Both Avengers movies were originally scheduled to hit theaters last year, with Jeff Loveness (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania) writing The Kang Dynasty and Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) handling Secret Wars.
However, Jonathan Majors' personal and legal issues, coupled with the largely negative response to the Ant-Man threequel, led to Kang the Conqueror being dropped as the MCU's next major villain. Both Loveness and Waldron were reportedly removed from their respective movies, although Waldron was first brought in to rewrite what had then become "Avengers 5."
As the Multiverse Saga progressed, it became apparent to both fans and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige that putting the final chapters in the hands of the relatively inexperienced Rick & Morty writers may not have been the wisest decision.
Of the two, though, Waldron had arguably made a greater impact on the MCU. He worked on Loki Season 1 and the Doctor Strange sequel, with both projects playing a significant role in establishing the MCU's take on the Multiverse. Crucially, they both received positive reviews.
The return of directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writer Stephen McFeely was inevitably going to bring some major changes, with Robert Downey Jr.'s introduction as Doctor Doom obviously being one of the biggest. How much of Loveness and Waldron's original work will ultimately make it into Doomsday and Secret Wars remains to be seen.
Waldron, however, is said to have been paired with Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Endgame) to work on Doomsday and Secret Wars. In more recent months, we've also learned that Spider-Man franchise scribes Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna have also been enlisted for the two-part Multiverse Saga finale.
Where does that leave Waldron? In an interview with The Wrap, he explained what his contributions look like.
"Those guys are all so great. McKenna and Sommers were my first bosses in the business when I was a PA on 'Community.' So I have to deal with that, their relentless bullying, which is really just... No, they’re amazing, and they were mentors to me for a long time, so I love those guys. I was on these movies for a long time. I went off and made ‘Chad Powers’ when Steve and the Russos came on, and then I came back into 'Avengers' and was helping out Steve and Joe and Anthony, and then went and made Season 2 of 'Chad Powers,' and Chris and Erik came on, and then came back and have been helping some more, working with Chris and Erik and Steve and everybody. I mean, just those writers are responsible for some of the biggest movies ever made, so I just feel lucky to be working with all of them."
It sounds like Marvel Studios has assembled a writers' room of sorts for the next Avengers movies, which could be hugely beneficial for two movies with a lot of loose ends to tie up and huge expectations from fans to meet.
Waldron was responsible for helping to shape what the MCU's Multiverse looks like, and how it works. McFeely, Sommers, and McKenna, meanwhile, have written some of the franchise's biggest and best blockbusters, giving Feige and the Russos something of a dream team of writers here.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.