“Hamnet” and “A Quiet Place” actor Noah Jupe has joined “Avengers: Secret Wars” in a secret, prominent role, TheWrap has learned.
It is unclear who Jupe will play in the second half of the two-part MCU event directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The film will follow the events of “Avengers: Doomsday,” which sees the X-Men, New Avengers, Fantastic Four, Captain America’s Avengers, Wakanda and more face off against Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom.
The film presumably adapts one of two “Secret Wars” stories from Marvel Comics — one from the 1980s written by Jim Shooter with art by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton, the other from the 2010s written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Esad Ribić. The sequel will more likely draw from that second story, as its precursor, “Avengers: Doomsday,” adapts elements Hickman’s “Time Runs Out,” which feeds directly into “Secret Wars.”
Hickman and Ribić’s “Secret Wars” sees Doctor Doom create a single reality, known as Battleworld, after the death of the multiverse. This reality is a patchwork planet, comprised of incursion sites (places where two Earths were set to collide) from different worlds throughout the multiverse.
There are a few key roles from this comic book storyline that Jupe could take on in the Russos’ sequel. One would be Molecule Man, a mutant who became key to the multiversal decay and Doom’s plan to restart the universe. Another would be a Beyonder, one of a race of ultra-powerful beings that sent the heroes to Battleworld in the original “Secret Wars” and saw their power stolen by Doom in the later “Secret Wars.”
Jupe could also potentially play an older version of Steve Rogers’ baby, seen in the trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday” — or ditto an older Franklin Richards, son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four. We already know there are probably going to be some timeline shenanigans in these films, as “Black Panther 3” — which releases after “Secret Wars” — will see T’Challa’s son (only a young boy in “Wakanda Forever”) aged up to be played by David Jonsson.
Or Jupe could be one of the several young actors courted to play members of the “X-Men,” seemingly the main characters of Marvel’s post-“Secret Wars” plans. In that case, Jupe would join Sadie Sink, Kit Connor, Maya Boyd, Inde Navarrette, Christopher Abbott, Adam Driver and Samara Weaving in Marvel’s band of merry mutants.
But this is a multiverse story, so truly Jupe could be playing just about any character in Marvel lore. In “Secret Wars,” all bets are off.
Umberto Gonzalez contributed to this report.
