The following contains major spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now in theaters.
Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has reached its halfway point, and the franchise has yet to tip its hand on where it’s all headed. Beyond the creation of the Multiverse and the imminent appearance of figures such as Kang – as well as the arrival of The Fantastic Four, whose footsteps are growing louder bit by bit – the presumed showstopping conclusion remains largely a mystery. That, of course, has prompted fan theories of all varieties to develop, some of which have more veracity than others.
The Secret Wars, in particular, has seen a sharp increase in discussion on social media. It remains one of Marvel’s most notable story arcs of all time – both the groundbreaking original 1984 miniseries and the instant-classic 2015 reboot – and supporters of the theory have some solid circumstantial evidence backing them up. Be that as it may, the prospects of Secret Wars arriving in Phase 4 are slim: not because Marvel shouldn't bring the story arc to life, but because the right pieces still aren’t in place in the MCU.
How Secret Wars Could Appear in the MCU's Phase 4
1984’s Secret Wars was Marvels first major cross-comics event. It depicted a being called the Beyonder, who – curious about the nature of good and evil -- gathered Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains to a distant planet for a winner-takes-all battle. Marvel rebooted it in 2015 as the aftereffect of an incursion (when two separate universes collide). In this case, it was the core Marvel universe (Earth-616) and the Ultimate universe. The resulting planet manifested multiple versions of different heroes – a "Thor Corps" of variants of the God of Thunder acted as peacekeepers, for instance – and ended with the restoration of the Marvel universe. The Ultimate universe was lost for a time, though some heroes from its ranks survived, and the saga ended with Reed Richards restoring the Multiverse.
All of which could serve as the basis of a Phase 4 finale. The Multiverse, and the concept of incursions, are now officially canon, acting as the central plot point for both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Furthermore, Doctor Strange’s central presence in both films is reflected in the 2015 version of the comics story, where he played a major role. Plus, Kang’s rise in the MCU makes him a good antagonist for such a Multiverse mash-up, allowing for a suitably spectacular conclusion to Phase 4. Such an event would also facilitate the entry of The Fantastic Four into the MCU in a wide variety of ways.
Why Secret Wars Won't Appear in the MCU's Phase 4
As compelling as the storyline is, inserting it into Phase 4 feels rushed and premature. The MCU’s Multiverse is less than a year old, having appeared for the first time in last summer’s Loki Season 1, Episode 6, "For All Time. Always." That leaves little time for more development before Phase 4 wraps up, and while it might serve as an adequate finale, it would leave a lot of creative potential undeveloped.
More importantly, a number of key figures have yet to make their entrance into the MCU. That includes not only Reed Richards and the rest of The Fantastic Four, but characters like Mile Morales, who played a huge role in the comics. Most importantly, both comic book series relied heavily on Doctor Doom, who’s arguably Marvel’s greatest villain, and yet who’s been botched so many times in big-screen adaptations, so rushing him into Phase 4 would be a colossal mistake.
Kang the Conqueror, who played no part in the 2015 miniseries and was reduced to acting as one of Doom’s flunkies in the original, could conceivably act as a stand-in, but that pulls the storyline sufficiently away from the comics and further compounds the central problem -- developing it properly requires components that aren’t in place yet. The MCU is playing the long game. Given the key creative ideas at play in Secret Wars, holding it for a later Phase is not only smart but will make for a better final story.