Report: Marvel Suspends ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Production, Updates Given

Marvel Studios is leaning hard on scale to carry its next chapter, with Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) positioned as the centerpiece of Phase Six.

The bet comes after a mixed few years for the franchise, feeding ongoing chatter about Multiverse Saga fatigue. That said, Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) has just shown Marvel can still deliver a genuine blockbuster, clearing $2 billion and usurping Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) on the all-time highest-grossing domestic releases list.

To steady the ship, Marvel has brought back Joe and Anthony Russo — directors of Infinity War and Endgame — for Doomsday and Secret Wars, with Kevin Feige framing the pair as a deliberate reset rather than a routine sequel.

Momentum around the saga has been building. At D23, Marvel unveiled a second Doomsday trailer, and Feige also confirmed the first wave of X-Men cast: Christopher Abbott as Charles Xavier, Kit Connor as Scott Summers, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Adam Driver as Nathaniel Milbury, with Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*) directing for a May 2028 release.

Doomsday itself keeps growing in scope. Robert Downey Jr. returns not as Tony Stark but as Victor Von Doom, first glimpsed in The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ (2025) post-credits scene, with some reports suggesting a more morally complicated take on the villain tied to Steve Rogers’ Endgame choices. Runtime speculation has Doomsday approaching three hours, and there’s talk of splitting Secret Wars into two films — effectively a trilogy — though Marvel hasn’t confirmed either.

Speaking to Collider after San Diego Comic-Con, Anthony Russo gave an update on where production stands: “We’re deep into finishing the movie, into finishing Doomsday. All of the grace notes, the music, working with Alan Silvestri, sound mix, creating Alan’s incredible original music. Wait until you experience what he’s cooked up for Doom. That, and then we’re prepping. We’re prepping Secret Wars. So, it’s a complicated time in our lives, but thrilling.” Asked for a Secret Wars start date, Russo stayed coy: “Soon. So soon it makes us sweat a little bit.”

Reports had suggested cameras were already active on Secret Wars at a UK base, though the full picture was murkier than a simple start date implied. Per Filmbase, that UK production was said to be suspended, with a five-week break expected to run until filming resumed near the end of September.

But it now looks like there was some mix-up over which project is actually shooting in the UK.

According to insiders Daniel Richtman and MTTSH, it’s Doomsday that’s still in reshoots, not Secret Wars, which remains on track to begin filming at the end of September as originally planned. Richtman wrote: “They’re still doing reshoots for Doomsday and filming for Secret Wars should start at the end of September.”

MTTSH echoed that timeline while pushing back more directly on the earlier reports: “What they’re currently filming is NOT for Avengers: Secret Wars. Despite reports, they haven’t started filming that yet. What they’re filming now is additional photography for Avengers: Doomsday.”

That would mean the “hiatus” reported around Secret Wars actually describes Doomsday‘s ongoing reshoot schedule, while Secret Wars itself hasn’t started shooting yet at all — it’s simply still on its original September timeline.

Unverified leaks claiming to come from Doomsday suggest the film’s ending will set up Battleworld, the concept expected to anchor Secret Wars. The end of Secret Wars has already been confirmed to reset the MCU onto a single timeline, though how that unfolds is still unclear.

Insider Alex Perez, writing for The Cosmic Circus (via Comic Book Movie), described the setup this way: “Aside from a literal handful of heroes and villains, practically everyone will be under Doom’s control, living in a more medieval version of what Wanda did in Westview. Literally think WandaVision meets ‘What If…? The Avengers Assembled in 1602,’ and that’s the introductory premise to Secret Wars.” Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch hasn’t been confirmed for the film, though her popularity makes an omission seem unlikely.

None of this has been officially confirmed by Marvel Studios, and details remain subject to change. What fans do know is that Doomsday arrives very soon, but before it drops in theaters, audiences can revisit Avengers: Endgame from September 25, with Avengers Endgame: Encore (2026).

What are your thoughts on how Disney and Marvel will execute Doomsday and Secret Wars? How will it change the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know in the comments down below!