Avengers: Secret Wars’ 2028 Sequel Has Been Confirmed By The MCU’s Release Order

Published Aug 22, 2026, 12:20 PM EDT Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture. The MCU's release order has set up one 2028 movie to serve as a successor of sorts for Avengers: Secret Wars, making it even more important in the wider context of the franchise. While we had one of the biggest gaps in the Avengers series since it began as a result of the space between 2019's Avengers: Endgame and 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, the franchise was able to connect itself together through other means and thanks to a range of other interconnected stories. For example, Deadpool & Wolverine acted as a major chapter for the MCU by tying the main MCU world and the Fox X-Men universe together via the multiverse, and Thunderbolts* blended the stories of a range of prior MCU heroes, antiheroes, and former villains together in order to make the group that would eventually become the New Avengers. As such, it's clear other MCU movies can serve as quasi-sequels or successors to the Avengers series where it matters, given the past few years for the franchise. That said, perhaps the most interesting example of a non-Avengers movie carrying a torch for the series hasn't yet happened, as it will follow in Avengers: Secret Wars' footsteps the year after the 2027 movie releases. 2028 Has Given The Avenger Movie Release Window To Another Major MCU Movie Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have already revitalized the MCU movie series in a few different ways, but one of the more notable means by which they have done so is by placing the film series in the end of year release window, with Doomsday releasing on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars debuting on December 17, 2027. Interestingly, while there is no Avengers movie scheduled for 2028 right now, there is an MCU film set to follow in Secret Wars' footsteps by releasing during the same time period: namely, Black Panther 3, which is due to debut on December 15, 2028. Much in the way that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are set to be the main MCU crossover movies for their respective years, and films that tie the MCU's expansive past to its future, Black Panther 3 also looks set to be that for 2028, meaning it is the successor of sorts for Avengers: Secret Wars following the film ending the Multiverse Saga in 2027. Black Panther 3 Is Set To Be 2028's Big Interconnected MCU Event Movie Though the Black Panther series is of course primarily focused on the people who have held the titular mantle, and their efforts to protect Wakanda over the years, the franchise has generally served to help flesh out the wider lore of the universe in a major way. The original Black Panther expanded what we knew about nanotech and Earth's general technological capabilities thanks to the advanced capacity of Wakanda in the MCU timeline, and provided a crucial update in Bucky Barnes' story via him going to Wakanda to try and undo his conditioning as the Winter Soldier. Similarly, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever expanded the MCU substantially, introducing Ironheart and Namor into the franchise, and even delving into the more grounded side of the franchise via its exploration of the geopolitical turmoil over vibranium, as well as the CIA's recent dealings via Everett Ross and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. As such, it's almost impossible to imagine that Black Panther 3 won't similarly draw on the rich interconnected tapestry of the MCU as it constructs its own story. With 2028's X-Men and Ghost Rider movies being more focused on introducing entirely new figures and hero mantles to the franchise, this makes Black Panther 3 all the more important, and all the more of a crucial cornerstone for the MCU much in the way that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will be in 2026 and 2027 respectively as well.