In, perhaps, what is expected to be the biggest installment the MCU has seen since Avengers: Endgame, 2025’s Avengers: Secret Wars has now officially found a writer!
According to Deadline, this morning, it’s being reported that none other than Loki season 1 showrunner, Michael Waldron, will be taking on screenwriting duties. Waldron also wrote this summer’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And he previously was a writer on Rick and Morty.
We still do not know who will be directing Avengers: Secret Wars, though its predecessor, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is being helmed by Shang–Chi director, Destin Daniel Cretton, and written by fellow Rick and Morty writer Jeff Loveness. It seems like the Rick and Morty team is essentially taking over the MCU for better or worse.
Frankly, while I loved Loki season 1, and liked Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I can’t help but be disappointed with the announcement. Reception for Multiverse of Madness was ultimately mixed, at best, and Waldron himself admitted in the Assembled documentary on Disney+ that he had no idea what to do for the second act of the film, so he threw in The Illuminati. It’s one of the few instances of a writer openly admitting to having no direction and compensating with fan service that I’ve heard of in the MCU.
And that’s concerning. To have him helm a giant crossover event, when his work on Multiverse of Madness was admittedly a lot more standalone than previously anticipated makes me think Secret Wars may follow suit. It’s also concerning to wing a fan service moment into a film for the sake of completion because you can’t think of where to take it. And that’s not the right approach for a project of this scale and consequence. Though I understand why they’d choose him, given his initiation of the Multiverse Saga through Loki.
That said, taking a look at the approach Marvel Studios took with masterpieces, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, time and care was put into both, with the same consistent voices overseeing the projects from a writing and directing standpoint, and a cohesive story that tied all previous Infinity Saga films together in smart and emotionally satisfying ways. Splitting these two projects up into separate films with separate teams makes me feel like there’s the risk of losing cohesion within the MCU; more so than what we’ve seen in recent years with Phase 4. And to choose a writer that is willing to just throw in moments without much thought into payoff and earned moments, much less necessity, is honestly quite a gamble.
And that’s just not the lesson Marvel Studios needs to take. Especially when movies like Spider-Man No Way Home, which used its fan service to boost the narrative in a meaningful way, exist within the MCU. My advice would ultimately be to pump the breaks and the pressure likely being pushed on the studio to put out these two event films along with several Disney+ shows and build-up features, learn from what hasn’t worked so far with Phase 4, ensure vision and direction is aligned, and put out the best quality product imaginable: something that would be a worthy successor to The Infinity Saga.
Time will prove whether or not I’m right about this. And naturally, I, and the rest of the world are betting big that I’m wrong. But Waldron has much more to prove to me, for me to take him seriously as a quality candidate for this very important job. Regardless, through it all, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m with the MCU ’till the end of the line.
Avengers: Secret Wars hits theaters November 7, 2025
