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Secret Wars explained: the 1984 and 2015 comics

Two Marvel events share the name, and both end with Doctor Doom holding a god's power. Here is what happens in each, how they connect, and the order to read them.

By the editors of The Iron Mask Files · Published October 18, 2026 · 4 min read

Avengers: Secret Wars, due December 17, 2027, shares its name with two Marvel comics published thirty years apart. Marvel has not said how closely the film will follow either, but if you want to know why the name matters, and why Doctor Doom sits at the center of it, these are the stories to know.

The short version

Secret Wars in one paragraphIn Secret Wars (1984–85), a cosmic being called the Beyonder drops Earth's heroes and villains on a patchwork planet to fight, and Doctor Doom steals the Beyonder's power. In Secret Wars (2015), the whole multiverse is destroyed, and Doom, holding the power of the Beyonders, builds a new world, Battleworld, out of the pieces and rules it as God Emperor, until the survivors of the old universe arrive.

Secret Wars (1984–85)

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1–12, by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck, was built around a simple idea: a being from beyond the universe, the Beyonder, gathers Marvel's heroes and villains on Battleworld, a planet assembled from pieces of other worlds, including a suburb of Denver, and tells them to slay their enemies and win whatever they desire.

Doom ignores the contest. He makes the Molecule Man his right-hand man (#3), drains Galactus through Klaw (#10), then takes the Beyonder's power for himself and becomes a god for an issue (#10–11), so powerful he is afraid to fall asleep. The Beyonder, hiding inside Klaw, tricks him into losing it (#12). Along the way, Spider-Man finds the black costume that later becomes Venom (#8). Our Beyonder-powered Doom page rates that version.

Collected in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

Secret Wars II (1985–86)

A sequel, by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom, brings the Beyonder to Earth to learn what it means to be human. It ties into dozens of other titles and is optional reading.

The road to 2015: the Incursions

Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers (2012–15) set up the second Secret Wars. Whole universes start colliding in events called Incursions, and when two Earths meet, one has to die or both do. The Illuminati, Earth's secret council of leaders, cannot bring themselves to destroy another Earth; Namor does it anyway, then forms the Cabal and recruits Thanos to keep doing it (New Avengers vol. 3 #21–24). In the final arc, Time Runs Out (Avengers #35–44 and New Avengers #24–33, 2015), Doom reveals he has been working all along against the beings behind the Incursions, the Beyonders, and with Doctor Strange and the Molecule Man he kills them (New Avengers vol. 3 #33). Our villains section rates the Cabal and the Beyonders against Doom.

Secret Wars (2015)

Secret Wars #1–9, by Hickman and Esad Ribić, opens with the end of everything: the last two universes collide, and almost everyone dies. Doom, holding the Beyonders' power through the Molecule Man, gathers what is left and stitches it into Battleworld, a single planet of domains ruled by barons sworn to him. He rules as God Emperor for eight years, with Sue Storm as his wife, Franklin and Valeria as his children, Doctor Strange as his sheriff and a corps of Thors as his police (#1–3).

Then the survivors arrive: a life raft carrying Reed Richards and other heroes, and another carrying the Cabal (#2–3). Doom kills a Phoenix-powered Cyclops and then Doctor Strange (#4), faces a rebellion led by Maximus (#6–7), kills Thanos with one hand (#8), and faces Black Panther with the Infinity Gauntlet and Namor with an army of the dead (#8–9). At the end, the Molecule Man strips Doom's power so he and Reed can fight as equals. Doom admits Reed would have done better with it; the power passes to Reed, who begins rebuilding the multiverse, and Doom wakes in Latveria with his face healed (#9).

Our God Emperor Doom page rates that version, Battleworld explained maps his world, and Doctor Doom vs. Thanos and Doctor Doom vs. the Molecule Man cover two of its key fights.

Collected in Secret Wars (2015). Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

Reading order

  1. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1–12

    1984–85 · Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck

    The original. Self-contained and quick to read.

    Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

  2. Secret Wars II #1–9

    1985–86 · Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom

    Optional: the Beyonder on Earth.

    Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

  3. Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers

    2012–15 · Jonathan Hickman and others

    The Incursions, the Illuminati and the Cabal, building to Time Runs Out. Long, but it is the real setup.

    Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

  4. Secret Wars #1–9

    2015–16 · Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić

    Doom as God Emperor. The best Doom story of the century.

    Find it: Amazon · Bookshop.org

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What it means for the film

Marvel has not said which story Avengers: Secret Wars adapts. Both comics are about a world made by a god and the heroes trapped on it, and in both, Doom ends up holding that god's power. Our Avengers: Secret Wars hub tracks what is confirmed.

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Written for The Iron Mask Files, an unofficial fan site. Comic issue numbers are given so you can check every claim; no artwork or dialogue from the comics is reproduced. Spot a mistake? Tell us. Our editorial standards.