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Marvel Comics' Secret Wars is just sold out at the distributor level, just as Marvel Studios' Multiverse Saga begins

The source material behind the new sequence of the MCU is not available via distributors

Secret Wars
Image credit: Marvel Entertainment

Just as Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters and begins the build-up to the climactic final movie in the storyline Avengers: Secret Wars in 2026, Popverse has learned that the collected edition of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s acclaimed Secret Wars series — the inspiration behind the current 'Multiverse Saga' of the MCU — has fallen out of print.

Retailers report that the book, originally released in September 2016, is showing as out of stock on the distribution level at both Penguin Random House and Diamond Comic Distributors. (Copies may still be available via individual retailers; Online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop say they have copies on-hand, for now at least.)

Secret Wars was listed as being one of a number of Marvel titles being sent back to press via a Marvel retailer mailing on Thursday, alongside additional titles include Devil’s Reign, Sinister War, She-Hulk by Soule & Pulido: The Complete Collection, and Ironheart: Riri Williams. According to Marvel’s mailing, the titles “are scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks in the approximate order they are listed”; Secret Wars is seventh on the list, below Alien Vol. 2: Revival and a reprint of Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1.

... what could be a big seller for retailers in the wake of the release of Quantumania is going to be MIA when demand is at a high...

Reprint editions traditionally arrive somewhere between three to five weeks after the reprint announcement is made, according to those familiar with the situation, suggesting that what could be a big seller for retailers in the wake of the release of Quantumania (no spoilers, but especially after that post-credits scene) is going to be MIA when demand is at a high… and at a time when the announcement of DC Studios’ movie and TV slate led to a number of sell-outs of DC collected editions, demonstrating the power of movies to drive comic sales.

Secret Wars, originally serialized in 2015 and 2016, was the culmination of writer Jonathan Hickman’s years-long storyline surrounding the Marvel multiverse, with the multiverse collapsed into one remaining planet ruled over by an omnipotent — but imperfect — Doctor Doom. It’s widely recognized as being a central influence on the upcoming Multiverse Saga of MCU releases across Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the studio’s output.

On the collectors market, copies of CGC'ed copies of Secret Wars #1 are currently as high as $625 on eBay.

Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, the '80s miniseries that itself acted as an inspiration to the 2015 Secret Wars, was released as a hardcover omnibus by Marvel last month. To date, no similar omnibus edition of the 2015 series has been announced.


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Graeme McMillan avatar

Graeme McMillan

Staff Writer

Popverse staff writer Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.

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