Critics of Marvels Secret Wars miniseries deride the story as being nothing more than a fluff book designed to sell action figures (the toy point is unquestionably true), but it holds a very special place in comic history as being one of the first true events. Secret Wars features a cast of all A list superhero and villain talent the Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Ultron, Kang, etc. If Hollywood ever wants to adapt a story that squeezes every major character Marvel has to offer into one film, regardless of studio affiliation, Secret Wars is the way to go. A Secret Wars movie has summer blockbuster written all over it. At its core, it is basically just one big battle involving all of Marvel's most colorful and exciting characters. Imagine what the "Battle of New York" would have looked like in The Avengers if the good guys were actually fighting an aligned group of recognisable and iconic supervillains, rather than anonymous alien lifeforms. Plus, Secret Wars does feature a host of entertaining and historically important scenes featuring individual characters that would make instant movie magic: Spider-Man discovering the alien symbiote that would become his black suit (and later Venom); the Hulk holding up an entire mountain to save his teammates; the Wasp seducing Magneto; and Doctor Doom taking on the mystical Beyonder and emerging victorious. And yes, once the movie is made and released and makes billions of dollars, a top notch action figure line has already been built in.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
