With Avengers: Infinity War nearly upon us, attention has turned to what other all-encompassing arcs could lie ahead for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of course, a fourth to-be-titled Avengers movie is already booked in for May 2019, with that to deal with the fallout of Infinity War. And let’s face it, it appears that some of our favourites won’t be making it out alive once Thanos finally steps out of the shadows in this month’s huge ensemble.

It could be something, it could be nothing, but co-director Joe Russo has teased that a cinematic take on the famed Secret Wars could potentially be on the table moving forward.

Speaking to Internaute, Joe teased, “We’ll say that if that Fox deal goes through with Disney, there’s a lot more characters to work with all of a sudden. It would be interesting to do something like Secret Wars.”

For those well versed in the world of Marvel Comics, you’ll be well aware of Secret Wars and just what a huge deal it was. For those unfamiliar with this arc, let us fill you in.

Secret Wars was a major event arc that began in 1984, spanning across pretty much each and every Marvel comic book title of the day. The Beyonder is introduced, and he magically transports a whole bunch of heroes – against their will – to the ominous Battleworld. The tale was essentially a who’s who of Marvel’s biggest hitters, with Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four (minus Sue Storm), Hulk, Magneto, Ultron, Doctor Doom, and the Lizard the major names involved in the action as these characters were pitted against one another. While that was all well and good, the biggest thing to come out of Secret Wars was that it was during this arc where Spider-Man first comes across the black suit that would ultimately go on to bond with Eddie Brock and form Venom. The tale was initially put together merely to shill a new range of Marvel toys, but the success of the arc led to several follow-up stories over the years.

In terms of what Joe Russo mentioned about Disney and Fox, that relates to the ongoing purchase of plentiful Fox assets by the House of Mouse. One such element of this deal would see the cinematic rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four switch over to Disney, meaning that these characters could then be used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Infinity War hits UK cinemas on April 25th.