‘The Multiverse Saga’ to End with ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’!!

The decision to scale back MCU releases in 2024 has proven to be wise, with Deadpool & Wolverine a significant step up in quality from its Multiverse Saga kin, and a film that’s been allowed to breathe without the franchise pushing another release hot on its heels. The upcoming releases that are next on the slate appear to have also benefited from the soft refresh, suggesting that the MCU is back on track after having strayed from what made the earlier films so strong.

The course correction came just in time, with Marvel Studios‘ Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum confirming in an interview with Screen Rant that 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars will wrap up the saga, saying, “I think that’s [what] Secret Wars is going to be an amazing culmination to the saga. I think it’s going to make the journey feel like it was worthwhile.” While the ending of the Multiverse Saga may be definitive, what happens with the MCU after that is not as big a secret as the Secret Wars that immediately precedes it. So what comes next, or, perhaps, what should come next?

What We Know for a Fact About the MCU’s Next Steps

Currently, the MCU is active with one project, Disney+‘s Agatha All Along. But 2025 is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a number of projects that constitute the Multiverse Saga’s next steps. Captain America: Brave New World is arriving in theaters on February 14, with Anthony Mackie taking on the mantle for his first full-length solo feature, alongside Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk raging his way into the MCU. March 4 brings the Netflix Marvel series into the fold with Daredevil: Born Again, and the arrival of the Thunderbolts* debuts in theaters in May. These are the upcoming MCU projects we know the most about, but after that things get decidedly murky.

Fantastic Four: First Steps, scheduled for a July 2025 release, is set in the 1960s, or at least an alternate ’60s Earth somewhere in the multiverse. We also know that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the franchise, but as Doctor Doom, in Avengers: Doomsday. Although he does seem likely to appear in a post-credits scene before then. A fourth film with Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man and (maybe?) Blade are somewhere in the mix as well, and, as stated above, the Multiverse Saga wraps up with Avengers: Secret Wars.

You Need the Time Stone To Know What’s Happening to the MCU After ‘Secret Wars’

After that, who knows? Unless you’re Doctor Strange and still in possession of the Time Stone, the MCU‘s future beyond Avengers: Secret Wars is an enigma. It’s speculated that the film may offer a means to return the MCU to a single timeline, which would clear up the convoluted nature of the Multiverse. The film may aulso be a lead-in to the Mutant Saga, providing an avenue that brings Marvel‘s wide array of mutant heroes and villains into the MCU in one fell swoop. However, whatever Marvel’s plans may be, it’s a guarantee that they are not going to be revealed any time soon. So the question of what will come on the heels of Avengers: Secret Wars is off the table, for now, which leaves us to ponder about what should happen following the Multiverse Saga.

Realistically, the MCU can only move forward in one of two ways: continue to build on the first two MCU sagas or start over. The former is troublesome for a number of reasons. First, even if the MCU reverts to a sacred timeline, there’s still a cinematic history for the franchise that has to be reconciled, and it may simply be too late to put the monkeys back in the barrel as far as the Multiverse is concerned. If moviegoers think the timeline is convoluted now, try to explain how the convoluted timeline is now back to a single timeline, with some of the stuff you remember from the films still intact, but a bunch of stuff is not.

Secondly, Avengers: Endgame ended the Infinity Saga on such a high note that the first films of the Multiverse Saga buckled under its shadow, and while it sounds like they’re swinging for the fences with Avengers: Secret Wars, there’s no guarantee that it can match, let alone exceed, the precedent that’s been set. To then try and throw a third saga on top of that is a fool’s errand. But a reboot clears the sandbox and allows a whole new set of actors and creatives to bring a new MCU to life, one that includes the full array of Marvel’s slate of characters, mutants, and all, from the start. It would be a definitive end that leads to a definitive start, and to my mind, that’s the way to go. After all, you can only bring RDJ back so many times, right?