| Schedule: | Monthly |
| Format: | Limited series |
| Publisher: | Marvel Comics |
| Date: | May 1984 – Apr. 1985 |
| Issues: | 12 |
| Main Char Team: | Avengers Fantastic Four X-Men Spider-Man Hulk Magneto Doctor Doom Absorbing Man Doctor Octopus Enchantress Kang Klaw Lizard Molecule Man Ultron the Wrecking Crew Galactus Beyonder |
| Writers: | Jim Shooter |
| Pencillers: | Mike Zeck, Bob Layton |
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, commonly known as Secret Wars, is a 12-issue American comic book crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter, with art by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. It was tied in with a similarly-named toy line from Mattel and a role-playing game of the same name from TSR, Inc.
The series was conceived by Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. The series was announced as 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.[1] [2]
Crossover titles include The Amazing Spider-Man #249–252,[3] The Avengers #242–243,[4] Captain America #292,[5] The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #294–295,[6] Iron Man #181–183,[7] The Thing #10–22,[8] Fantastic Four #265,[9] Marvel Team-Up #141,[10] The Uncanny X-Men, #178–181.[11] and Thor #341. In 1987, Thor #383 was presented as a previously untold tale from Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars.[12]
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!"[13]
The heroes include the Avengers (Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the She-Hulk, Thor, the Wasp, and the Hulk), three members of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and the Thing), solo heroes (Spider-Man and Spider-Woman) and the mutant team the X-Men (Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, and Lockheed the Dragon). Magneto is featured as a hero, but immediately becomes non-aligned when the Avengers question his presence. In 2015, Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars revealed that Deadpool was also a chosen hero, but the Wasp accidentally caused the other characters to forget his involvement.
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 immediately becomes a non-aligned entity.
The heroes (the X-Men choose to remain a separate unit) and villains have several skirmishes. Ultron is drained of energy by Galactus, who tries to confront the Beyonder with Doctor Doom, but both are easily defeated. 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,[14] 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 also 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.[15]
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 his black costume for the first time. Galactus begins to devour the planet. Mr. Fantastic suggests they let him, then the Beyonder will take away his eternal hunger, but Captain America and 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.[16]
Molecule Man brings the villains to Volcana's apartment on Battleworld then takes the suburb of Denver back to Earth. Doom summons the heroes to his new "Tower of Doom" where he revives Kang and sends him back to own time in front of them and reveals that Galactus was taken away by Nova. He kills all the heroes with a bolt when they refuse to join him and attack. Zsaji revives them at the cost of her life, and they battle Klaw and monsters he created, including Ultron, while Doom's powers go out of control thanks to Klaw convincing him to use them again. While Wasp destroys Ultron and the others take care of the rest, the Beyonder, who had possessed Klaw, takes back his powers and teleports Doom and Klaw away. After Zsaji's funeral, everyone finds out that the energy from the Beyonder that was released has turned Battleworld into a place where wishes are granted. Soon Mr. Fantastic builds a portal that can take everyone home. However, the Thing, having gained the ability to revert to his original human form of Ben Grimm at will, chooses to remain on Battleworld for a year to explore the galaxy.[17]
The next issues of series tie-ins with Secret Wars open right after the return of the Marvel combatants. Immediate developments include: the Thing replaced by the She-Hulk in the Fantastic Four,[18] Spider-Man has a new costume initially unaware that it is actually an alien symbiote (the symbiote would subsequently bond with journalist Eddie Brock, giving birth to the villain known as Venom),[19] [20] Colossus ends his romantic relationship with a heartbroken Kitty Pryde,[21] and the Hulk has an injured leg from Ultron and the savage side is re-emerging (to culminate in a totally animalistic, inarticulate and mindless Hulk in #299–300).
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?"[22]
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.[23] 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 Secret Wars story and lasting effect on the Marvel universe, as well as honoring the storyline as the "semi-official first Event Comics ever".[24]
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.[25]
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 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.[26]
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.
An additional four-issue miniseries Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld has been announced to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original crossover, beginning in November 2023. The mini-series will star Spider-Man and Fantastic Four member the Human Torch and promises to "expose never-before-told secrets" from the iconic 1984 comic storyline.
Some issues of What If? revolve around the Secret Wars:
See main article: 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 Avengers and New Avengers at the time had ended.[29] 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.[30] [31] [32] 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.[33]
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.[34]
A film titled is in development and will be released on May 7, 2027. It will be the sixth Avengers film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[39] [40]
The mobile game Marvel Realm of Champions is loosely based on the 1984 Secret Wars storyline.
In 2016, a novelization of Secret Wars was written by Alex Irvine.
| Secret Wars | Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12 | December 2011 | ||
| Secret Wars Omnibus | Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Thor (vol. 1) #383, She-Hulk (vol. 1) #10, What If? (vol. 2) #4, 114 | December 2008 | ||
| Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld Box Set | Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Amazing Spider-Man #251–252, Incredible Hulk #294-295, Iron Man #181-182, Thing #10, Uncanny X-Men #180-181, Captain America #292, Avengers #242-243, Thor #341 and material from Fantastic Four #265. Also includes Thing: Battleworld, Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars Aftermath, Secret Wars II Vol. 1-4, Secret War, Beyond the Secret Wars and Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars: Behind the Scenes. | June 2015 |