How The Marvels Sets Up Avengers: Secret Wars
Contains spoilers for "The Marvels"
The post-credits scene of "The Marvels" reveals Monica Rambeau's (Teyonah Parris) fate after she closes a hole in the fabric of reality. She wakes up in a medical facility where she meets an alternate version of her mother, Maria Rambeau (Lashanna Lynch), as well as Beast (Kelsey Grammer). Based on the X-Man's design and the fact that Grammer is playing the character, this seems to be a version of the Fox "X-Men" universe, with some elements of "X-Men: The Animated Series" thrown in.
The revelation is plenty cool on its own, but it may also very well pay off in a major way in "Avengers: Secret Wars." Currently slated for 2027, the movie is still a long way off, but the emergence of the X-Men might nevertheless offer a huge hint about an impending confrontation between the X-Men universe and the Earth-616 one. Maybe Monica tries to return home or the X-Men start tinkering with the space-time continuum — but regardless of the way things unfold, it seems inevitable that the MCU will soon install a proverbial revolving door between the universes. If the ensuing meeting between the superhero squads follows time-honored tradition, there will probably be a fight, which suggests that the MCU may intend to use this new universe as Earth-616's opposing force in "Secret Wars."
Should this happen, the movie will likely be based on the 2015 comic version of "Secret Wars." It's a multiverse-heavy story where destructive events known as incursions force different Earths to battle each other for survival ... and since the MCU has already introduced a version of incursions in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," it seems that the pieces of the puzzle are slowly falling in place.
Monica's time with the X-Men could lead to a fight for the ages
Bringing the X-Men in as the Avengers' foes in "Avengers: Secret Wars" would be a smart move in more than one way. First of all, the MCU has spent years and years establishing its assorted Avengers, and in order to adapt an event of the magnitude of "Secret Wars," the team needs an opposing force the audience is invested in. This is very hard to pull off with freshly introduced villains, and let's face it, 2027 is such a long way away that alternate-universe variants of existing heroes will be old hat by that point. The X-Men would be a perfect solution to this issue since they come with pre-built name recognition and a robust cinematic history of their own. What little introductions are needed won't be a problem either, thanks to Monica — a newcomer in the X-Men universe who can easily act as a viewpoint character.
This would also be a fantastic way to underline the MCU X-Men's underdog nature. For most of their Marvel history, the mutants' whole deal has been their outcast status, and having them battle a celebrity superteam like the Avengers would be a perfect way to put them in this position.
The two teams also have a history of butting heads in the comics, perhaps most notoriously in the 2012 "Avengers vs. X-Men" event. Such a battle would also give the MCU a perfect excuse for a "Captain America: Civil War"-style situation where heroes fight heroes in an epic showdown. Now that the ending of "The Marvels" has opened the door for this opportunity, it will be interesting to see where "Avengers: Secret Wars" takes things.
How Deadpool 3 may continue to pave the road to Secret Wars
Of course, "The Marvels" is just one step toward "Avengers: Secret Wars," and the MCU still has plenty of work to do before all the pieces are on the board. The next major movie to address the situation will likely be "Deadpool 3," according to what industry scoop account @MyTimeToShineHello has reported on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"The events of Deadpool 3 take place after the Loki S2 finale," they wrote. "The TVA got word that the Kangs are gathering and a new Multiversal War is about to start so they create an army of Multiversal heroes, mostly from dying worlds, to fight the Council of Kangs."
According to this report, Deadpool would start the movie as the TVA's prisoner, presumably after they find out about his multiversal murder spree in the post-credits scene of "Deadpool 2." While it seems that this development will play into "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" far more than "Secret Wars," the presence of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and the TVA's multiversal recruiting mission certainly seem like important steps toward bringing the mutants to the MCU in full force.