What Is Avengers: Doomsday Really Setting Up?

Warning: Spoilers for Dr. Strange: Multiverse Of Madness, Loki Season 1 and 2 and Fantastic Four: First Steps ahead

It feels like ages since I last scoured over the internet reading up can theories for an upcoming Avengers movie. Said movie isn't even slated to release before December next year. Talk about peak Marvel fan experience.

Before everything else, I'll admit I had my reservations when Marvel announced the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Victor Von Doom last year. At the time, the announcement sounded like last minute retconning technique after Marvel fired Jonathan Majors for his domestic abuse conviction. The MCU has been able to navigate through all this confusion, though, because by now, with all the recent teaser leaks, it seems like the Russo brothers will be able to pull off a crossover like Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War. 

That being said, we still know embarrassingly less about what actually will be happening in Avengers: Doomsday, and naturally, the silence has only sharpened the theorising. We’ve compiled the Avengers: Doomsday theories that seem most likely to hold weight. Read on.

Doctor Doom is a Tony Stark variant

We know for sure that RDJ is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this time as the supervillain Dr Victor Von Doom. But the bigger question is, why Dr. Doom? What does that mean for Tony Stark? That's where the theories flood in.

Till now, the most widespread theory (and this has been making the rounds for a year) is that Tony Stark was actually meant to be Dr Doom in every universe. On Earth 616 (which is the timeline the movies take place in), Howard and Martha Stark adopted a baby Victor after his country, Latveria, was destroyed by war. This baby grew up to be the Tony Stark we know, while in every other universe, he became Dr Doom. Too similar to the Spider-Verse movies? Yeah, I thought so too.

Either way, this opens the road to a whole new set of theories as to why one of the original Dr Dooms is here in Earth-616.

Doctor Doom Dreamwalks into Tony Stark’s Corpse

In the final act of Dr Strange: Multiverse of Madness, Stephen Strange occupies the (dead) body of one of his variants from a different universe through his dreams. This trick, called Dreamwalking, is something only very powerful magic users can pull off. No points for guessing that Dr Doom is one of the most powerful magic users out there. Et viola! Fans speculate that the Dr Doom cameo we saw at the end of Fantastic Four: First Steps is the magician in the decomposed body of Tony Stark. This would also explain why Tony/Victor has to wear a mask now, and why he would need to abduct Reed Richards and Sue Storm's son, Franklin, in Fantastic Four.

Dr Doom is trying to stop the Young Avengers

We’ve been seeing many Avengers kids lately. Not only Franklin, but also Tony’s daughter Morgan, Thor’s adoptive daughter Love from Thor: Love and Thunder, and most recently, Steve’s child, as you might have seen in the recent teasers. One theory says that Dr Doom, like Thanos before him, is working from a sense of “the greater good”. Multiverse of Madness delved a lot into the idea of incursions, i.e., when the barriers between two parallel universes collide, causing one or both to be destroyed. All the multiverse jumps and plot twists that defined a large chunk of post-Endgame films caused multiple incursions, so now the timelines are in danger of destruction.

To prevent this from happening, Dr Doom decides to fix it by killing or harnessing the power of these very powerful children (who in the comic, would form the Young Avengers). Sure, Franklin is an omega-level mutant, but if you think about it, Steve’s child just existing is an incursion itself, making it all the more possible that Dr Doom will come after the kid. This would explain Steve’s return as Captain America.

Steve Rogers will be the central character in the movie

When Avengers: Endgame came out, many fans were quick to point out how Steve Rogers going back in time to live with Peggy would have messed up the timeline, even if he returned all the stones. This theory tackles that plothole head-on. Fixing all the incursions will lead Dr Doom up to the 1940s, back when Steve decided not to return, causing the first breach in the timeline. Even if Doom doesn’t come looking to stop the Young Avengers from forming, Steve will have to face the consequences of choosing his personal happiness over his duty, and possibly have to decide again between his family from the ‘40s and what’s good for everyone. This will be the central conflict of the movie.

The X-Men and The Avengers will fight each other

ICYMI, Sir Ian McKellen is confirmed to reprise his role as Magneto in Avengers: Doomsday, which means the X-Men from Fox’s cinematic universe are making a comeback. But it’s less likely that they will be allies right away. 

Also, Avengers: Doomsday will build up to Avengers: Secret Wars, which in turn is inspired by Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars comic run. Here, the Avengers from the Ultimate Universe fight their Earth-616 variants to save their universe. Now, the MCU doesn't really follow the comics to a tee, nor do they have the time to introduce a new set of Avengers through multiple movies. Swapping the Ultimate Universe Avengers with a group that has been building their story for twenty years now would make for an economic (and pretty epic) crossover.

Dr Strange will be on Dr Doom’s side

I still think that most of the problems in Avengers: Infinity War would have been stopped if Dr Strange had just let

everyone destroy the Time Stone. After all, we’ve seen the workers at the Time Variance Academy treat the stones like meagre paperweights in Loki, so the universe would have probably found a way out. But anyway, I digress.

If Dr Doom goes on an incursion-fixing rampage, there’s a good chance that Stephen Strange, knowing how dangerous they are to the multiverse, will take his side. Who knows, the big twist in Avengers: Doomsday might also be his betraying the team for the greater good.

Earth 616 is not a real universe

Now, bear with me for a minute. Some fans on YouTube and Reddit suggest that Earth-616, as we now know it, is actually a dummy universe created by He Who Remains (remember him from Loki?). This theory says that he created a dummy universe and orchestrated the adoption of a baby Tony Stark so that, at least in one universe, Victor Von Doom would never come into being, possibly stopping the magician from controlling every universe and overpowering him. Now, however, with the multiverse getting infringed, Doom now has a way into the dummy, putting him back on his path to being the god-like figure he is capable of being.