In spite of its shortcomings, Secret Wars is still considered one of the most iconic crossover events in comics. Recently, Marvel's Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort shared some unused covers for the series from artist Mike Zeck which showcase the villain faction of the event.Uploaded onto Brevoort's Twitter, the first cover features the villains charging into battle, with several members opening fire. The second, more surreal cover sees a giant Captain America watching helplessly as the X-Men battle a few of the villains, while She-Hulk battles Titania and a seemingly-dead Wasp lies in water. Brevoort gave no explanation as to why these covers were rejected.
Published between May 1984 and April 1985, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars was a 12-issue limited series. Written by Jim Shooter and primarily penciled by Mike Zeck, with Bob Layton tackling the fourth and fifth issues' art, the series saw a being called The Beyonder gather select heroes and villains to wage war on a planet called Battleworld under the promise of granting the champions their most prominent yearnings. The series also filled in gaps that were created when the heroes were captured in titles like Uncanny X-Men and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man.
Among the events that occurred in its pages, Secret Wars saw the introduction of the Julia Carpenter incarnation of Spider-Woman and gave explanations for developments like She-Hulk taking the place of The Thing in the Fantastic Four. It also produced sequels and was loosely adapted for Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Avengers Assemble.