Marvel Studios Reportedly Suspends Filming on ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’

The 2027 Marvel movie is on hiatus, reports claim.

Marvel Studios is betting its next chapter on scale. With Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) now positioned as the centerpiece of Phase Six, the studio is treating the two-film event less as a sequel to prior installments and more as a referendum on where the franchise goes from here.

The pressure behind that bet is easy to trace. Post-Endgame output has been inconsistent: Spider-Man: No Way Home(2021) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) each cleared $1 billion, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Captain America: Brave New World (2025) landed with noticeably less force. Years into the Multiverse Saga, industry chatter about fatigue and fractured storytelling has only grown louder, and that context has put outsized weight on whatever comes next.

That said, the recent release of Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) starring Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Zendaya (MJ), and Sadie Sink (Jean Grey) has proven that there is still a blockbuster in Marvel Studios yet. The fourth Spidey entry into the MCU has recently cleared $2 billion and is heading to overtake Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in the list of highest-grossing movies ever.

And speaking of Infinity War…

Marvel’s answer to revitalizing the wider MCU is to bring back the team responsible for the franchise’s two biggest financial benchmarks. Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (2019), are returning for Doomsday (2026) and Secret Wars (2027). Both the Russos and studio chief Kevin Feige have framed the pair not as routine continuations but as a deliberate reset intended to define the next era once the Multiverse arc closes.

That was solidified this past weekend, when Feige–joined by Sadie Sink and Thunderbolts* (2025) director Jake Schreier–confirmed the first wave of the X-Men movie cast. Joining Sink will be 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. Schreier will direct the first mutant-centric movie for the MCU, which is set for a May 2028 release.

Scale-wise, Doomsday already looks like an outlier even by Marvel’s standards. Reactions to what’s been shown range from enthusiastic to critical, and the cast list spans well beyond the studio’s own continuity. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Anthony Mackie’s Captain America will appear alongside actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, reprising Professor X and Magneto from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men series — a crossover that underscores how central the Multiverse device has become to Marvel’s current plans.

The bigger surprise, though, is Robert Downey Jr.’s return. Rather than reprising Tony Stark, Downey has been cast as Victor Von Doom, one of Marvel Comics’ most consequential villains, a character first glimpsed in The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) post-credits scene. Early signals suggest this version of Doom won’t be a straightforward antagonist — some reports point toward a more morally complicated role, possibly tied to the fallout from Steve Rogers’ time-travel choices at the end of Endgame.

There’s also a question of scope. According to The Hot Mic, Doomsday‘s runtime may approach three hours, and there’s internal discussion about whether Secret Wars needs to be split into two films to accommodate its Multiverse-spanning plot. Should that happen, the current two-film plan would effectively become a trilogy — a notable expansion given how packed the story already is with characters and parallel timelines. This has not been confirmed by Marvel or Disney.

Stakes are expected to run high on the character side as well. There’s speculation that several longtime heroes won’t survive Doomsday, and at least one original Avengers actor has already confirmed they won’t be part of the film, leaving open questions about who else might be missing. Whether or not the Russos stay involved past Secret Wars — as directors or in some advisory capacity — Marvel appears to be preparing for significant change once this chapter wraps, one film or two.

At this year’s D23 Expo, Marvel Studios unveiled its second Avengers: Doomsday trailer, a “Special Look,” giving a better look at the battle between the superheroes fans have come to love over the decades and Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom.

Joe and Anthony Russo offered a fresh look at where things stand on Marvel’s next two tentpoles, revealing in a post-San Diego Comic-Con conversation with Collider at the end of July that Avengers: Doomsday is nearing completion even as work has already begun shaping Avengers: Secret Wars.

“We’re deep into finishing the movie, into finishing Doomsday,” said Anthony. “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.”

Pressed on a start date for Secret Wars production, Russo kept things vague, though not without a hint of what was coming: “Soon. So soon it makes us sweat a little bit.”

Cameras are now believed to be active on Secret Wars at a UK production base, though the full picture is murkier than a simple start date would suggest. Whether principal photography has technically begun remains unconfirmed by Marvel, and outlets differ on the exact status. What is clear, per Filmbase, is that the production is currently suspended, with a five-week break expected to run until filming resumes near the close of September.

Adding to the intrigue, unverified details said to have leaked from Doomsday suggest its closing moments will set up the arrival of Battleworld, the world-building conceit expected to anchor Secret Wars. The end of Secret Wars has already been confirmed as resetting the MCU with a singular timeline, but how that will play out is anyone’s guess. The Multiverse Saga has been a hit-or-miss concept, and audiences will likely welcome a tighter, more cohesive storyline for the next few years.

Insider Alex Perez, writing for The Cosmic Circus (via Comic Book Movie), laid out the following claims about how that setup might play out: “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 Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch, is one of the characters not yet confirmed for the movie, but, as one of the most popular characters–and portrayals by Olsen–in the MCU franchise, it seems silly for the Russos not to include her in this massive blockbuster event.

None of this has been officially confirmed by Marvel Studios, and details are subject to change as the production moves forward.

How do you feel Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will play out? Let us know in the comments down below!