Avengers: Endgame may have drawn the Infinity Saga to a definitive close and reshaped the future of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe by retiring several long-serving superheroes, but we all knew that this wasn’t going to be the franchise’s last massive crossover event. Kevin Feige has been open in admitting that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will assemble once again at some point down the road, while the seeds for the Young Avengers will be planted in the not-too-distant future.
With more characters than ever set to join the MCU thanks to both brand new big screen properties and the ever-expanding slate of Disney Plus shows, the crossover potential in the long-running comic book series is set to be bigger and more exciting than ever before. And now we’ve heard that Marvel are reportedly developing a project that nobody is expecting.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Taskmaster would be the villain in Black Widow and the Inhumans are being rebooted in Ms. Marvel, both of which we now know to be true – a loose adaptation of the Secret Empire arc is in the early development stages, which will come as a huge surprise to fans for a number of reasons. For those not in the know, the series follows a reality where Steve Rogers’ Captain America is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., only for it to be revealed that he had been a sleeper agent for HYDRA all along, and while the plot is a lot more complex than that, it certainly ruffled a few feathers among longtime readers.
While it’s unclear if this would be a feature film or some kind of limited series on Disney Plus, it’ll obviously have to be, like we said above, a loose adaptation of the arc, given that Rogers is well and truly retired, with Sam Wilson set to officially take up the mantle in The Falcon and the Winter Solider. In fact, it’s Sam’s Cap who we’re told will be at the center of things this time, while HYDRA will apparently be making a return in some capacity, too.
Beyond that, we can only speculate what Marvel may be planning, but we’re told that they’re definitely doing some kind of adaptation of Secret Empire down the road and as soon as we learn more, we’ll be sure to let you know.