Marvel boss aims at "simplified" MCU

Marvel’s latest two-film Avengers blowout is already causing a fuss—and we haven’t even got through the trailers yet. The first big look at Avengers: Doomsday dropped and, to no one’s surprise, it's made a proper splash: 503 million views in its first 24 hours. That's only ever been beaten by Spider-Man: Brand New Day and marks the biggest trailer launch Disney’s ever had.

That timing isn’t an accident, by the way. The trailer landed just before Marvel’s inevitable Hall H assault at Comic-Con. If it feels like you’ve seen Kevin Feige everywhere all week, you have—he’s done more PR in a few days than in most years.

The 'Secret Wars' Reveal

Now, here’s where it gets interesting: Feige popped up and actually explained what Avengers: Secret Wars is for. Long rumoured to be Marvel’s chance to tidy their endlessly tangled multiverse, Feige’s words skip all the dancing around:

'Secret Wars will represent a beginning. It will establish a streamlined, simplified, single universe that's easier for audiences to follow. Some aspects will feel familiar. But many, many things will be entirely new. Earlier we talked about attracting younger audiences and connecting with a new generation. That’s exactly what this next universe is intended to do. And at its core…will be the X.'

That’s pretty unambiguous. Secret Wars isn’t just a cap to the current saga; it’ll clean house and start fresh, with a continuity young audiences can get on board with. Loads of fans have assumed as much—if you’ve read Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 comic, which is all about smashing universes together and starting over, you'll spot the parallels. Feige even nodded to the comic as a “blueprint”, although calling this a full ‘reboot’ is apparently still a bridge too far. Not that it matters. If you’ve been lost in the MCU’s recent sprawl, the prospect of a 'streamlined' universe is probably reason to exhale (even if it writes off years of jumping through Disney+ hoops).

Frankly, Marvel needs this. Ever since Endgame, it's been quantity over clarity, and even Feige himself has admitted that the avalanche of films and shows has been a bit much for most viewers. Box office numbers insist on proving the point. Right now, letting people know there’s an endpoint to the chaos might be more important to Marvel than clinging to secret plots.

The X-Men Finally In

This next bit is critical: Feige spelled out that X-Men are at the centre of this new reality. If you’re still waiting for Marvel to actually use those Fox mutant film rights they snatched up in 2019, your patience might finally be rewarded. There've been years of mutant teases—Easter eggs, cartoon cameos, you name it—but this is the strongest statement yet that X-Men will be the cornerstone, not the Avengers, when the dust settles.

A quick glance at the Doomsday castlist and, yes, there's plenty of Fox-era X-Men in there. The writing’s on the wall: this two-parter looks set to pass the baton from the pre-Iron Man crowd (both Marvel and Fox’s own) to whatever line-up Marvel Studios is actually planning next.

• Avengers: Doomsday opens 18 December this year.
• Avengers: Secret Wars lands 17 December 2027.