Kevin Feige says MCU will be reset after Avengers: Secret Wars

Kevin Feige recently presided over a press event in which he teased the future of the MCU. In this event, Feige discussed a wide range of topics related to the cinematic universe. Firstly, the Marvel Studios boss confirmed the plan for the next seven (unlike five) years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this conference:

“It’s traditionally a five-year plan. I think it goes to 2032 right now.”

As The Fantastic Four: First Steps gears up for release this week, Kevin Feige even confirmed what fans have been theorizing ever since Robert Downey Jr. was announced to play Victor Von Doom in July 2024. That the MCU will indeed be reset after Avengers: Secret Wars. This reset would have a wide implication for future projects from Marvel Studios.

What did Kevin Feige say about the MCU?

The next two Avengers movies, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, will provide Marvel Studios with an opportunity to recalibrate the MCU. This will be achieved by streamlining the timeline, which many fans have found difficult to follow over the past few years. Using a major event to streamline continuity is something that DC Comics did for the first time in 1985 through Crisis on Infinite Earths.

While Feige did not address the superficial similarities between the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers: Secret Wars and DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, he did confirm that Secret Wars will clean up the continuity:

"We’re utilizing that [story] not just to round out the stories we’ve been telling post-Endgame. [But] just as importantly — and you can look at the Secret Wars comics for where that takes you — it very, very much sets us up for the future. Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about beginnings."

Then, the Marvel Studios boss further clarified that Avengers: Secret Wars won't completely reboot the MCU continuity, saying:

"Reboot is a scary word. Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines."

This would mean that the ending of Avengers: Secret Wars will give Marvel the chance to right the wrongs of Phases 4, 5, and 6. While these respective phases had their wins, a lot of projects here lost fans. Thus, Secret Wars allows Marvel to possibly revisit some of these stories in the future. Furthermore, some legacy characters will finally be recast, and some might be retained, case in point, Iman Vellani.

Feige signals out Iman Vellani as one MCU's highlights:

The event then veered towards the contentious online topic of diversity and inclusion. Ever since the previous three phases, a lot of bad-faith critiques have pointed towards diversity as the reason for Marvel's woes. But Feige challenged this narrative and pointed towards Canadian actress Iman Vellani as one of the highlights in the current crop of Marvel actors:

“one of the greatest bits of casting we’ve ever done. I can’t wait to see her somewhere.”

After this, Kevin Feige was asked about the long-rumored Young Avengers/Champions project, which the Marvel boss did not confirm or deny. However, he did confirm that Miles Morales, who is also a part of the Young Avengers in the comics, will not appear in a Marvel Studios project until Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which was recently delayed to June 25, 2027.