Huge Marvel News!: Avengers: Secret Wars Reportedly to Begin Filming April 2026
Well, well, well. After months of speculation and frankly bizarre scheduling decisions from the House of Ideas, we finally have some concrete details about when Marvel’s highly anticipated “Avengers: Secret Wars” will actually start filming. Spoiler alert: it’s happening sooner than many expected, and honestly, that might be cause for both excitement and concern.
Marvel’s Secret Wars Production Timeline Finally Revealed
According to multiple industry sources, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Secret Wars” is set to begin production in April 2026 and wrap filming by September 2026. This six-month shooting schedule gives the film a luxurious 15-month post-production window before its scheduled December 17, 2027, release date.
Hollywood North Buzz reports that the film will shoot primarily in Vancouver, mirroring the production approach of its predecessor. According to the Buzz, the working title is called “APPLE PIE 2” – because apparently Marvel thinks they’re being clever with their code names these days.
Let’s be honest here: this timeline feels both ambitious and slightly terrifying. We’re talking about one of the most complex superhero films ever attempted, featuring what appears to be every Marvel character under the sun, and they’re giving themselves just over a year to make movie magic happen.
The Script Situation That Has Everyone Talking
Here is where things get interesting – Michael Waldron, who’s been juggling more Marvel scripts than a circus performer, recently opened up about the creative process. In addition, he talked about originally writing the scrapped “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” movie. Comic Book reported him saying, “I was writing the movie after that, but there wasn’t a filmmaker attached yet; I was just involved in all those conversations.”
Waldron added, “When that movie went away, I was working on what would become ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Secret Wars’ for a time, and then they brought in the Russos and Steve McFeely. “As those guys got in and wrapped their hands around what these movies were going to be, and [then] there was an opportunity for me to come back in and get to know Joe and Anthony and Steve and really just help however I could, that’s what I’m trying to do is just support them.”
Translation: even the screenwriter isn’t entirely sure what’s happening anymore. The confirmed cast list reads like a Marvel fan’s fever dream – or nightmare, depending on your perspective on massive ensemble pieces. We’re getting Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom (because apparently Tony Stark wasn’t dramatic enough), Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, and a laundry list of heroes spanning multiple franchises.
Production Challenges That Would Make Even Thanos Sweat
Starting production in April 2026 means the Russo Brothers and their team have roughly 15 months to turn this massive undertaking into something coherent. That might sound like plenty of time, but consider this: they’re essentially trying to create a satisfying conclusion to storylines spanning multiple phases of the MCU while introducing new characters and maintaining some semblance of narrative logic.
Look, nobody wants Avengers: Secret Wars to succeed more than longtime Marvel fans. The Russo Brothers proved they could handle massive ensemble pieces with “Infinity War” and “Endgame”, and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay work on those films was genuinely impressive. But starting production in April 2026 with what appears to be a script still in flux? That’s either confidence or hubris – and in Hollywood, the line between those two is thinner than Ant-Man at his smallest setting.
The film’s working title, “APPLE PIE 2,” suggests they’re treating this as a direct sequel to “Avengers: Doomsday”, which means these two films are intrinsically linked in ways that could either create an epic two-part finale or a spectacular disaster if one piece falls apart. “As those guys got in and wrapped their hands around what these movies were going to be, and [then] there was an opportunity for me to come back in and get to know Joe and Anthony and Steve and really just help however I could,” Waldron noted, which honestly sounds like the creative equivalent of “too many cooks in the kitchen.”
