Jonathan Hickman says Marvel brought him in on Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars

Jonathan Hickman, one of the comic writers most closely tied to Marvel's Multiverse era, says he has been part of Marvel Studios' process for its next two Avengers films. He revealed that he has consulted on Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, adding a new layer to how directly the studio is drawing from his work.

Hickman said he consults for studios and reads scripts for movies while they are still in development. He said that, over the past two and a half years, he has been able to watch this project change as he read material for it.

He pointed to a major turn when the Russos returned, Steven McFeely came back, and Robert Downey Jr. was announced as part of the cast again. Hickman said he is excited by what the team is making and described his experience with them positively, while also making clear that he has not seen a finished version of the film.

For Marvel fans, the significance is easy to see. Hickman's ideas already sit near the center of the current saga. Marvel's Multiverse storyline has drawn heavily from his 77 issue Avengers and New Avengers run, and the idea of incursions came from him. The upcoming Secret Wars movie is also expected to take more from Hickman's 2015 Secret Wars comic than from the 1984 original.

His wider Marvel résumé explains why that matters. Since 2009, Hickman has been behind major runs on Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, and several Ultimate Universe books. He has also written Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. In 2019, House of X and Powers of X reset the X-Men line in a major way.

What changed here is not the films themselves, but what fans now know about their development: Hickman has been in the mix, reading material and offering input on both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars while they move through development.