Noah Jupe's Secret Avengers: Secret Wars Role Has Fans Theorizing He Plays an Older Franklin Richards

Deadline reported this week that Noah Jupe has been tapped for a secret role in Avengers: Secret Wars, and the speculation is already pointing toward Franklin Richards. The report reads in part, "Sources tell Deadline that Noah Jupe has been tapped for a secret role in Avengers Secret Wars, which is set to go into production later this year... While unknown, the role is expected to play a key part in the story of Secret Wars." Marvel had no comment on Jupe joining the cast.

Jupe is known for playing Marcus Abbott in A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II, with a third Quiet Place film also on the way, along with Hamnet and Ford v Ferrari. Between the Quiet Place films and Hamnet, he has already worked with an actor who plays an MCU version of Reed Richards, Pedro Pascal, and with the director of Eternals. Given those connections, a Marvel casting felt inevitable.

Marvel Studios has been seeking out young actors for characters like the ones showing up in the 2028 X-Men lineup, but Jupe was not announced for X-Men. He was announced for Secret Wars, which arrives sooner, and the speculation is that he could be playing a teenager or adult version of Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.

Franklin Richards' comic-book hair changes line up with Jupe's own transformations

Franklin Richards is normally depicted as blonde in the comics, but starting in Dan Slott's Fantastic Four run he dyes his hair black to look more like his father. In later runs he ends up using his reality-warping powers to change his hair color to whatever he wants it to be.

The young actor cast as Franklin in the Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credits scene and in Avengers: Doomsday has blonde curls reminiscent of his mother, Susan Storm. Jupe himself has gone from black curls in the Quiet Place movies, reminiscent of Pedro Pascal, to dyed blonde hair in Hamnet, which shows the actor can pull off either look if he ends up playing an older Franklin.

Some fans have looked at Jupe's Letterboxd account and claimed he has watched Fantastic Four: First Steps three times. I don't know if that means anything. For what it's worth, I saw the movie five times, and I'm not playing the Beyonder in Secret Wars. I obviously already played Mole Man in the MCU.

A Battleworld time jump would explain casting an older actor as Franklin

If Noah Jupe is playing Franklin in Secret Wars, it would mean there is some kind of time dilation or time jump happening in Battleworld, where young actors from earlier films are now older. That is how I have been thinking we get from Prince T'Challa being played as a kid by Divine Love Konadu Sun in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to the aged-up David Johnson version of the character in Black Panther 3, coming in 2028.

Franklin Richards' contested mutant status and his role against God Emperor Doom

Franklin Richards began being known as a mutant, even an Omega-level mutant, in the comics, but later stories retconned that into a reality-warping ability that just presents as a mutant from the DNA level. We'll see how much Marvel Studios cares about that distinction.

My own take is that any young talented actor playing a character who is born with their abilities should be allowed to be a mutant and get entry into Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and that includes Kamala Khan. I want all these cool young people with their cool powers to take over the MCU and all go to school together.

Mutant or not, this Deadline report suggests Jupe is playing someone very important to the story of Secret Wars, and Franklin Richards is very important to how these characters overcome God Emperor Doom in Battleworld. He and Doctor Strange are probably going to be the ones working together to restore and fix everything.

Is Secret Wars already filming, or is this Doomsday reshoots in disguise

The Deadline report says Secret Wars is going into production later this year, but it's already September, so there is only so much of 2026 left before productions ramp down for the holidays. The Russo brothers, Robert Downey Jr., and many of the actors appearing in both Doomsday and Secret Wars will need to step away from any Secret Wars set and shift into the publicity circuit for Doomsday by around December 1 at the latest.

My read is that pre-production for Secret Wars is happening right now, with principal production running from October through November, and that some of what is being filmed right now under the banner of Doomsday reshoots or pickups is actually Secret Wars material. That theory is fed by recent reports: Jeremy Renner posted a cryptic Instagram story hinting at Hawkeye's return in something, Elizabeth Olsen's stunt double has also been posting, and Daniel RPK claimed the Scarlet Witch will be added to Avengers: Doomsday during these recent reshoots.

I really think the production happening in the UK right now could be for either film, especially since we expect the final sequence of Doomsday to be the creation of Battleworld and its early population of certain characters across its various regions. If it's happening on those sets, there is no way to know if it's for the ending of Doomsday or the beginning of Secret Wars. The Russo brothers did something similar between Infinity War and Endgame, generating pre-vis meant for the end of Infinity War that later got shifted over to Endgame during production and post-production.

The Russos won't confirm Battleworld, but the cast keeps growing

Asked about Battleworld by Joshua Horowitz at San Diego Comic-Con, the Russo brothers said, "We won't confirm or deny whether Battleworld appears in either of these films... we cannot confirm or deny who appears in Battleworld if Battleworld were to be in one of these films."

Sadie Sink as Jean Grey has been confirmed for Secret Wars, reported to return after Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though not for Doomsday. Assuming she's in Secret Wars, I have to wonder if other homegrown MCU mutants also show up in Battleworld, including Kit Connor as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Maya Boyd and Indya Moore connected to Storm, Emma Dumont as Emma Frost, and Christopher Abbott as Professor X.

On a related note, WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes recently met with Marvel Studios, and fans have started fan-casting him as Cable. I just find it funny that this guy could end up being defined as the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey.

Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and Vision are locked in

Robert Downey Jr. is confirmed as Victor Von Doom in both Doomsday and Secret Wars, paid a hundred million dollars for the two movies. By the time we see him in Secret Wars, expect the white robe God Emperor Doom version of the character.

Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange situation has been messier. In January 2025 he told Variety he would not be in Avengers: Doomsday because his character wasn't aligned with that part of the story, though he said Doctor Strange is in a lot of Secret Wars, calling him "quite central to where things might go." A week later, probably after a call from Kevin Feige, Cumberbatch told Business Insider that Doctor Strange will also appear in Doomsday first. Marvel still has not officially confirmed Cumberbatch for Doomsday, though concept art suggests Strange might be acting as a kind of enforcer for Doctor Doom, which lines up with Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars comic where the main Doctor Strange takes Doom's side.

Paul Bettany is confirmed as Vision. He told the Daily Telegraph last December, "I think I've got some Avengers duties next year," and the only Avengers movie that would fit is Secret Wars. He indicated the same to Joshua Horowitz, saying he thought so, as much as anyone can know anything going on at Marvel before they change their mind. All of that makes the Vision Quest series, whose finale will likely land on Disney Plus a week before Doomsday, more worth watching.

Sam Wilson, Yelena, the Fantastic Four, Shuri and Shang-Chi round out the confirmed cast

Anthony Mackie is confirmed as Captain America Sam Wilson in both films. Ahead of Captain America: Brave New World, an Esquire article quoted Mackie and Doomsday and Secret Wars co-director Anthony Russo confirming Sam Wilson appears in both upcoming Avengers movies.

Florence Pugh is confirmed as Yelena Belova, though maybe not the entire Thunderbolts lineup. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Kevin Feige indicated the Thunderbolts would return in both Doomsday and Secret Wars, but he didn't say everyone would. The same goes for the Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm are confirmed for both films, but some of them might die or respawn in Battleworld in new, horrific forms.

Letitia Wright is confirmed as Shuri. She told Screen Rant last December that she had finished shooting her Doomsday scenes and would be filming Secret Wars scenes in 2026, saying, "That's what I have to film next, Secret Wars. But Doomsday, we finished that and that was very great."

Simu Liu is confirmed as Shang-Chi, who we already know fights Gambit in Doomsday. Last year he told People magazine he would also be in Secret Wars, saying, "But I think the more immediate tease is, of course, Doomsday, which comes out next year, which I was lucky to be a part of and will be lucky enough to be a part of its successor in Secret Wars."

Hulk, Thor and the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye speculation

After rumors spread that Mark Ruffalo had been fired by Disney over remarks he made during Jimmy Kimmel's brief suspension from ABC, Ruffalo denied it, telling The News Movement, "Not that I know of," and saying he has a good relationship with Disney and is still around for other big Disney titles, which would exclude his Sony work on Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In the same interview, Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry called the firing rumor false and said they would protest, though Berry separately denied that her Storm is returning for Doomsday specifically. Since Hulk showed up in a Hulk village in concept art, I feel good that Ruffalo is going to be in Secret Wars.

In that same junket, Ruffalo seemed to indicate Chris Hemsworth's Thor would join him in another film shooting in 2026. I think the question left over from Deadpool and Wolverine about why Thor was crying gets answered in Secret Wars, not Doomsday.

All of this makes more sense of Jeremy Renner now saying Hawkeye is going to return too, and if they get five of the original Avengers back, you know they're going to get six. Don't be surprised if Scarlett Johansson comes back as some respawned version of Natasha Romanoff as well.

Rumored newcomers, and why Secret Wars is being built as a bridge to 2028

Beyond the confirmed names, there are rumors circulating around David Johnson as an aged-up T'Challa, Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider, and a new actor for Nova. I think they need to explain the aging issue with T'Challa and that we'll see the new version of the character in Secret Wars.

I'm strongly predicting some of these new X-Men characters, plus Sadie Sink, David Johnson, Ryan Gosling, and a new Nova actor will show up because Kevin Feige has been clear that Secret Wars is meant as a bridge to what comes after in the MCU, with Doomsday closing out past storylines. Feige told Empire after Comic-Con, "Secret Wars in particular for Empire readers who know the comics is a setup in and of itself to the future, to what's next. So really it was landing those two movies and setting up 2028, of which we've revealed two of them so far, Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3." By "so far," he was leaving room for X-Men, which was announced three weeks later at D23.

I think all three of those 2028 movies will be set up somehow by the events of Secret Wars, and I'm throwing Nova in there too, since Feige confirmed to Brandon Davis that Nova will get a movie set in one of the divisions of Battleworld called New Xandar, from a universe where Annihilus won. That could be where we get our new Nova in the MCU.

So are you able to get excited yet for Avengers: Secret Wars based on all of this new casting information and rumors, or do we need to see Doomsday pull off the construction of Battleworld first?