Marvel Studios has been slowly teasing the debut of an organization in the MCU that I think will be incredibly important to Phase 6’s Avengers: Secret Wars. We’re now deep into the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, so certain separate storylines are starting to interweave, which is allowing the franchise’s overall narrative to, thankfully, begin to make sense. Heading into Phase 6’s Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, it’s likely we’ll soon have a functioning Avengers team, will witness more dramatic incursions, and will have a better idea of which villains the MCU’s heroes will battle.

Several upcoming MCU projects will lay the foundations for Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, though it seems The Fantastic Four will be setting up Secret Wars the most. Most notably, Marvel Studios has been continuously teasing the Future Foundation’s appearance in The Fantastic Four, recently as branding on banners promoting The Fantastic Four at SDCC 2024 (via Rob Paladino).

The Future Foundation plays a huge role in Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars event, which has made me think that some of Secret Wars’ most unexpected stories will actually be told in the MCU.

How Marvel’s Future Foundation Connects To Secret Wars In The Comics

The Future Foundation was established in Marvel Comics in 2010’s Fantastic Four #579, with Reed Richards forming the organization as a means to better serve humanity through philanthropic means. For the next five years, the Future Foundation aided several heroes across the world, and also recruited Spider-Man as an official member of the Fantastic Four following Johnny Storm’s death. This culminated in the Secret Wars event in 2015, which gave Mister Fantastic and the Future Foundation a crucial and seemingly impossible mission: saving as many as possible during an incursion.

To that end, the Future Foundation built life rafts that could theoretically carry anyone on board away from an incursion. The life raft was created from the corpse of the fallen Living Tribunal, and used to carry the Future Foundation members, the Fantastic Four, and several other heroes outside the universe while it was being destroyed. Unfortunately, the section carrying the Invisible Woman, the Thing, and the Future Foundation, broke off, but the life raft still saved several heroes, and I think this would be the perfect way for the MCU’s heroes to survive their own incursion.

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I’m Convinced The Fantastic Four Movie Will Set Up Avengers 6 With The Future Foundation

Marvel Studios has now included Future Foundation branding during two promotional opportunities – the first being the reveal of the Marvel Comics inspiration behind The Fantastic Four. This makes me think that the Future Foundation will have a much bigger role in The Fantastic Four than first thought, and this presents the perfect chance for Marvel Studios to set up key story elements for Avengers: Secret Wars. The Fantastic Four could feature the establishment of the Future Foundation, or Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards could form the organization on-screen.

Marvel Studios recommended five issues of Marvel Comics to read prior to the release of The Fantastic Four : 1961’s Fantastic Four #1 , 1966’s Fantastic Four #48, #49, and #50 , and 2021’s Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 .

Some have speculated that, should The Fantastic Four be set in another universe, the titular team could make the move to the MCU proper after their own reality is destroyed. This means that The Fantastic Four could detail the creation of the life rafts, which would enable the Fantastic Four and other members of the Future Foundation to join the MCU’s main continuity. This would establish a crucial piece of Avengers: Secret Wars’ plot, as these life rafts could later be used to save heroes during a devastating incursion event.

The Future Foundation Can Make Battleworld A Major Location In The MCU’s Phase 6

After the Future Foundation’s life raft carried several heroes away from the universe in Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars storyline, the craft eventually made its way to the patchwork planet of Battleworld. This world was created when Doctor Doom absorbed the power of the Beyonders, allowing him to bring together fragments of the destroyed universes to create a new planet inhabited by many different variants, with Doom presiding over them as God Emperor. Battleworld has already been teased in the MCU, so I would love for The Fantastic Four to actually begin to set up this exciting location.

In Marvel Comics, Battleworld comprised a series of “domains”, each inhabited by different variations of iconic Marvel characters, though none had any memory of their previous lives before Battleworld. God Emperor Doom employed the Thor Corps as his police force, with Sheriff Strange as his right-hand-man. Battleworld was an expansive and interesting world in Marvel Comics, so I would love to see it featured in several projects in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, and the Future Foundation’s debut in The Fantastic Four can provide the MCU’s next tease towards Battleworld’s formation.

Battleworld Has Already Been Teased In The MCU

While the Future Foundation’s appearance in The Fantastic Four could be the easiest way for Marvel Studios to begin to tease the formation of Battleworld, there have already been several teases towards Battleworld being featured in Avengers: Secret Wars. Throughout the release of Loki season 1 in 2021, theories began to emerge suggesting the Void at the End of Time could become the MCU’s version of Battleworld. The Void is already full of the broken pieces of various pruned realities, and many variants already reside there.

Deadpool & Wolverine will explore the Void in more detail, and could establish it as a true Battleworld. This seems even more likely as a copy of Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars #5 appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine’s first teaser. Secret Wars #5 detailed Doctor Doom’s stealing of the Beyonders’ power and his building of Battleworld. This seemed like a pretty overt tease towards Battleworld coming to the MCU. I can’t wait to see how Deadpool & Wolverine and The Fantastic Four tee up these huge stories for Avengers: Secret Wars, making the Multiverse Saga’s conclusion even more exciting.