The Multiverse Saga’s Final Chapter
Phase Six is set to bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Multiverse Saga to a dramatic close, with several comic storylines poised to make their way into live-action. While Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are expected to be major tentpole events in 2026 and 2027, other projects will also expand the franchise as a new era approaches. These include Vision Quest, Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Wonder Man, The Punisher‘s Special Presentation, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The Multiverse Saga’s roadmap has been far less predictable than the Infinity Saga’s, with fragmented teases scattered across movies and Disney+ shows. As a result, Marvel’s exact plans for the rest of Phase Six are even more mysterious than those the studio had for Phase Three. Still, multiple comics may hold valuable clues to the rest of the Multiverse Saga’s final chapter.
Devil’s Reign
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is set to continue the story of Matt Murdock as he leads an insurrection against Mayor Wilson Fisk. In the comics, Fisk outlaws superheroes, unleashes the Thunderbolts as his private police force, and targets Daredevil with a personal vendetta. Matt Murdock responds by uniting the city’s vigilantes and street-level heroes in a grassroots uprising that ultimately topples Fisk’s corrupt regime through sheer collective resistance.
The season 1 ending set the stage for a similar insurrection, ending with New York citizens joining forces to rise against Fisk, led by Daredevil. Season 2 has already confirmed Jessica Jones’ return, which raises the likelihood of seeing Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Elektra, and White Tiger join Daredevil in a live-action Devil’s Reign. While Spider-Man almost certainly won’t appear due to rights restrictions, the comic’s core plot may translate perfectly to season 2.
Vision Quest
Vision Quest (2026) will adapt John Byrne’s storyline from West Coast Avengers, where Vision is dismantled, rebuilt, and stripped of his emotions and memories. The Avengers scramble to understand what has happened while Vision himself confronts the existential horror of becoming a blank slate. Ultimately, Wanda and Vision part ways, and it takes Vision a long while to gradually return to his former self.
In the MCU, Vision Quest promises to adapt the core conflict of Byrne’s story. Paul Bettany’s White Vision received a taste of his original identity from Westview’s Vision. In his Disney+ show, White Vision will go on a journey to recover the rest of his memories, crossing paths with whatever remains of Ultron and possibly his reincarnated children, Billy and Tommy Maximoff.
Wonder Man
Wonder Man (2026) will focus on Simon Williams, a rising Hollywood actor and up-and-coming superhero. Although he made his debut in an Avengers comic, Peter David’s 1985 Wonder Man #1 reintroduces him at a pivotal moment in his life. He has finally escaped the shadow of his criminal past and is trying to balance his unlikely double-life as both a rising Hollywood actor and an up-and-coming superhero. Wonder Man doesn’t participate in any world-threatening battle. Instead, he fights low-level threats like an army of goblins.
The trailers for the MCU’s Wonder Man series confirm that Marvel Studios is focusing heavily on Simon’s human life before fully turning him into a superhero. Its Hollywood satire and exploration of Simon as an actor first and hero second seem ripped straight out of Wonder Man #1. Hopefully, Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man is consistently personality-driven and avoids the trope of ending with the hero defeating a powerful supervillain and stopping a world-ending threat.
The Punisher
The Punisher Special Presentation (2026) will feature Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon’s The Punisher Vol. 5, one of Frank Castle’s most brutal runs, famous for its pitch-black humor. It pits Frank against the monstrous Ma Gnucci, matriarch of the Gnucci crime family. After Frank kills her sons, Ma launches an all-out war on him. In Vol. 5’s most infamous sequence, Frank throws Ma into a zoo enclosure, where she’s mauled by polar bears but somehow survives, reduced to a limbless, skin-shredded husk, after which the Punisher punts her into a fire.
Ma Gnucci is reportedly the main antagonist of The Punisher’s Special Presentation. A Special Presentation can compress all the mature content from the Punisher’s Netflix shows into a one-hour-long story, which is perfect for Frank’s conflict with Ma Gnucci. The villainness’ repeated returns from the brink of death would be even more darkly comedic in a shorter period, making her more memorable than a main or secondary villain role in a show or a movie.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) will follow Peter Parker as he rebuilds his life after One More Day erased his marriage and reset the majority of his story. Brand New Day introduced a fast-paced, episodic structure in which Peter Parker rebuilt his life from scratch. Peter found himself juggling new jobs, failed romances, and a renewed commitment to street-level heroism. It also debuted new villains like Mister Negative and Menace, expanded the Daily Bugle cast, and made Spider-Man an even more “down-on-his-luck” street-level hero.
While the MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day will follow Spider-Man: No Way Home’s very different setup, the core themes still align. Peter will rebuild an erased life, forge new bonds, and reestablish himself as New York’s anonymous defender. Spider-Man: Brand New Day may borrow elements such as Peter’s financial struggles, a more grounded tone, and a return to classic “street hero vs. city crime and corruption” themes.
The Punisher and Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man #129 marks the explosive first appearance of the Punisher, introduced as a lethal vigilante manipulated into hunting Spider-Man by the Jackal. Driven by a rigid belief that he’s executing justice, Frank Castle becomes one of the most dangerous new forces in Peter Parker’s life. Issue #135 deepens their dynamic with a deeper look at Frank as a tormented assassin rather than a simple antagonist.
Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is retroactively part of the MCU since 2016’s Daredevil season 2. However, Spider-Man: Brand New Day marks the first time Frank Castle crosses paths with Spider-Man, at least on screen. The MCU may not replicate every ’70s plot beat, but the core premise of Frank hunting Spider-Man under false assumptions only to realize Peter isn’t his enemy fits perfectly.
Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday (2026) will draw inspiration from Avengers Forever (1998) and its 2021 iteration. The original Avengers Forever assembles a hand-picked Avengers team from across eras and alternate timelines to battle Immortus, Kang’s future self. The 1998 story directly involves the Time-Keepers attempting to erase timelines that would spawn dangerous future Avengers. Kang interferes, clashing repeatedly with Immortus while the Avengers travel through multiple eras and ultimately witness the Time-Keepers’ attempt to collapse the multiverse.
The 2021 iteration centers on the Multiversal Masters of Evil, who conquer entire Earths and wipe out alternate Avengers. Robbie Reyes becomes the “All-Rider” and joins forces with the Multiversal Avengers recruited by the lost Loki variant Avenger Prime. The conflict culminates in a massive multiversal war across the God Quarry, with armies of Avengers from countless universes fighting the Masters.
Originally, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars seemed to be moving in the direction of an Avengers Forever adaptation. Now that plans have changed, Marvel Studios is likely mixing inspiration from both Avengers Forever runs and other multiversal stories to create an original plot involving a fractured multiverse and various superhero teams recruiting each other to face Doctor Doom.
Time Runs Out
Time Runs Out is the eight-month-time-skip storyline that shows the Avengers and New Avengers racing to stop the final incursions destroying the Multiverse. Captain America leads the main Avengers team while the Illuminati operate in secret, using world-ending weapons to decide the fate of alternate Earths. SHIELD becomes militarized, the Cabal exploits collapsing universes, and everything ends with Earth-616 and Earth-1610 colliding.
Avengers: Doomsday seems perfectly positioned to reflect the escalating multiversal collapse shown in Time Runs Out as the MCU prepares for Avengers: Secret Wars. The Avengers facing multiversal enemies, time-jumps, secret breakaway teams, and catastrophic ethical decisions match the Time Runs Out blueprint. The MCU already set up incursions in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels, so Doomsday is likely where these consequences hit full force, leading directly into a 2015 Secret Wars-style collision event.
Avengers: Secret Wars
Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) will adapt the original Secret Wars (1984) and its 2015 counterpart. Marvel’s original Secret Wars is a twelve-issue crossover where the omnipotent Beyonder teleports Earth’s greatest heroes and villains to the patchwork planet Battleworld. The Beyonder commands them to fight, promising to grant the winners anything they desire. The 1984 event introduces lasting concepts: the first Battleworld, Spider-Man’s black symbiote suit, Dr. Doom stealing omnipotence, and the earliest large-scale cosmic contest involving nearly every major Marvel character.
Even if the MCU bases its finale primarily on its 2015 counterpart, 1984’s Secret Wars remains the blueprint for a cosmic war in which heroes and villains from all corners of Marvel are forced to coexist. The MCU may borrow key elements such as an omnipotent orchestrator, a Battleworld built from collapsed universes, and villains temporarily siding with the heroes. While outdated by today’s standards, the original Secret Wars defined how big a universe-ending crossover should look like.
Secret Wars (2015)
Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars annihilates the entire Marvel Multiverse in a chain reaction of multiversal incursions, leaving only scraps of surviving realities. Doctor Doom seizes the Beyonders’ power and constructs an upgraded Battleworld, made from countless universes, where Doom rules as a literal god. The story follows survivors like Reed Richards, Black Panther, and Miles Morales as they navigate Battleworld’s domains, and ultimately challenge him for the fate of all existence.
Avengers: Secret Wars is almost guaranteed to adapt 2015’s Secret Wars. With Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom, the MCU now has the perfect focal point for Doom’s God Emperor arc. Meanwhile, Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four will likely be the movie’s main characters, with Franklin Richards in the middle of their rivalry with Doctor Doom. The collapsing multiverse, God Emperor Doom, and Reed’s final confrontation with Doom feel all but inevitable.
