Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer. Image via Marvel Studios By Collier Jennings Published Sep 6, 2026, 12:21 AM EDT Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us Add on Google Preferred Source Google News Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Listen Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap With anticipation at a fever pitch for Avengers: Doomsday , directors Joe and Anthony Russo have begun work on its direct sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars . Details about Secret Wars have remained as scarce as Doomsday , though it's been confirmed that the Russos are drawing inspiration from Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic 's Secret Wars series. However, Secret Wars just took its biggest step forward with the news that Noah Jupe ( A Quiet Place ) has been cast in a mystery role .
Jupe's casting has sparked a flurry of speculation online, as is par for the course with MCU casting news. Some have theorized that he might play a character connected to the X-Men, particularly since the mutant team's slated to be the center of an upcoming reboot . This speculation also stems from the fact that Secret Wars will potentially feature the return of X-Men characters like Hugh Jackman 's Wolverine . However, Jupe could also play a teenage version of Franklin Richards , and Hickman and Ribic's Secret Wars supports this theory.
Franklin Richards in the Fantastic Four comics by Marvel Image via Marvel Comics When 2015's Secret Wars begins, it's with a truly apocalyptic event. Earth-616, the mainstream Marvel Universe, and Earth-1610, the Ultimate Marvel Universe, collide in a reality-shattering event that leaves both worlds utterly destroyed. However, Doctor Doom uses the godlike powers he recently gained to pull the fragments of reality together into a new Battleworld, which he rules as God Emperor. As part of Doom's machinations, he rewrites reality so that Sue Storm is his consort, and Franklin Richards is one of his children. In the aftermath of the storyline, Franklin uses his reality-warping powers to reconstruct the Marvel Universe . Joe Russo previously confirmed that both the 2015 Secret Wars and the original 1984 miniseries would serve as inspiration for the movie :
"Well, we always create our own version of the story. So, we use the comics as loose inspiration. "But, you know, I grew up on the original run. That's something that got me into Marvel comic books. The Hickman run is also fantastic [and they're] very different from each other in a lot of ways, so we'll draw inspiration from both of them."
If Noah Jupe is playing a teenage Franklin Richards, then Avengers: Secret Wars is more than likely going to adapt the storyline where he and Sue become Doom's new family. It would give Secret Wars plenty of emotional heft , as Reed Richards fights to free his family from Doom's clutches while Do…