Kevin Feige Teases 'Pinch Me' Marvel Crossovers and a Soft Reboot for the MCU in Secret Wars

Kevin Feige has laid out some of his clearest thinking yet on how Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars will reshape the MCU, and it comes from an unexpected place. According to an article from direct.com titled "Kevin Feige hypes up pinch me Marvel crossovers in Avengers Secret Wars," Feige wrote a special foreword for a new premiere collection reprinting Jonathan Hickman's nine issue Secret Wars comic run from 2015, and in it he teases "pinch me" crossovers between iconic characters as the MCU heads toward its own version of that story.

The Russo brothers have already said that Endgame was an ending and Doomsday is a beginning. I'd add that Doomsday is also an ending, because it looks like the end of the Marvel universe as we currently know it. Feige confirms we are heading into a new one that will be more vast and different. Don't get me wrong, some will be the same, but it will be a more vast universe and it will be different.

Marvel republished Hickman's Secret Wars with a new Feige foreword

Feige's foreword frames the modern classic status of Hickman's Secret Wars as a story that rebuilt and retooled Marvel's multiverse for the modern age, setting the comics up to branch into new directions. He describes it this way: "It starts with a collision of worlds, and it ends in a Marvel multiverse rebuilt and retoled for the modern age. They invented something new. Seamlessly picking up where the old universe left off but branching out in all new all different directions."

That first part is incredibly important to me. Feige is essentially confirming that a lot of what we've loved in the current MCU, meaning the Infinity Saga and Multiverse Saga, will still continue in some form after Secret Wars, even as plenty of it comes to an end.

The new universe will pick up where the old one left off, then branch into new directions

My read on this is that if a story or an actor hasn't been working for Marvel, or if an actor has been outspoken against Disney, this is Marvel's chance to say a character simply did not survive. We already know from earlier reporting that Feige has talked about recasting Captain America and Iron Man, and I'd expect that to extend to characters connected to them, essentially the original Avengers, with the possible exception of Thor, since Chris Hemsworth could still be around even if he eventually becomes the new All Father with a new Thor introduced.

I do think some deaths in Secret Wars will be permanent. At the same time, I think a lot of characters, maybe even everybody, could get resurrected at the end by Doom and placed on Battleworld. But throughout the movie itself, I expect permanent deaths that are not walked back. Meanwhile, stories that are working, like Spider-Man and like Deadpool and Wolverine, aren't going anywhere. Feige backs this up directly: "We do the same thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We pick and choose from Marvel's rich nearly 90 year comics history and make movies that honor the source but become something entirely different. That cycle continues as we head toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe's own version of Secret Wars."

Loki gathering timeline branches hints at a bigger role in Doomsday

That cycle, Feige suggests, continues with Loki gathering branches of the timeline at the end of all things, picking up threads from Hickman's comic run and everything that came before it, and weaving them into a new story inspired by the wider tapestry of Marvel's comics and films. I love that he specifically calls out Loki here, because although Loki has appeared in both Doomsday trailers, he hasn't had a lot of screen time in them. I've heard he doesn't have an immense amount of screen time, and I'm hoping some of what I've heard about that isn't true, but this foreword makes it sound like Loki is going to have a pretty significant role to play in Secret Wars.

That idea of weaving together everything that came before points, in my view, toward the Fox X-Men films and things like Wesley Snipes' Blade, both of which already got nods when Elektra and Blade turned up in Deadpool and Wolverine. Marvel is pulling from that vast history and finally tying it together into one new story.

Dr. Doom becomes the centerpiece bringing the multiverse's remnants together

Feige's foreword closes with a direct promise about what all of this crossover buildup is for: "We will bring together the characters we know and love in pinch me moments that we as fans have always dreamed of but have never seen realized. And we will call on Dr. Doom, the greatest villain in the history of the Marvel universe to become a centerpiece of that story." That line applies to both Doomsday and Secret Wars, since Doom is the main villain across what is really a two part story.

My theory is that the ending of Doomsday works a lot like Loki gathering timeline branches, except with Doom grabbing remnants of the current universe and putting them together to form the new one. From there, some familiar stories carry over, like Spider-Man, Deadpool and Wolverine, and probably the Thunderbolts since they're relatively new. But it also opens the door to the X-Men interacting with more Fantastic Four stories and the Avengers.

Predictions for which franchises survive into the new MCU

I could see the Eternals coming back for what would essentially be an AXE event, Avengers, X-Men and Eternals, possibly bringing the Celestials back into play too. We already know a Nova movie is confirmed to be in development, the cosmic side of the MCU sounds like it's going to be significant, and the Midnight Suns are coming as well. Marvel is really branching out from what the Infinity Saga was. The Multiverse Saga tried to do something similar and wasn't a hundred percent successful, but it does look like the plan now is to wrap a lot of that up, put some of it to bed, and start fresh in a new universe while keeping select pieces of it going.

We've also already heard that some of the new X-Men characters announced at D23 are going to appear in Secret Wars, though not all of them. It really feels like Marvel is setting all of this up for the future.

Insider reports point to a Thunderbolts sequel and Monica Rambeau under Doom's control

Beyond Feige's own comments, there's a separate report from the insider No More Mutants claiming a Thunderbolts sequel is reportedly already in development, possibly bringing X-23, Red Hulk, Abomination and Baron Zemo into a new Avengers lineup in Secret Wars. Given that Jake Schreier directed Thunderbolts and is also directing the new X-Men film, I have no doubt in my mind that Marvel has some pretty big plans for him, and a Thunderbolts sequel feels like one of them.

Separately, there's a rumor that Monica Rambeau will reportedly appear in Secret Wars under Dr. Doom's control. Some people have been asking about her, and specifically about her Binary persona, and this rumor suggests she'll show up in Doomsday, which makes sense given she's already connected to the X-Men side of things through her appearance with Beast.

Hopes for erasing Secret Invasion and Marvel's plan for what comes next

Part of what excites me about a soft reboot is the chance to get rid of stories that didn't land. I think it would be great if the events of Secret Invasion were erased, and I'm sure I'm not alone there. I've seen comments about other shows people would like to see erased too. That gives Marvel room to move on to sequels for the things that did work, like Thunderbolts.

The biggest takeaway for me is that Feige clearly has a plan. Marvel has already started working on the MCU well past Secret Wars, has announced projects years beyond it, and likely has around five years mapped out after that. This new universe is a genuine clean slate where they keep what works and let go of the rest. For the first time, Marvel effectively has all its major IPs in the same universe: X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and potentially the Eternals if they choose to bring them back.

What do you think Marvel should keep from the current universe, and what would you erase once Secret Wars resets everything?