▶For further reading, please check out David Harper's oral history of Secret Wars here: sktchd.com/longform/secret-wars-oral-history

I think some MCU fanboys who want Secret Wars don't understand it's not a cameo story, it's a deep story about the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom.

I know the quote "I think you and I are destined to do this forever" is a quote from Dark Knight about Batman and Joker but Secret Wars (2015) makes it very clear that this is also Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom.

The part of secret wars that I don't think is talked about enough is that the Susan Storm, Franklin and Valeria aren't the same ones that fell out of the life raft. Reed doesn't fix the universe because he thinks it's right, Reed fixes the universe because he loves and misses his family.

Secret Wars was the last Marvel event that felt really epic. A really good love letter to what Marvel as a whole is...that's why it's also one of my favorite events of all time.

Time Runs Out has some of the most memorable and emotionally draining moments of the 616.

Last year, I read through the entirety of Hickman’s Avengers run and Secret Wars and really fell in love with it. I think with all the talk about a potential Secret Wars in the MCU is that many people are only looking at it as an opportunity to see tons of cameos instead of what it truly is: a small group of characters against a wide universe changing event. Secret Wars 2015 is many things but a cameo ridden story it is not. Great video Owen

That last line reminds me of a similar moment in Doctor who. "Just this once, everyone lives"

Hickman’s marvel works are unmatched. His FF, his Avengers, his Secret Warriors, his X-Men, his Secret Wars. All top-tier. This one especially. I remember when I first read this that I thought “I would be totally fine if this was the final Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom story.” It’s that good.

Possibly one of the best and most positive "final" stories any Marvel character has ever had. I also remember Weirdworld was a really good tie-in and paying homage to it's own titular series.

I love this story, because anyone who's seen anything FF at all would know that Reed Richards is ABSOLUTELY the kind of person who's first thought upon realizing he's in a different universe would be that his ONLY hope of getting home is to find himself

as far as I'm concerned Hickman's fantastic four, new Avengers and Secret wars is one big story with fantastic four is the main characters and I love it.

They're the first family. The marvel universe wouldn't be anywhere without them. Not to mention they just rock Respect the FF

I thought that the gift that molecule man gave Miles was the fact his mother was still alive and with him…not that he was in the same universe as Peter. Let me know if I’m wrong…

Secret Wars and other comics, that led to this epic crossover, are true masterpieces, Jonathan Hickman is real genius, Nolan among comics writers and one of my favourite writers. I hope that MCU will bring this story into life decently

Fun fact, Secret Wars # 1 was actually the first comic book I ever read. And thus, my path to nerd hood fully began.

dude secret wars is probably one of greatest marvel stories and fantastic 4 story ever told it truly feels like a heartfelt ending to a era for marvel and fantastic 4 at the time

So glad that you actually did a video on Secret Wars. More ppl need to know that under all the crossover stuff is a personal story involving the FF & Doom.

All the MCU fans who think secret wars (2015) is just a multiverse big battle where all the Fox, Universal, Sony will show up in the movie just bc when the story is tribute to Reed Richards and Dr Doom. PLEASE READ COMICS.

I’ve never really been a fan of the ff until recently, now there one of my favourite super hero teams

Not sure if it's mentioned in this vid, but following this event at some point, Dr Doom has arguably the greatest line/set of panels ever for his character "I was a God once..." "I found it... beneath me."

Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars is one my favourite comics of all time! And Esad Ribic’s art is amazing!

I remembered reading it in late middle school or early high school as it came out and being wow’d. That this world I just got into was ending and turning into something bigger and more hopeful than ever. Secret Wars is one of my favorite comic stories of all time, I definitely have to get a digital copy sometime soon!.

Hickman writing Dr. Doom is one of the best things to read in comics. It made me love the character and hunt down past appearances but nothing quite has the epic nature of Dr. Doom has when Hickman is writing him. Doom's confrontation with the Beyonders and his massive hubris, as then success over these all powerful beings was just so fun to read.

One criticism- when describing why Molecule Man gave Mr. Fantastic the power you left out that Doom finally admitted Reed could've done something better than him, which is very important.

I love everything Hickman did with the fantastic four. It got me into the team and since then I been in love with marvel’s first family

I was never a big F4/Dr. Doom fan growing up, being born in 84 & growing up with 90's edge. The older I have gotten, the more I like & respect Marvel's original Trinity: Reed & Sue & Victor

Secret War is the perfect ending to the Marvel Universe. I haven't even read Marvel since this ended because it was just a good send off.

Considering that this was just before the fantastic Four hiatus (The Four-atus as I called it) I was honestly fine with this being the ending of the first family. Thanks for Covering this Owen.

Hickman’s New Avengers (the Illuminati book) is basically just a continuation of his FF run (and all the better for it).

Fantastic video on one of my favorite comics ever!

You open the video exactly like ComicIsland’s full story of Secret Wars and Time Runs Out. Underrated dramatic version.

Marvel should give Hickman his own pocket universe where he can write whatever he wants.

This was an enlightening breakdown of this even that helps me to see it in a different light! I have to admit that when I first read it, besides a few real epic moments I enjoyed, overall it fell flat for me and I didn’t get the same sense of satisfaction that had been hyped up by so many. I felt like I enjoyed the lead in stories in Hickman’s Fantastic Four and New Avengers better than the Secret Wars event itself. After videos like this however providing me with new insight, perhaps I’ll be able to enjoy it a lot more on a second reading. I’m definitely willing to give it that chance 👍🏽 Thanks for another great video!

All of Hickman's Marvel work is so good. His run on FF and Secret Wars definitely stand out to me as some of the best comics in recent memory. Great work as always, Owen!

That quote from Mr. Fantastic at the end of the video was...well...fantastic.

My only complains about the story is how, I kinda wished there were more elements of the Fantastic four mythos at battleworld or maybe even more moments between other fantastic four characters. Like say, an enitre domain belongs to moleman and his monsters, or the kree and skrulls, maybe say doom couldn't resist having a silver surfer as his herald / prophet, or a version of uatu as the one recording battleworld's history or maybe even an impossible man as his court's jester. maybe the "frightful four" reimagined as doom's elite bodyguards while the thors are his bigger army. stuff like that. Or mre story driven Example: have at least one moment between spider-man peter parker and reed richards. considering reed lost his entire family, yet has also said peter is part of his family, you would think both would have moments being emotional support to each other. at least once. but sadly, the story didn't have enough time for that, not even in tie-ins. ALSO Maybe give at least some pages of confrontation between Johnny the Human Sun VS God Emperor Doom... sure, that moment can still end quick, but it would still be quite of a shocker to say, the fight lasts 2 pages tops, everything goes black in doom's battleworld, like the end of times. And to show the difference between them have doom try to use that chance to flee th battle while ironically, it is t'challa, the one with limited omnipotence who tries to give light even if only on doom's castle (due to said limits). Although I admit thats me just being greedy as the story (hickman's epic at fantastic four) is already good enough as it is

I remember getting to the end of this story back in 2015~ and having one of the most powerful feelings of catharsis i've ever had reading comics. Great run

Dude the intro AMAZING goosebumps all over me man

This comic needs to be the final conclusion to the mcu( With all characters).

Secret Wars is also one of the only comic events where I strongly suggest reading all of the crossovers and spinoffs. They're not necessary to get the core of the story but there's some really good stuff in there that really expands the universe as Doom created it and makes it feel very established and lived in. A lot of the Battleworld and Warzones stuff is excellent. There's a great Zombies miniseries, Weirdworld, 1872, Future Imperfect, Years of Future Past, MODOK Assassin, and especially the first run of Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows and the Thors miniseries which is done like a police procedural.

Man, this was so good. Hickman is the man, his FF and Avengers runs deserve their own videos in the future! Great job, keep it up

Hickman is so good at big epics.

I recently restarted Hickmans avengers as of a few months ago and when I saw you were working on this I binged secret wars for the first time since it released. God it's too good.

My favourite Hickman-Book is his Ultimates-Run! Absolutely amazing!

This was one of the first comics i ever sat down and read and man it got me hooked bad. I love how it just goes all over the place and shows you so many variations to things. It will have you wanting to read every branching story.

Before Time Runs Out & Secret Wars, I LIKED Johnathan Hickman as I writer... After...I read anything he pens! 🥰

God damn this one left me pretty emotional just like when i first finished back then, thanks dude you're one of my favourite comic youtube creators easily :)

I've actually decided to start reading Fantastic Four from 98 to Hickman, and even back in the late 90's there are hints towards a rapture in the fabric of reality which makes that pay off in Secret Wars even more satisfying. It's my favourite event, helped by the fact that I read his Avengers/New Avengers runs (which I do plan to reread once I finished his FF). It's a big story which I feel transcends one writer and feels like a fitting conclusion to both the Marvel Universe up to that point and as a conclusion to Fantastic Four. I've read and enjoyed FF comics since Secret Wars, but this event just feels like a big finale to Fantastic Four as a whole.

You're channel has become one of my favorites to get really stoned and watch. Thanks for giving me these really great revisits with some of my favorite comics. I don't always have a few hours to revisit stuff, and channels like yours help me remember why i fucking love comics. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Hey Owen, I've been bugging you on Twitter as well. I apologise for annoying you, if I have. I would like to clarify that your videos have been a great resource for me, getting back into reading serialised, ongoing comics. Not just old series wrapped up years ago. Truly appreciate the work you are doing, it's a fantastic (pun intended) resource, as well as a kind of hub that pulls me, most likely others into a community. Besides you, there are two other people I find essential for this. Great work, I look forward to following what you do for years. I watch your videos on reasonablely large screen in the living room and your editing, selection of images unfold beautifully.

Wowza!!! What an amazing story!!! Thank you Owen, i had no idea!

The amount of work & love you put into these vids shows thru & thru. Keep up the great work and stay safe.

The best saga and event ever made

Your stuff (which I found a couple of weeks ago) definitely scratches an itch for some comics videos that I didn't even know I had. This is without a doubt my favorite Marvel event, so I was super excited to watch this. Great video, keep up the good work!

Hickmans run is absolutely fantastic! The man is a legend

Unpopular Opinion: Dan Slott's run on FF completely squandered the growth and nuance Hickman gave the FF as characters. That man undid all of Hickman's work in a matter of issues. smh

Great content as always. I think you should cover the Alex Ross trilogy of Earth X, Universe X, and Paradise X. Both story arcs of Hickman/Ross have a satisfying end (although bittersweet) to Marvel’s sliding timescale and sometimes convoluted past that Ross has attempted to clean up for generations looking to have loose ends tied up. I hope that Marvel Comics continue for generations unlimited as so many characters are as timeless as the mythologies that came before us. However, adaptations inevitably occur. Ourselves, historians, future weekly pullers, and of course first time readers can benefit from the great “What If?” stories that ultimately shaped the landscape of the medium to come. Just a thought. I hope you haven’t already covered these.

Is crazy how I been telling people about Hickman for years. Nobody listened, now everyone knows him🤦🏽‍♂️. Hickman is the best writter of this generation. This was my favorite story until I read House and Powers of X.

Been waiting to watch this till after I actually read the story, which I loved, I’ve read hickman’s F4 which I feel really heightened the experience of secret wars

What a GREAT VIDEO Owen, Keep Going ❤️❤️❤️

Huh. Go figure. I started re-reading this graphic novel last night. Nice.

It’s a great video Owen. Just as always

I feel like the MCU's secret war would have to be very different to be adapted. Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom are the classic rivalry of the 616 as we know it, and they have an emotional attachment to the reader, direct or indirect, because they represent a very important part of Marvel history. In the MCU the most similar thing there is are the big 3, which although important for the Avengers comics, do not have the same level as the first marvel family in importance, and that comes from the number 1 fan of the Avengers. The point is, if the MCU were to adapt it, it would be something inhumanly different. I'm not saying it's necessarily going to go wrong, but...

Great video, thank you Owen

Great video. Thanks.

Esad ribic's art is just... Wow

One of my favorite comics, I'm glad the ff got some more love. One of my favorite Hickman stories

Great information as always. Thank you.

Reed Richards, The Ultimate Man of Action

Man all your vids slap! Keep it up!

That is a stern looking Reed Richards

This channel needs more subscribers.

I really need to get back into Hickmans Fantastic Four. I personally think it is crowning achievement as a writer and made modern comic book masterpiece. Unless someone has read this can not say the fantastic four are boring. One of the best comics I have ever read. And the first F4 comic I read in school.

Secret War is really my favorite marvel story ever. To be frank, I consider hickmans first issue of F4 all the way to secret wars to be on story, and I love it so so much. I even did a project about it end of senior year in high school lol

Wonderfully produced

Secret wars is not just a love letter to FF and to the marvel universe as a whole it's about Reed vs Doom

Yeah Battleworld was cool and all but the final scene with Doom is far & away my main reason for loving this story. The amount of history, pathos, and character development in those pages is incredible. As a huge X-Men fan above anything else I admit Im jealous the X-world didnt receive this type of story climax & culmination. Yes we got a very abbreviated version with Inferno, but I'll always be bummed that Hickman bailed on Krakoa.

Wish you would’ve showed Doom catching and crushing the infinity guantlet, one of if not the most badass moments in comic book history. Otherwise an amazing summary of Secret Wars!

This is literally the greatest comic channel on YT

I predict the mcu’s version will take some inspiration from the 85s secret wars and 2015s secret wars imo

Great video. Ever think about profiling the original Kree/Skrull war?

I think if they are going to do a Fantastic Four movie and Secret Wars movie, they have to have Miles Teller be the Maker. The ground work from Fox is already there from the last FF movie.

Hickman's ENTIRE MARVEL RUN FF AVENGERS AND X MEN are a master class of boundless comics storytelling as well as his creator own works like east of west the nightly news and others

Looking forward to this one

Great video as always from the Majestic Comic Mastermind Owen! 👏. Also quick question which football team do you support? 🤔

For me, Secret Wars established Dr. Doom to be the greatest MCU villian of all time.

The MCU must bring Hickman for the Fantastic Four movie and secret wars it would be a shame if they didn't

I love me some God King Doom. Secret Wars is utterly brilliant.

I just read Hickman’s entire Fantastic Four and thought it was amazing. One of my favorite runs of all time. I can’t wait to read his Avengers/New Avengers run when that omnibus gets reprinted later this year and then Secret Wars.

I always considered Secret Wars Marvel's "series finale" and it's fitting. Nothing after that has felt like classic Marvel to me and it almost felt like post-Secret Wars Marvel is it's own thing, kind of a soft reboot without going full out as a reboot (Ironically I think modern Marvel would've been better if they did a Crisis on Infinite Earths style full reboot). And I think I now know why, it's because of how downplayed the Fantastic Four have been. Since the Marvel unvierse as we know it (yes I know, Captain America, Namor and Thor appeared before Fantastic Four, they're the exceptions not the rules in this analogy) more or less started with Fantastic Four it's fitting that when Marvel gets rid of them it feels like a whole new universe.

Good stuff.👍🏻

Its crazy wasn’t this the event that cancelled all the Fantastic Four comics and all promotions of them in other media until Disney bought Fox?

I'll be honest. I held a grudge against Secret Wars for a while because multiple books I was following were cancelled because of this even and didn't play into the event at all and I can't stand the Hickman relaunch of X-Men, but this makes me want to give Secret Wars a second chance.

Secret Wars 2015 is my favourite marvel story ever

They should've used the maker instead of Mr fantastic on the multiverse of madness

I remember when Secret War & Convergence came out. 2015 was wild for Marvel & DC had dropped the ball hardcore.

Reed could transform the whole universe but still didn’t cure Ben 🤣

this really makes me wish hickman could’ve finished his ultimates run. he made reed one of the most interesting characters to come out of that universe

Cool video.