Secret Wars
Plot Summary and Credits
[Deep breath] Every universe has been destroyed by a series of incursions, leaving only the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe still standing, and only one of them can survive. As heroes from both universes fight each other for their survival, two other groups prepare for the worst; a team of scientists led by Reed Richards and the Cabal, a team of villains led by Thanos and the Maker, Reed’s counterpart from the Ultimate Universe. As these two teams escape on inter-dimensional life rafts, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and the Molecule Man steal the power of the Beyonders, ancient gods responsible for the incursions. Doom pieces together a new world, known as Battleworld, from the fragments of the lost realities, with Strange as his sheriff, Sue Storm as his queen and everyone else under his command, making himself the god of this new world and ruling from his castle in the World Tree. An army of Thors serves as his elite enforcers, the Thing is made into a wall to keep out hordes of the undead, Johnny Storm is imprisoned above as the sun and numerous former heroes and villains rule vast kingdoms in Doom’s name. The survivors of the two life rafts are the only ones other than Doom and Strange who remember the world before, consisting of Richards, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Namor, Star-Lord, Jane Foster, Cyclops (now with the power of the Phoenix), Peter Parker, Miles Morales and the villains of the Cabal. Strange helps them escape from Doom, who kills him and the Phoenix-powered Cyclops before dispatching his forces across Battleworld. Weeks later, the heroes have gathered enough allies and weapons to face Doom in battle. Star-Lord places a splinter of the fallen Groot into the roots of the World Tree, allowing his friend to take to the battlefield in a colossal new form, while the two Reeds locate the Molecule Man to try and convince him to help them. Black Panther, now armed with an Infinity Gauntlet courtesy of the late Sheriff Strange, leads the army of the dead against Doom, and the two now-godlike kings duel in the heavens. When Doom finally faces Reed in the Molecule Man’s prison, all of his new power is released, destroying Battleworld and allowing the old world to return. Back in the Prime Universe, Reed and his family get to work restoring the multiverse. If I forgot anything, I apologise.
Jonathan Hickman (writer), Esad Ribic (artist), Ive Svorcina (colourist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Clayton Cowles (letterer, #5 and #7), Alex Ross (cover artist)
Collects Free Comic Book Day 2015: Secret Wars #0 and Secret Wars #1-9
My Copy
I got my copy of Secret Wars at Dublin Comic Con a few years back, which I believe was the first time I’d actually purchased a comic at such an event. I can’t remember exactly what year it was, only that I must have spent about three hundred euros at that stall alone, between this and the huge back of Transformers I picked up.
Before Reading
I didn’t really know anything about Secret Wars beyond it being a big event in Marvel lore. I was eager to get into it, but the busy cover and hefty runtime got me a little concerned that it would be more than a little complicated. I also didn’t know much about the Ultimate Universe, or that it even existed, so the impact of the crossover and its consequences would have largely been lost on me at the time.
After Reading (Several Times)
It took me a couple of rereads to fully comprehend everything that was going on in Secret Wars, which is saying a lot for someone who usually has a microscopic attention to details when it comes to things like this. There’s a lot going on, almost too much in some places, and it can be tricky to get into since it comes straight off the back of a string of other events. Said events are summed up quite well by the prologue issue, but at the cost of this opening chapter feeling like little more than an exposition dump. I suppose this is necessary, since if, like me, you jumped straight into the collected edition without reading up on the background, you’d certainly find yourself going back and rechecking the previous pages.
Once I got to grips with everything that the story had to offer, I really enjoyed it. At a surface level, it’s worth it for all of the fun “what if” scenarios thrown in. To name a few, we have Groot absorbing the World Tree, Black Panther with an Infinity Guantlet, an army of Thors, an army of Hulks, and a giant-sized The Thing fighting Galactus (who serves as a bodyguard for Doom’s “son” Franklin Richards, which I forgot to mention earlier). This kind of stuff is just plain cool, and really sells the chaotic, patchwork nature of Battleworld.
One of the things that confused me the most about this storyline is the question of who the main character was. I know that big crossover events like this can have several characters that they focus on, but having too many can make it easy to lose track of which plot lines you should pay the most attention to. At first, I thought that Reed was the focus of the story, which would have made sense, since he’s the one who arguably goes through the most between his guilt at not saving his world and realising that his family are alive and have been taken from him. I really started enjoying the story when the annals of the internet led me to an alternative perspective: Doctor Doom is the main character. Similar to how Avengers: Infinity War is essentially Thanos’ movie, Secret Wars firmly belongs to Victor Von Doom, following his rise and fall from his greatest victory. He’s also the character who we end the story with, where we see him finally take off his mask and look down at his kingdom, apparently fully healed from his injuries.
Speaking of the final scene, I couldn’t help but feel that the ending could have been done better. With Battleworld gone and the Prime Universe back, we see what Reed, Black Panther and the two Spider-Men go off to do next, but everyone else who remembered their old world (Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, etc.) are kind of forgotten about, and if they died, we don’t know how or when they (inevitably) come back. As for everyone else who died on Battleworld, it’s unclear whether this is the end for them either. That said, I’m thinking about this in terms of what happens within the event itself, rather than the storylines that come after it, so I’m sure the reappearances of all of these characters is explained at some point. It just would have made the whole thing feel more complete if we had even a single page of individual panels that show the restored heroes and villains going off to prepare for their next series.
Closing Thoughts
Although it can be hard to follow on a first reading, Secret Wars delivers an impactful story for its heroes and its villains, with plenty of fun little spins on familiar characters that set it apart from other crossover events.
Next’s week I’ll be taking a look at something a bit more straightforward, where a lonely warrior returns home to avenge his family.
