Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Secret Wars‘ has the potential to be the biggest movie in the Multiverse Saga, but there is one major problem: the comic storyline it is based on is simply too massive to fit neatly into a single film.
Battleworld Was A Story, Not Just A Setting
Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Secret Wars’ was not just a giant superhero crossover. It was the culmination of years of storytelling, built around the collapse of the multiverse, the creation of Battleworld, and the complicated relationship between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom.
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That distinction matters. If Marvel tries to squeeze all of that into one conventional Avengers movie, fans could end up with something that looks spectacular but feels much smaller than the source material. One of the biggest differences is Battleworld itself.
In the comics, Battleworld wasn’t simply a location where heroes gathered for a final battle. It was essentially an entire world made from fragments of destroyed realities, with different regions telling completely different stories.
That’s where the scale of Hickman’s vision becomes difficult to adapt. The comics explored wildly different corners of Marvel, including concepts inspired by Marvel Zombies, Spider-Island, and Planet Hulk. These weren’t just quick cameos.
They were individual stories with their own characters, conflicts, and emotional stakes. Trying to recreate all of that in one movie would be incredibly difficult. And honestly, even three movies might struggle to capture everything Hickman built.
Marvel’s ‘Secret Wars’ Will Probably Be Something Different
There is another unavoidable complication: Marvel’s cinematic universe did not have access to the same characters when the Multiverse Saga began. The X-Men and Fantastic Four were outside Marvel Studios’ control for years, while Spider-Man has always involved a complicated partnership with Sony.
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That means the MCU could not simply build Hickman’s story exactly as the comics did. Instead, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ appears positioned to handle much of the multiverse collapse before ‘Secret Wars’ delivers the final payoff.
That could make ‘Secret Wars’ less of a direct adaptation and more of a cinematic remix. Rather than spending years exploring every corner of Battleworld, Marvel may focus on the emotional elements audiences already recognize.
This includes Doctor Doom, Reed Richards, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and a massive collection of legacy characters. For longtime Hickman readers, that may be disappointing. But there is also something exciting about it.
Marvel doesn’t necessarily need to recreate the comics panel for panel. It needs to capture the feeling of an entire Marvel universe coming apart and being rebuilt. If it succeeds, ‘Secret Wars’ could still become something special, even if it isn’t the story fans originally imagined.
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