Avengers: Doomsday Fan Theories That Actually Make Sense

10 years ago, the thought of an "Avengers" movie being in any kind of trouble would be laughable. The Marvel Cinematic Universe dominated popular culture, and the "Avengers" movies were the payoff to sitting through various solo flicks for characters you may or may not care about. "Avengers: Endgame" sent the franchise off in spectacular fashion, but "Doomsday" will have to win some fans back after the past several years have delivered quite a few misfires (looking at you, "Captain America: Brave New World"). 

Marvel tried to build hype around "Avengers: Doomsday" with several short trailers, but that strategy was a total failure. There's still reason to hold out hope since test audiences have allegedly been pretty positive toward "Doomsday." We'll just have to wait and see if "Doomsday" brings everyone together in a worthy fashion. After all, "Doomsday" isn't just bringing the Avengers back together, but it also has to set up "Avengers: Secret Wars," which comes out in 2027. 

There's a lot riding on this big bet, so it's no wonder that numerous "Avengers: Doomsday" fan theories have materialized. Fans have plenty of thoughts on what would make sense in terms of Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) looking just like Tony Stark and what the MCU will look like at the end of "Doomsday." It's hard to know which theories will pan out, but based on what we know so far about the movie, these theories seem the most likely to come to fruition. 

At the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, Joe and Anthony Russo dropped a bomb by revealing that Doctor Doom in "Avengers: Doomsday" would be portrayed by none other than Robert Downey Jr. Fans were no doubt excited but then, logically, confused at how precisely that would work. Downey already played Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in many Marvel movies and died at the end of "Avengers: Endgame." Why does Doctor Doom look like him?

There are many possible explanations, including the fact that two guys in two different universes just happen to look similar. But the fan theory most likely to come true is the fact that Doom is simply a Tony Stark variant from another reality. The MCU has had fun already showcasing different versions of popular characters since "Loki" made the concept clear, like bringing back previous Spider-Men in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Doom could be a version of Stark who went down a darker path, and there's a line from "Avengers: Infinity War" that could lend credence to this idea. 

Thanos (Josh Brolin) tells Stark, "You're not the only one cursed with knowledge." This line signifies how Stark is doomed to look at the bigger picture, and it's possible that Doom himself shares a similar curse. But whereas Stark tries to do the right thing, Doom might accept his curse and be willing to sacrifice billions of lives for a greater good. Regardless of how exactly these two characters get connected, there has to be some kind of satisfying explanation, or the whole thing will feel like a gimmick designed to get Marvel fans to come back to theaters after checking out after "Endgame."

The infamous "Avengers: Doomsday" cast chair announcement revealed several "X-Men" movie actors would return to reprise their roles, including Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Channing Tatum as Gambit. There's long been a rumor that an "Avengers vs. X-Men" movie has been in the works, and it's very possible that "Avengers: Doomsday" will at least give us a taste of a scrimmage between the two superhero teams.

To be fair, this is already kind of confirmed. The "Avengers: Doomsday" CinemaCon trailer reportedly shows Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) fighting the aforementioned Gambit while Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) takes on Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). It's safe to say the rest of Earth's mightiest heroes will arrive in the dimension where Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) wound up at the end of "The Marvels." Of course, Beast (Kelsey Grammer), who's also going to be in "Doomsday," was very nice toward her. We wonder what happens that makes the mutants no longer friendly toward interdimensional visitors.

The best guess right now is that multiple universes are at stake, and no one can figure out who's responsible. It's possible the X-Men will get blamed for the multiverse's collapse, which would also be a good way to establish people's inherent fear of mutants that runs so prominent in many "X-Men" stories. The Avengers and the X-Men will fight until they realize they share a common enemy — Doctor Doom.

One of the many achievements of "Avengers: Infinity War" is how it expertly positions Thanos as the protagonist of the story. Yes, he's the villain who wants to wipe out half of all life, but the story structure makes him the one with a clear goal who goes through trials and tribulations to achieve it. If "Avengers: Doomsday" wanted to do something similar, it could easily position Doctor Doom in a similar light, but offer a neat twist. 

One of the "Doomsday" trailers we've already seen sees Shuri (Letitia Wright) and M'Baku (Winston Duke) meet the Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) from the Fantastic Four. It's possible this trailer didn't show us everything, and this is actually every hero group meeting for the first time. Since the Fantastic Four are there, it's possible Doctor Doom has tagged along, seeing as he's likely met them before. That's evidenced by "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" post-credits scene where Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) finds Doom examining Franklin Richards. 

It wouldn't be out of the question for Doom to pretend to be an altruistic hero who's trying to save the multiverse. And since he looks like Tony Stark, everyone in his reality implicitly trusts him. Maybe he's even the one who blames the X-Men's universe for threatening Earth-616. But by the film's end, his true colors come out (his name is "Doom," after all). Like Thanos, Doctor Doom could win by the end of "Doomsday," setting the stage for the heroes to be disenfranchised and looking for a comeback for "Avengers: Secret Wars."

Throughout the MCU's Multiverse Saga, there have been many concepts introduced that all need payoffs, either in "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Secret Wars." And by making Tony Stark Universe-616's anchor being, it can tie up a lot of loose ends nicely. For the uninitiated, an anchor being, as described in "Deadpool & Wolverine" is someone whose existence balances a given existence. There are several characters who could be the Sacred Timeline's anchor being, and Tony would be a great fit. 

As we know from "Deadpool & Wolverine," an anchor being's death slowly unravels the universe, but this can require thousands of years. It's possible that in the over 14 million possible futures Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) saw, he realized there was only one where they emerged victorious over Thanos, but it demanded Tony's death. He may have been all right sacrificing the timeline's anchor being because it would save everyone in the short-term, but at the expensive of the universe dying thousands of years later. 

In the mid-credits scene for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Clea (Charlize Theron) approaches Strange and tells him that he caused an incursion. It's possible the incursion she's referring to stems from Tony's death. He may have died sooner than he was supposed to, creating problems throughout the multiverse. Maybe one of these incursions has threatened Doom's base reality, and if he figures out his world could be destroyed due to actions on this different Earth, he could be out for revenge.

This final "Avengers: Doomsday" fan theory might also work for "Avengers: Secret Wars." Either way, we'll likely see its pieces fall into place around "Doomsday." As mentioned previously, "Fantastic Four: First Steps" ends with Doom meeting Franklin Richards. We already know how powerful Franklin can be, to the extent that Galactus (Ralph Ineson) wants Franklin as a successor because his power is so immense. At the end of the movie, Franklin even resurrects his mother, Sue. 

There's a very good chance Doom wants to use Franklin's powers for his own means. It's unclear what exactly that entails, but Franklin could be the key to rebooting the entire MCU. There's been talk that following "Avengers: Secret Wars," the MCU will undergo a soft reboot, keeping characters that continue to be popular while getting rid of plot points that are too unwieldy to pick up. With incredible cosmic potential, Franklin could warp reality to recreate a new Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's pretty much what he did for the 2015 "Secret Wars" comic arc anyway. 

But Doom may need some more firepower to aid Franklin in this quest to restructure reality. Maybe Doom will use Franklin in "Avengers: Doomsday" to resurrect Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) at Mount Wundagore. Franklin's powers combined with Wanda's might be enough to alter all of reality. Perhaps we'll see Franklin create a universe where Doom rules over all by the end of "Avengers: Doomsday," and then, with "Avengers: Secret Wars," we'll see Franklin set everything right once more ... with a few changes. Maybe, say, the X-Men joining the primary MCU reality.