Whether an expert dodge in order to giving away too many spoilers, an actual hint of things to come, or just his own separate take on the entire matter, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum says that while many fans many be expecting Avengers: Secret Wars to serve as a reboot point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he does not believe such a shake-up would be have any benefit for the franchise.
RELATED RUMOR: Marvel To Recast Trio Of Classic Avengers Following Franchise’s Soft Reboot In ‘Secret Wars’
In addition to the fact that the concept serves as the basis of the Marvel Comics event from which the film takes its name, speculation that Secret Wars would be ‘rebooting canon’ came in late September when noted scooper CanWeGetSomeToast reported that, per their sources, “[Marvel Studios boss Kevin] Feige is making Secret Wars the send off to not only the current MCU, but all the Marvel movies that came before Iron Man.”
Further suggesting that the film would see the MCU’s original The Ultimates Vol. 1 inspiration swapped out for something taken from the 2014 Marvel Comics publishing initiative of the same name – perhaps best known for such canon shake-ups as Sam Wilson donning the mantle of Captain America, Jane Foster becoming the official Earth-616 Thor, Miles Morales being put on equal Spider-footing with Peter Parker, and the notable introductions of both Riri ‘Ironheart’ Williams and Kamala ‘Ms. Marvel’ Khan – the scooper added, “It’s the Ultimate (soft) reboot. To make way for something All New, and All Different.”
And though a number of rumors since have put forth similar outcomes regarding the upcoming fate of Earth-19999, a recent dousing of the idea by the aforementioned Winderbaum has given some fans pause when it comes to their own MCU speculations.
Playfully asked during a recent interview with Screen Off Script co-host Gurveer Brah for his take “on the idea of a full MCU reboot”, as well as whether such a drastic move was “something that’s been considered or even discussed in passing”, the Marvel Studios TV boss dodged dodging providing any specific information and instead shared his opinion that such reboots, especially in regards to comic books, rarely ever last due to the definitive staying power of the original characters.
“You’re going to have to ask Kevin about the features,” he told his host. “I’m on the TV side, but we do navigate the same waters and live in the same universe. I’m a comic fan, I’ve read comics since I was 12 years old, and I’ve seen what happens at comic companies when things get full reboots. And the truth is, every time there’s been a full reboot at Marvel or DC — DC, in particular [chuckles] — it always feels like you can’t really fully reboot anything.”
“The classics always come back around,” Winderbaum concluded, “it’s a very difficult thing to do to a living, breathing fictional universe to just start from scratch, because of all of the fan investment and love for the stories that have come so far.”
As noted above, while Winderbaum’s response does not provide any ‘hard’ confirmation positive or negative regarding the MCU’s possible rebooting, especially given that there does still exist a very good chance that he chose his words carefully in order to throw fans off of Marvel Studios’ trail, it does throw a non-negligible amount of doubt into the conversation surrounding the fate of the Avengers following their confrontation with Doctor Doom.
Ultimately, what lies in store for the silver screen incarnation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will become more clear as the calendar moves ever-closer to Avengers: Secret Wars‘ release date, as currently scheduled for May 7th, 2027.