'We will draw inspiration': Joe and Anthony Russo reveal which of Marvel's Secret Wars comic book series have influenced Avengers 5 and 6's plot

Exclusive: 'We always create our own version of the story'

News By Tom Power published 11 March 2025

The next two Avengers movies after 2019's Endgame will be inspired by the 1984 and 2015 Secret Wars comic book runs (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

• The Russo brothers have revealed which 'Secret Wars' comic book series inspired the next two Avengers movies
• Two different comic runs, which were released in the 1980s and 2010s, bear the 'Secret Wars' title
• The films are influenced by both literary works

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars' cumulative story isn't influenced by one of the latter's comic book namesakes over the other, the Russo brothers have revealed.

Speaking to TechRadar for their new movie The Electric State, which lands on Netflix this Friday (March 14), Joe and Anthony Russo revealed that they'll "draw inspiration" from the 1980s and 2010s comic book series that bear the 'Secret Wars' moniker.

Avengers: Secret Wars is one of two Marvel films that the siblings will direct over the next two years. And, with two different comic runs called 'Secret Wars' – the Jim Shooter-written one, which ran from May 1984 to April 1985, and the Jonathan Hickman-penned version that released between May 2015 and January 2016 – fans have wondered which series will directly impact the fifth and sixth Avengers movies.

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"Well, we always create our own version of the story," Joe Russo replied when I asked if they sought inspiration from one comic run over the other. "So, we use the comics as loose inspiration.

"But, you know, I grew up on the original run. That's something that got me into Marvel comic books. The Hickman run is also fantastic [and they're] very different from each other in a lot of ways, so we'll draw inspiration from both of them."

What can Marvel's Secret Wars comics tell us about the plot of Avengers 6?

Projects developed by Marvel Studios are secretive at the best of times. However, I suspect the Disney subsidiary is taking things to a whole new level from a confidentiality perspective when it comes to Avengers: Doomsday, which lands in theaters in May 2026, and its sequel film.

Well, if you ignore the most recent leak concerning the next two Avengers movies, anyway. Oh, and depending what you'll read into the Russos' response to my query about which Marvel heroes will appear in Doomsday and Secret Wars.

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