5 Predictions For Avengers: Doomsday

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day"

The next big Marvel Cinematic Universe team-up movie is getting closer. "Avengers: Doomsday," which will bring back the "Avengers" brand name and unite countless MCU superheroes, is set to drop in December 2026. The secretive marketing campaign for this tentpole has left people puzzling over what could happen. Inevitably, the internet is going wild with speculation and predictions over what will transpire in "Doomsday." What exactly is Doctor Doom's wicked plan? What superheroes will appear that haven't been announced? Who will live and who will die?

Concrete answers will remain elusive until the movie comes out. However, there are already enough breadcrumbs to cobble together five sturdy predictions for what will happen in "Avengers: Doomsday." Those breadcrumbs don't just come from the posters and trailers for "Doomsday." Instead, they're also informed by external elements like the recent creative trajectory of the MCU, as well as what kind of movies Marvel Studios is planning to release in the future. In absorbing the entire franchise tableau "Avengers: Doomsday" inhabits, one can get a better sense of what might happen in this highly anticipated title.

Thor meeting his end in "Avengers: Doomsday" would be a hammer blow for fans, but we can see it happening. The entire Thor MCU story has spanned four solo movies and a quartet of "Avengers" adventures, and that's without mentioning his cameo appearances. He's been around the block a few times now, and "Avengers: Doomsday" teasers promise that Thor is in a heroic mood as he prepares to protect his daughter. That gravitas alone suggests that Thor will not be spending "Doomsday" in a happy place. Perhaps the more somber ambiance wafting over Thor is a precursor to him finally going to Valhalla.

At this point, Thor is an MCU elder statesman. Having such a prolific, seemingly permanent fixture of this franchise wiped out by Doctor Doom would be an effective way to ramp up the stakes. If Doom can smite the God of Thunder, what hope do the likes of the New Avengers have in standing up to this guy? Thor's demise would certainly inspire tears, but it seems like a foolproof way to reinforce the major stakes underlining "Avengers: Doomsday." We hope we're wrong about this one, but it wouldn't surprise us if it came true.

The ending of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" included a mid-credits scene where Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom first appeared in the MCU. Audiences only saw him from the back as he played with a young Franklin Richards, though it was clear Doom had taken off his mask while interacting with the child. This is part of a trend in early teases for "Avengers: Doomsday," including one of the first posters for the film, showing the villain from the back without his mask on. Despite this pre-release emphasis on Doom without his mask, don't expect him to show his face during "Avengers: Doomsday."

For one thing, Doctor Doom in the comics rarely, if ever, takes off his mask. That's a core part of his character, and if directors Anthony and Joe Russo want to create a comics-accurate version of Doom, it's integral to maintain that. Plus, keeping Robert Downey Jr.'s face concealed could be a way to ensure this baddie can fully stand alone without viewers thinking about Tony Stark. The marketing's emphasis on an unmasked Doom remaining fully out of sight for viewers suggests that his mug will remain a mystery until at least "Avengers: Secret Wars." So far, these teases feel like the establishment of a status quo rather than teeing up a grand reveal.

Marvel Studios has reportedly cast Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Jean Grey's (Sadie Sink) MCU powers were established in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," so the next age of mutant-centric Marvel cinema has clearly begun. What does that mean for the Fox-era X-Men characters who are appearing in "Avengers: Doomsday" courtesy of three different universes being "set on a deadly collision course," as the film's synopsis puts it? Probably death in a lot of cases.

Various Fox mutants, including Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Ian McKellen's Magneto, Kelsey Grammer's Beast, and James Marsden's Cyclops, will play a part in the events of "Doomsday." With the ball rolling on a new era of X-Men movies, it seems likely that the upcoming "Avengers" flick will serve as something of a last hurrah for many of these characters. There will need to be casualties to up the stakes, and the old X-Men could well end up being cannon fodder.

While there are some "Avengers: Doomsday" fan theories that actually make sense, others are pretty wild. Specifically, there have been claims that "Doomsday" will span countless different Marvel universes and include cameos from every possible pre-existing live-action Marvel character. It's true that audiences may see glimpses of other classic Marvel movie and TV show figures in "Doomsday," but don't expect to see David Hasselhoff's Nick Fury running around. It's unlikely that "Doomsday" will span more universes than the three teased in the trailer (the main Earth-616 timeline, the Fantastic Four's Earth-828, and the Fox X-Men universe) because of the MCU's new direction.

In recent years, Disney and Marvel executives have made it clear that they're trying to make the MCU accessible to general audiences once more. This means implementing measures like Marvel releasing fewer movies and TV shows in the future. It also means making new MCU projects digestible, which would be undermined by stuffing "Doomsday" with endless alternate universes and cameos from classic Marvel media. Juggling three separate universes already is a mighty big ask for the general public. Given the creative trajectory of recent MCU productions, any expectations that "Doomsday" will feature more than three timelines should be tempered.

After "Avengers: Doomsday" comes "Avengers: Secret Wars," which comes to cinemas in December 2027. If you're familiar with Marvel's comics, then you probably already have an idea of what "Secret Wars" will be about. There are two comic book crossovers titled "Secret Wars," one from the mid-1980s and one from the mid-2010s. Both involve a variety of characters being taken to a place called Battleworld, a planet where heroes and villains are forced to duke it out.

Anthony and Joe Russo have given non-committal answers whenever they've been asked if the "Secret Wars" movie will deliver a live-action version of Battleworld. More likely than not, though, that's exactly where "Secret Wars" is heading. Thus, expect "Avengers: Doomsday" to conclude on a note that tees up a subsequent "Avengers" installment set entirely on the Battleworld planet.

The post-credits scene of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" actually hints at this development, with Tom Holland's Peter Parker seemingly being whisked away to the stars. Ned's (Jacob Batalon) Spider-Man tracker initially shows him to be in New York, but then it glitches, and when it zooms out, it shows that Spidey is in space. This could well mean that Marvel's web-slinger will be missing from "Doomsday" and then show up in "Secret Wars," having already been summoned to Battleworld.