and I'd say that isn't different from any other studio.

I have to wonder if a graphic designer without official assets grabbed the fan image

Graphic designers make visuals for all kinds of events, and some of them work with Disney. I can picture one saying, "Hey, I don't have any assets for Avengers Secret Wars," because Marvel Studios hadn't produced any. Asked to put something on the slate, with only the official logo at the bottom of that image, he goes on Google instead of using a black background and downloads a fan image that ends up in an official presentation.

It wouldn't be the first time. Kevin Feige once showed up in a hat with a logo that was half Wolverine and half Deadpool and looked eerily like a fan made image. Then you get into a circular argument about who's allowed to use what. Fans make these images for IP they don't control, so the studio probably has the right to use them. Still, I wonder whether the artist knew the stir he might cause with two characters who, at that point, had zero mention and zero buildup.

The Russos tend to use the chess pieces already on the board

Out of left field cameos that suddenly connect are what fans dream about. But the Russos have tended to make sense of the chess pieces already on the board rather than chase dream cameos. That's Marvel's MO. Even so, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up seeing more characters than the first cast announcement included.

For this tease, though, I seriously wonder whether it was a graphic designer, contracted or not, using an image he shouldn't have used and that probably shouldn't have been approved, rather than an official hint that the Beyonder is showing up in Doomsday or Secret Wars. I'm excited, but I'm being honest.