I’ve never felt anything quite like sitting in the theater in 2018 to watch Avengers: Endgame. Captain America facing Thanos again, the powerful moment when Falcon’s voice breaks through the static and says "on your left," and Tony Stark’s ultimate sacrifice marked the end of an era, over a decade of storytelling. With Avengers: Doomsday coming soon, and directed by the same team and bringing back nearly all the original Avengers, fans are eager to see whether these films will connect as the previous ones did. However, Kevin Feige explains fans might want to temper those expectations.
The first of two new Avengers movies, Doomsday, lands on the 2026 movie schedule on December 18, with Secret Wars expected the following year. In a recent interview with Fandango, Feige discussed how these two new films will relate, similar to the comic book storylines they are based on, but in a way that differs significantly from Infinity War and Endgame. He explained:
People familiar with the comics stories see that they will relate. But I will say this, they relate in a very different way than Infinity War and Endgame. I think people are expecting a similar connection. And, while one does certainly lead into the other, it’s in a very different way. And I will say that Secret Wars is as ambitious a project as we’ve ever embarked on.
Details on Doomsday are still pretty locked down, even after Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr reunited at CinemaCon and debuted footage for select audiences. But, if you’ve been paying attention to the Multiverse Saga, there are some pretty loud clues about where this could be headed. The idea of “incursions,” first introduced in Loki season 1, streaming with a Disney+ subscription, has been simmering in the background for a while now. It feels like Doomsday is most certainly drawing inspiration from Time Runs Out, one of the more brutal Marvel storylines in recent memory.
Article continues belowThe Time Runs Out story arc is basically the universe eating itself while its heroes argue over how much they’re willing to sacrifice to stop it. A group of godlike beings known as the Beyonders rig the multiverse to collapse, turning every version of the Molecule Man into a ticking bomb. When Doctor Doom figures out what’s happening, he starts moving behind the scenes, trying to dismantle the system before everything goes dark.
What follows is a slow, inevitable multiversal collapse. By the end, Doctor Doom is one of the last ones standing, taking what’s left of reality and reshaping it into something new, setting the stage for Secret Wars.
If current theories track, Doomsday could be where it all collides. The MCU, the Fantastic Four world, and the Fox X-Men universe crashing into each other at once. While everyone’s busy fighting, Doom is the only one thinking ahead. He’s not just trying to win, he’s trying to survive the end of everything.
That’s where Feige’s “similar but different” seemingly starts to make sense. This likely won’t be another Infinity War/Endgame situation, where each movie feels like one half of one story. Doomsday could stand on its own, with Doom coming out on top, while Secret Wars picks up in the aftermath, throwing together characters from across Marvel’s history to fight for what’s left. And, if the comics are any guide, that battlefield has a name: Battleworld.
Of course, this is all speculation for now. We won’t know how it actually plays out until Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18, followed by Secret Wars on December 17, 2027.
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