MCU Secret Wars Is Already Different Before It’s Even Revealed

With Marvel dipping into the MCU, the She-Hulk series suggests that the inevitable Secret Wars storyline may be different than audiences expect.

Following the MCU’s burgeoning foray into the multiverse, one minor detail of the recent She-Hulk: Attorney at Law trailer suggests that the direction of the much-mooted Secret Wars project may be very different from the expectation. The MCU tends to take creative liberties with the stories it borrows from, and the bent towards the Marvel Multiverse isn’t likely to be any different. Projects like Loki and, more recently, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have set up for the next wave of MCU movies to feature a clash of the universes a la Secret Wars. The question is how that clash may end up looking and the She-Hulk trailer might have a hint in the form of the antagonist, Titania.

1984’s Secret Wars was Marvel’s first major crossover event comic, setting the stage for many more down the line, including a direct sequel that did not do nearly as well, and a 2015 event also called Secret Wars that was much larger in scope. In the original story, a patchwork planet called Battleworld is assembled by the cosmic being known as The Beyonder, and several of the world’s heroes – including Spider-Man, the Hulk, several Avengers and X-Men – are all brought for a grand contest against an assembly of the world’s villains, including Magneto and Doctor Doom. The 2015 event follows somewhat similar logic, except instead of just pieces of different worlds from the Earth-616 Universe, it would bring together pieces of worlds from across the entire Marvel Multiverse.

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The mere presence of Titania suggests that Marvel may be doing something unexpected by actually combining both the 1984 and 2015 Secret Wars events, rather than solely using the latter. Despite the MCU almost certainly setting up for a Secret Wars-style event in the style of the 2015 story, it seems like whatever plot is being set up may actually be borrowing from one of its predecessors as well. It would also track with the MCU’s tendency to pick and choose details from the comic storylines, rather than adapting them wholesale.

Titania is one of the only consistent rivals She-Hulk has that she does not share with her cousin, so her presence in the upcoming Disney + series makes sense. However, it also might actually be further set up for an oncoming Secret Wars storyline to be rather different. The version of Titania being used here debuted in the 1984 Secret Wars story and was an ordinary woman who got pulled into the first version of Battleworld, then given superhuman powers by none other than a scheming Doctor Doom. Given the ending of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessMarvel is almost certainly heading in the direction of a Secret Wars-style scenario, but it’s definitely taking more after the 2015 Secret Wars, not the 1984 one which did not really use multiverse theory at all, making Titania’s presence noteworthy. If Titania is used in the MCU’s take on the storyline at all then, at the very least, her presence would be a reference to the 1984 event. But with the likelihood of She-Hulk taking her cousin’s place in such a crossover for the MCU, her role may actually be that much greater.

The handling of Titania, however, is also consistent with how the MCU tends to pick and choose details from across Marvel’s vast continuity to use in its films. In the event that the films do borrow from existing comic book storylines or ideas, they tend to take the approach of cherry-picking certain details, then making them work within the MCU’s own ever-expanding continuity. Titania’s presence before Doom’s existence is even confirmed to be in the MCU suggests that her origin will be very different. It’s likely she’ll be a composite character, taking part of the origin from the first Marvel villainess to use that name, who was given her abilities by The Power Broker – known to be Sharon Carter in the MCU. Still, her presence in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law implies that Marvel is looking to lift some details from the original Secret Wars story, rather than just the newest one, for the next big crossover, and that means it’ll probably look very different from either of them.

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