The Russo brothers are keeping Battleworld alive.
Asked directly whether the patchwork planet from the Secret Wars comics shows up when the Multiverse Saga concludes, Joe and Anthony Russo refused to rule it out, while revealing that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were built to work together in a different way than Infinity War and Endgame.
The Non-Denial
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast following Marvel’s Hall H panel at Comic-Con, the directors got the Battleworld question point-blank.
Joe Russo’s answer: “We won’t confirm or deny whether Battleworld appears in either of these films.”
He went further, adding that they also can’t say who would appear on Battleworld if it were in one of the movies, with Anthony Russo chiming in that the stakes are too high to say more.
That is not a confirmation. It is also nowhere near a denial, and Marvel knows exactly what a non-denial like that does two days after Hall H with every Doomsday ticket already on sale.
With Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom at the center of both films, the speculation writes itself: if Doom wins Doomsday, Battleworld is what he builds from the wreckage.
Not Infinity War And Endgame Part Two
Horowitz also asked the structural question fans have debated since the titles were announced: does Doomsday end on a cliffhanger that leads directly into Secret Wars, the way Infinity War handed off to Endgame?
Anthony Russo said the two movies were conceived to talk to one another, but not with the same handoff as the last pair. He described them as parts of a single whole rather than a setup and a payoff.
That tracks with how Marvel is treating the calendar. As Kevin Feige confirmed, there is not a single MCU movie between the two Avengers films. The entire year belongs to this one story.
What Is Battleworld?
In the comics, Battleworld has taken two major forms.
The original 1984 Secret Wars featured a planet assembled by the Beyonder, who kidnapped heroes and villains and dropped them there to fight.
Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars went bigger: a patchwork world stitched together from the remains of destroyed realities and ruled over by God Emperor Doom.
With Downey’s Doom anchoring both movies, the Hickman version is the smart money. It’s also worth remembering our earlier insider report on the Fantastic Four post-credits scene putting Franklin Richards next to Doom, because Franklin’s reality-shaping power is exactly the kind of engine Hickman’s story runs on.
Marvel has not officially announced Battleworld or released plot details for either movie. The Russos refusing to rule it out is simply the latest sign the concept remains very much in play, and that speculation is labeled accordingly.
25 Years In The Making
Joe Russo also pointed to Ian McKellen’s return as Magneto as one of the production’s most memorable moments, framing the crossover as a payoff a quarter century in the making, dating back to the first X-Men movie in 2000.
McKellen returns alongside Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, and Kelsey Grammer, putting the original X-Men film cast on the board next to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
That is the collision Secret Wars was made of in the comics, and with Feige already declaring the X-Men the core of Marvel’s next universe, the two-movie arc doubles as the bridge to everything that comes after.
Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars following on December 17, 2027. For everything on the movies, check out our complete Avengers: Doomsday guide.
