Secret Wars Can Solve Phase 4's Avengers Powers Problem

As Avengers: Secret Wars is bound to pit Earth's Mightiest Heroes against one another in MCU Phase 6, the fact that the Avengers will be too over-powered as a single team will no longer be a problem. While the MCU has been consistently increasing its overall power levels throughout previous phases, MCU Phase 4 saw an exponential increase in new and over-powered characters. In fact, apart from introducing potential new Avengers and Young Avengers in the MCU, Phase 4 has also massively improved the abilities of several main characters. These extremely powerful heroes are bound to come to blows in Avengers: Secret Wars.

The sixth Avengers movie takes its name from Secret Wars, Marvel Comics' first-ever, line-wide crossover event from 1984. In Secret Wars, the Beyonder teleported Marvel's most prominent heroes and villains into Battleworld, a patchwork planet where the Beyonder forced nearly the entire Marvel Comics roster to fight each other. Decades later, following the Time Runs Out storyline, Marvel revisited the concept for 2015's modern Secret Wars event, in which Battleworld was instead a combination of the different versions of Earth from Marvel's various alternate universes. In 2015's Secret Wars, Battleworld was divided by territories representing different realities - one of the first massive consequences of Marvel Comics introducing multiverse incursions.

In Avengers: Secret Wars - similar to the Scarlet Witch vs. Illuminati fight in Doctor Strange 2 - multiverse incursions will pave the way for heroes to fight among themselves. Though 1984's Secret Wars began as an advertising strategy for a line of toys, it broke the mold in terms of what was possible in superhero comics in the Silver Age, inherently designed to break the conventional roles of known heroes and villains. As the MCU attempts to do justice to this legacy in Avengers: Secret Wars, the movie is bound to see both old and new over-powered heroes squaring up, preventing this from being a problem for the movie.

Secret Wars Means The Over-Powered Avengers Aren't An Issue

Doctor Strange 2 America Chavez Elizabeth Olsen Wanda Maximoff

Rather than a problem, the growing number of over-powered heroes in the MCU only presents more opportunities for epic and unexpected fights. For instance, with different versions of Thor becoming a peacekeeping force during Secret Wars, the Gods of Thunder may need to police some unruly heroes somewhere down the line. Avengers: Secret Wars could also stage highly-anticipated MCU crossover storylines like X-Men vs. Avengers or maybe even World War Hulk. The bigger the multiverse incursions, the higher the chances of Avengers and other heroes being put in a position where they need to fight each other.

Moreover, just like in the comics, the MCU's villains are bound to find themselves in the unlikeliest of alliances. Indeed, while characters like Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Thor, Shang-Chi, America Chavez, and Monica Rambeau seem over-powered in MCU Phases 4 and 5, they're going to need it in Battleworld. Besides, no current, former, or potential Avenger - except maybe Scarlet Witch - can hope to match the extremely over-powered Beyonders, the extra-dimensional beings responsible for creating Battlerworld in Secret Wars.

What Secret Wars Means For The Avengers In MCU Phase 7

Thor and Love spring to action at the end of Thor Love and Thunder

Avengers: Secret Wars is going to exponentially increase the number of both potential Avengers and Avengers-level threats alike - possibly introducing more gods in the MCU - all of which could challenge the cohesiveness of the overarching narrative in Phases 6 and 7. Indeed, Secret Wars is essentially the end of the Marvel Universe, an incursion so massive that it merged every notable alternate timeline and universe into one - as previewed in the destroyed universe where Doctor Strange encountered an evil version of himself in Doctor Strange 2. In the MCU's Secret Wars, the Avengers could exponentially increase in membership, lose several members, branch out to different realities, or even get officially dissolved. Secret Wars is also where Young Avengers like Ms. Marvel, Love, or America Chavez could realize their potential.

Following Avengers: Secret Wars, MCU Phase 7 could become wholly unrecognizable from the MCU today, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Considering Marvel's current slate, there's a strong possibility that Secret Wars will mark the end of the Multiverse Saga, paving the way for more X-Men stories in MCU Phase 7, which may just become known as the Mutant Saga. In any case, the MCU's Avengers will continue to evolve with the multiverse, and even if Earth's Mightiest Heroes do eventually decide to go their separate ways, the Avengers name will live on through each surviving member's actions - just like in MCU Phase 4.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are promising because they represent the MCU finally beginning to catch up to the source material. Indeed, the MCU has already successfully fleshed out several traditional superhero storylines throughout MCU Phases 1 to 4. It's high time for the MCU to begin adapting some of the more challenging, compelling, influential, and biggest comic book crossovers in Marvel's future lineup.