Secret Wars

Publication history

The series was conceived by Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. The series was announced under the title Cosmic Champions in the eleventh issue of the Marvel Age news magazine, cover dated February 1984. The series was renamed following feedback from Mattel's focus group, which indicated that children responded positively to the words 'wars' and 'secret.' Mattel's involvement influenced the storyline and character design, including making Doctor Doom and Iron Man's armor more high-tech to appeal to kids. They also requested new fortresses, vehicles, and weapons to increase play value and promote playsets. Shooter believed he was the only one capable of writing the series.

Crossover titles include The Amazing Spider-Man #249–252, The Avengers #242–243, Captain America #292, The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #294–295, Iron Man #181–183, The Thing #10–22, Fantastic Four #265, Marvel Team-Up #141, The Uncanny X-Men #178–181, and Thor #341. In 1987, Thor #383 was presented as a previously untold tale from Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars.

Plot

Premise

A cosmic entity, the Beyonder, becomes fascinated with Earth's superheroes in the mainstream Marvel universe. He creates "Battleworld," a planet in a distant galaxy, and stocks it with weapons and technology. He teleports groups of heroes and supervillains against their will to Battleworld, declaring: "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"

Combatants

The heroes include the Avengers (Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Thor, the Wasp, and the Hulk), three members of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and the Thing), solo hero Spider-Man, and the X-Men (Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, and Lockheed the Dragon). Magneto is featured as a hero, but becomes non-aligned when the Avengers question his presence. The villains include the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang the Conqueror, Klaw, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Titania, Ultron, Volcana, and the Wrecking Crew. The cosmic entity Galactus also appears as a villain who becomes a non-aligned entity.

Conflicts

The heroes (with the X-Men choosing to remain a separate unit) and villains have several skirmishes. Ultron is drained of energy by Galactus, who then confronts the Beyonder while Doctor Doom observes. Both are defeated and sent crashing down to Battleworld. When everyone else reaches Battleworld, Magneto leaves the heroes feeling rejected and Kang blasts Doctor Doom to the heroes' base when he tries to rally the villains. The heroes win the first skirmish, causing the villains to fall back, only to be assaulted by Ultron, having been rebuilt by Doctor Doom.

The heroes then attack Magneto, but he captures Wasp and takes her to his fortress where they are trapped by the weather; the X-Men decide to join Magneto. Doom creates villainesses Titania and Volcana, then leads the remaining villains in a successful assault on the heroes and their base, which they bury under a mountain. After Thor and the Enchantress return from elsewhere, Thor vanishes trying to fight the villains. Doom has Ultron kill Kang as payback.

When the X-Men arrive to fight Magneto, they form an alliance but Wasp leaves. The Hulk is revealed to have saved everyone from the mountain. Thor also returns, having hidden his escape with lightning. The heroes find a village brought to Battleworld where Galactus has summoned his ship so he can consume the planet. Everybody fights him. Doom's faction returns and attacks the heroes, while he sneaks onto Galactus' ship and persuades Klaw to join the villains. Professor X has the X-Men fall back and then attack the villains, who are attacking volcanoes set off by Cyclops. Colossus falls in love with an alien healer named Zsaji. Wasp befriends the Lizard but is gravely wounded by the Wrecking Crew before being returned to the heroes. The second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter, is introduced.

The X-Men win another battle against the villains. Galactus sends Doom back to his base, where he notices the volcanoes and tries to fix the planet. Professor X tells Captain America to fight the villains while they take care of Galactus. Zsaji revives Wasp. In the villain's base, Hulk and Thor show Spider-Man an alien device that they have used to recreate their clothing. Spider-Man finds and wears a black costume. Galactus begins to devour the planet. Mr. Fantastic suggests they let him, so the Beyonder will take away his eternal hunger, but everyone else convinces him against it. Back at the heroes' base, Doctor Doom uses Klaw's body to create a machine that absorbs Galactus' power, even after he absorbs his own ship instead. With his newfound power, Doctor Doom steals the Beyonder's power.

Aftermath

The next tie-ins with Secret Wars open right after the return of the combatants. She-Hulk replaces the Thing in the Fantastic Four, Colossus ends his romantic relationship with a heartbroken Kitty Pryde, and the Hulk's leg is injured by Ultron.

Reception

Secret Wars was a best-seller when it was published in 1984, selling more copies than any other comic in the previous 25 years. While it was a financial success, it was not well received by critics when it was published, being criticized for its uninspired and juvenile content. An announcement of a sequel series, Secret Wars II, from Carol Kalish, Marvel's Direct Sales Manager at the time, was first met with boos. Kalish was even quoted saying: "Let's be honest. Secret Wars was crap, right? But did it sell?"

In 2011, IGN listed Secret Wars as one of the best comic book events. Their writers found the action and goofiness of the story to be enjoyable. They also highlighted the effect it had on the Marvel Universe by introducing the symbiote and new characters. In 2011, Alex Zalben of MTV News ranked Secret Wars as the second biggest comic event ever, after only DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths event. Zalben praised the Secret Wars story and its lasting effect on the Marvel universe, as well as honoring the storyline as the "semi-official first Event Comics ever."

Battleworld

Battleworld is a patchwork planet that serves as the setting in Secret Wars. There have been four Battleworlds in total. The first was created by the Beyonder, the second was an imitation created by the Stranger pretending to be the Beyonder, and the third was created by Doctor Doom by stealing the power of the Beyonders.

Publication history

The first Battleworld debuted in Secret Wars (1984) #1, and was created by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck.

The second Battleworld debuted in Beyond!, and was created by Dwayne McDuffie and Scott Kolins.

The third Battleworld debuted in Secret Wars (2015) #2, and was created by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić.

The fourth Battleworld debuted in Battleworld (2025) #1, and was created by Christos N. Gage and Marcus To.

Planet biography

The Beyonder merged dozens of fragments from many planets (including a suburb of Denver, Colorado, from Earth), to create Battleworld, intended to provide an unfamiliar environment where all contestants could use their powers to the fullest. Many peoples, both alien and human, were brought along "for the ride" by this method; it was because of this that Spider-Woman was on Battleworld, as was Zsaji, the healer, who had brief romances with both the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four and Colossus of the X-Men.

In the aftermath of Secret Wars, the planet became infected with cosmic energy when the Beyonder reclaimed his stolen power from Doctor Doom. This led to a "wish fulfillment" phenomenon whereby force of will could alter reality; for example, repairing Captain America's shield or allowing Mister Fantastic to create a way to take them quickly home. All the heroes left the planet, except for Ben Grimm, who stayed behind because he was able to change to and from his human form while on the planet's surface. After Ben returned home, the planet had no more reason to exist and broke apart.

A mock Battleworld appeared in the miniseries Beyond!. It was constructed by the Stranger posing as the Beyonder for the purposes of studying various combatants from Earth under the guise of battle. This faux Battleworld was destroyed at the end of the miniseries by the departure of the irate Stranger with Gravity holding it together long enough for his group to escape at the cost of his life. Gravity was later resurrected by Epoch as the new Protector of the Universe.

A third Battleworld appeared in the 2015 series Secret Wars. Before the incursions destroyed the Multiverse, Doctor Doom, the Molecule Man, and Doctor Strange had defied the godlike entities behind the catastrophe: the Beyonders. Doctor Doom used a secret weapon made up of a multitudinous number of Molecule Men to defeat these Beyonders and usurp their omnipotence for himself. Afterwards, he salvaged the remaining realities and merged them into Battleworld, made in his own image and filled with mindwiped residents who worshipped him as God Emperor. In truth, it was actually the Molecule Man who had absorbed the Beyonders' power and Doom was being lent it. To hide this, Doom kept the Molecule Man hidden away and claimed that he had died.

Battleworld was divided into domains which are ruled by an appointed "Baron" or a "Baroness"; while most domains have the ability to interact with each other, the borders of each domain are clearly defined and travel between different domains is discouraged as it requires special dispensation from the local Baron or from God Emperor Doom himself. Only the Deadlands (which contains the Marvel Zombies), Perfection (which contains Ultron Sentinels), and New Xandar (which contains the Annihilation Wave) are separated from the rest by the Shield (a giant version of Ben Grimm) because each contains threats that if loosed would destroy the other domains.

Known locations

Baxter Building – A replica of the Baxter Building where Thing had his final battle with Grimm the Sorcerer.

Leenn – A location of Battleworld taken from Thing's subconscious that was based on Latveria. It vanished when Thing destroyed the device that the Wizard was guarding.

Muab – A kingdom of white magic that was attacked by Grimm the Sorcerer.

Sequels

One year later, Secret Wars II was published, with the Beyonder visiting Earth and having a tie-in with almost every Marvel comic book written at the time.

Marvel published a third Secret Wars tale written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Keith Pollard within two issues of the Fantastic Four series: the "Secret Wars III" story in Fantastic Four #318–319 (September–October 1988).

In 2006, a six issue series entitled Beyond! was published by Marvel. Written by Dwayne McDuffie and illustrated by Scott Kolins, it referred back to the original Secret Wars event with a similar premise as the Beyonder again transported superheroes and supervillains of Earth to fight on Battleworld.

Spider-Man & the Secret Wars, a Marvel Adventures all-ages non-canonical miniseries, was released in 2010. It tells the story from Spider-Man's perspective and features major discrepancies with the original event. These tales include him receiving the Beyonder's power and creating "New Parker City", Spider-Man and the Thing spying on Dr. Doom, and a story featuring Spider-Man's suspicions concerning the Hulk. It was released in conjunction with Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet and Captain America & The Korvac Saga, similar self-contained, all-ages re-imaginations of past events, that appear to take place in their own separate continuities in the standard "Marvel Adventures" manner.

The four-issue miniseries Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars was released during the 2015 Secret Wars event. It retold the events of the original miniseries from Deadpool's point of view and used retroactive continuity to fix inconsistencies with later stories. In the end, the Wasp accidentally caused everyone to forget his involvement in the storyline, creating the inconsistencies.

A four-issue miniseries titled Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld was released in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the original series, beginning in November 2023. The series starred Spider-Man and the Human Torch and claimed to "expose never-before-told secrets" from the 1984 storyline.

Other versions

What If?

Some issues of What If? revolve around the Secret Wars:

"Brave New World" by Jay Faerber and Gregg Schigiel explored what would happen if the heroes became stranded on Battleworld after Galactus and the Beyonder destroy each other in battle. The battle continues for a while, but after the deaths of Bulldozer, Captain Marvel, Cyclops, Doctor Octopus, Kang, Magneto, and Spider-Woman, both sides declare peace. The Hulk heads into the wilderness to find a way to get everyone back home while Doctor Doom builds a replica of his Latverian castle. The Enchantress disappears, Mister Fantastic dies, and Spider-Man's black costume accelerates his aging to the point of becoming a skeleton. Eventually, some of the inhabitants have children who inherit some of their powers including Bravado (son of Thor and Enchantress), Chokehold (daughter of Absorbing Man and Titania), Crusader (daughter of Captain America and Rogue), Firefly (son of Human Torch and Wasp), Gator (son of Lizard), Malefactor (son of Doctor Doom and Enchantress), Moleculon (son of Molecule Man and Volcana), Mustang (son of Hawkeye and She-Hulk), Raze (son of Wrecker), and Torrent (son of Storm and Wolverine). By Bravado's 18th birthday, Malefactor disposes of his father and gathers Chokehold, Gator, Klaw, Moleculon, and Raze in a plot to take over Battleworld. Bravado, Crusader, Firefly, Mustang, Torrent, and the heroes and reformed villains defeat them. The Hulk and Doctor Doom (who faked his death when Malefactor attacked him) return to help end the conflict. The Hulk uses 30th century technology from Kang to create a portal that will take everyone home with the help of Thor's hammer, but the heroes are dissuaded by Uatu, who warns them of a bad thing that will happen if they return to Earth. Though the adults call off the trip, the younger heroes sneak out at night and end up on Earth, which is overrun with Sentinels. The five agree to stay on Earth as the Avengers and liberate Earth.

In another alternate universe, Doctor Doom retains the Beyonder's power and takes over the universe.

Secret Wars (2015 comic book)

In May 2015, Marvel published a new Secret Wars miniseries, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Esad Ribić, that picked up from where the "Time Runs Out" storyline running in The Avengers and New Avengers at the time had ended. The storyline involved the Marvel Universe combining with other alternate universes, including the Ultimate Universe, as well as the 2099 Universe, to form Battleworld, a world which exhibits aspects of the various universes. The core limited series was nine issues long, and ran for eight months, ending in January 2016. One of the core miniseries, Ultimate End, had ended the Ultimate Marvel imprint after 15 years at the time. Ultimate End is written by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley, the team that began the Ultimate Marvel universe with Ultimate Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Life Story

In Spider-Man: Life Story, which depicts an alternate version of the Marvel Universe (designated Earth-19529) where characters aged in real time and debuted in the same year as their first issue publications, the Secret Wars began in 1984 when a number of United States-based superheroes were transported to Battleworld by the Beyonder. This causes the start of the "Russian War" (the World War III of this reality) on Earth due to the absence of the majority of America's superheroes. Among them was Spider-Man, who received the Venom symbiote/black costume like his Earth-616 counterpart.

In other media

Television

"Secret Wars" serves as inspiration for a self-titled three-part episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In this version of events, the Beyonder and Madame Web task Spider-Man with leading the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Captain America, Storm, and the Black Cat in liberating Battleworld from Doctor Octopus, Doctor Doom, Alistair Smythe, the Lizard, and the Red Skull to test his capability in saving the multiverse from Spider-Carnage. Amidst production of the episode, the cast of X-Men: The Animated Series were due to appear. However, the cost of transportation from Canada to Los Angeles proved too costly, leading to most of the X-Men being dropped. Moreover, the Hulk and She-Hulk were excluded due to The Incredible Hulk being on UPN. Additionally, Spider-Man obtaining his black suit is adapted into the earlier episode "The Alien Costume".

"Secret Wars" serves as inspiration for the fourth season of Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Secret Wars. After learning of Earth from Loki, the Beyonder uses the Bifröst to take and combine parts of Earth, Asgard, and the multiverse to form Battleworld as part of an experiment. After getting caught in this, the Avengers and New Avengers, among others, join forces to undo the merge and defeat the Beyonder and Loki.

Video games

Battleworld appears in Marvel Contest of Champions and its 2020 spin-off Marvel Realm of Champions.

A variation of Battleworld, renamed Primary Earth, appears in Marvel Future Revolution. This version was created after Vision sacrificed himself to save his Earth from multiverse-destroying incursions.

Literature

In 2016, Secret Wars received a novelization written by Alex Irvine.

Merchandise

Mattel released three waves of action figures, vehicles, and accessories in the Secret Wars toy line from 1984 to 1985.

An original page of the 1984 Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars, showing Spider-Man wearing the black suit for the first time, was sold by Heritage Auctions in January 2022 for over $3 million.

Miscellaneous

Funko released a collectible card game called Marvel Battleworld, which is loosely inspired by the Secret Wars comic book events.

Battleworld appears in a self-titled web series.