10 Problems With Marvel's Secret Wars Nobody Wants To Admit

3. The Cast Is Too Big

To be fair to Secret Wars, this is more a problem with Marvel editorial and its approach to all crossover events. See, Secret Wars is actually unique in that it's mostly self-guided; Hickman is definitely getting to tell the story he wanted to, wrapping up a huge story arc he's been telling for the past five years or so. That's usually not the case. No, Marvel's events are most often cooked up at a writer's retreat, with multiple hands in putting together the basic plot, before it's handed off to somebody to actually script. Even then, the editor will poke their noses in and demand that the book feature all the characters they want to push that year (mainly ones appearing in films). What that means is the story becomes bloated and saggy and almost every Marvel character currently in print demands a cameo, so that you wind up invested in none of the stars since they're never on screen for long enough. Secret Wars has the same problem, and it's one of simply too many cooks spoiling the broth.