Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige held a Q&A at the company’s offices on the Disney Burbank lot Friday to provide clarity on where the next phase in storytelling is headed, and he laid out the MCU’s plans for TheWrap alongside a small group of reporters.
“As we as we kick off Phase 6 with with ‘Fantastic Four,’ and as everybody knows it ends with ‘Secret Wars,’” Feige said. “‘Fantastic Four’ we always were planning, even before that became that became a talking point, introduce them in their own reality and in their own world in which they are the only heroes, so it’s exciting now, at this point where it is, it is kicks off phase six.”
Feige also noted that “Fantastic Four” requires no knowlege of previous Marvel content. “It is no homework required, go see the movie,” Feige said. “It literally is not connected to anything we’ve made before so that’s fun at this time.”
“Secret Wars” was a run in Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1985 that served as the first company-wide crossover event in comics history. For clues on where the “Secret Wars” story is headed, Feige pointed to the Marvel Comics.
Feige added: “We’re utilizing that, not just to round out the stories we’ve been telling post ‘Endgame,’ just as importantly, and you can look at the at the ‘Secret Wars’ comics, for, where that takes you. It very much sets us up for the future.”
Previously in the Marvel Comics, a cosmic entity called the Beyonder became fascinated by the presence of superheroes on Earth and kidnaps Marvel’s A-list heroes by teleporting them to an artificially constructed planet called “the battleworld,” where he orders them to fight to the death. “I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish,” he says.
“‘Endgame,’ literally was about endings, ‘Secret Wars’ is about beginnings,” Feige said.
Remember, right after Thanos showed up at the end of “The Avengers,” most fans assumed the MCU story would follow the comics and have Thanos falling in love with Death. While that was considered, Marvel Studios took a different approach, and “Infinity War” and “Endgame” ended up serving as largely original stories based on the Infinity Gauntlet comics run.
“Fantastic Four” opens in theaters on Friday. Marvel Studios will release “Avengers: Doomsday” on Dec. 18, 2026. The studio will then release “Secret Wars” to Dec. 17, 2027.
