Summary

Avengers: Doomsday is expected to feature a large ensemble of characters, including Robert Downey Jr. As Doctor Doom.
Captain America's actions in Endgame may have led to an alternate 1950s timeline in Doomsday.
Doctor Strange's absence in Doomsday hints at a focus on new characters and different realities for the next Avengers movie.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is gearing up for its next big crossover event, kicking off with Avengers: Doomsday. Phase 5 of the MCU is rounding off with two new Avengers movies, marking the first full-blown outing since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. While The Kang Dynasty had to be hastily reworked as Avengers: Doomsday, it led to the unexpected opportunity for Robert Downey Jr. To return to the franchise, albeit in a very different capacity.

Expected to follow in Deadpool & Wolverine’s footsteps with crossovers from the history of Marvel movies, the two-part saga is also tipped to top Avengers: Endgame’s iconic portal scene in terms of characters. Aside from Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom and The Fantastic Four, Doomsday’s cast is growing to include the likes of the Thunderbolts and Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter. As more famous faces get invited to the party, fans now know one person won’t be part of the ensemble.

iron man in the avengers (2012), anthony russo, joe russo, kevin feige announcing avengers: doomsday at sdcc 2024

Avengers: Doomsday Feels More Like 2012 Than Infinity War Or Endgame

The MCU's main event is just 3 movies away, but it sure doesn't feel like it. The Russo Brothers have to get one thing right to save Doomsday.

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By Sandip Kishan Anbuselvan

Avengers: Doomsday Has a Popular Captain America Theory

Avengers Endgame Captain America holding Thor's hammer

Avengers: Endgame went back to the start of the MCU and focused on the original six Avengers, but with it, there came some tragic goodbyes. Even though Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk have remained active in the MCU, the current Avengers lineup (if it can even be called that) looks very different. At the forefront is Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange, but speaking to Variety, the star confirmed he won’t be in Doomsday. Cumberbatch's comments suggest that Doomsday is going in a very different direction, telling the outlet that it has to do with:

[...] The character not aligning with this part of the story.

While many assumed Doctor Strange would be a staple of Doomsday, his absence could work in the franchise’s favor by backing up a popular theory. Robert Downey Jr. Is confirmed to make his Doom debut in Matt Shakman's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which makes sense given the villain’s history with the team. First Steps takes place in a 1960s retro-futuristic reality away from the Earth-616 timeline. Considering RDJ played Tony Stark/Iron Man in this reality, it’s possible that Doomsday will focus on characters from this timeline instead of the main variants seen so far.

Over on Reddit, u/LollipopChainsawZz theorized that Doomsday will be set in an alternate timeline that’s triggered by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) going back to 1949 during Endgame’s finale. The Russo Brothers seemingly rounded off Evans’ arc in the MCU by having Cap return the Infinity Stones to their rightful place to prevent the branching timelines that the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) warned Bruce Banner about. Cap got his happy ending and his long-awaited dance with Atwell's Peggy Carter. He decided to remain in the past and appear as ‘Old Man Cap’ to hand over the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in 2023.

The MCU’s complicated time travel rules suggest that Rogers staying in the past would have created its own branched timeline. Meanwhile, the appearance of Old Man Cap in the Earth-616 timeline suggests something is off. The theory posits that Rogers’ meddling in the 1950s is responsible for creating The Fantastic Four’s retrofuturistic backdrop and could have sparked a chain of events that led to Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom instead of Iron Man. Pieces like Atwell are already in place, while Evans has been talking about coming back to the MCU for years. He briefly reprised his role as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch for Deadpool & Wolverine, but fans want more from the actor.

It wasn’t long ago that there were whispers that Marvel Studios was planning a Disney+ series that followed Steve Rogers returning the Infinity Stones, with each of the six episodes showing a period of history where Cap dropped off the individual stones. The high-profile departure of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror presumably led to logistical and story problems behind the scenes, so it’s possible the Cap series was reworked into Doomsday. There’s enough story there for things to be spun out from a limited series into a whole movie, while Rogers has the credentials to carry an Avengers movie.

Kevin Feige Seemingly Confirms Theory About The X-Men's MCU Debut

Avengers: Secret Wars is rumored to reboot the MCU, and Kevin Feige's comments on X-Men plans may have hinted at this theory being true.

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By Sebastian Peris

Don’t Worry, Doctor Strange is Back for Secret Wars

Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange MCU

It's possible that Cumberbatch is misdirecting fans, but considering his role in Doomsday wouldn’t exactly be a surprise, it would be odd to mislead fans in this way. There’s sure to be some disappointment that Stephen Strange is sitting this one out, but if the next Avengers movie is focused on a different reality/realities, it allows for a new cast of characters to lead the charge. Any number of variants could be added to the mix, which neatly backs up the recent report that Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther will be recast for Doomsday.

There’s also the fact that Strange’s current status in the MCU means he could easily be parked for now. Doctor Strange had a prominent role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but with the world forgetting who Peter Parker is, Strange lost a major connection. The same can be said for the deaths of Tony Stark and Wanda Maximoff, who he’d shared a lot of screen time with.

The last fans saw Strange, he was dashing off into the Multiverse with Charlize Theron’s Clea to stop an incursion. The so-called ‘New Avengers’ are sure to be active in Secret Wars. Strange will sit alongside the likes of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Black Panther (Letitia Wright), and Mackie’s Captain America. Still, like Endgame was the end of the road for some characters, Secret Wars is sure to have similarly high stakes.

Spider-Man 4 slots in neatly between the next two Avengers movies. With wild rumors it’s been elevated from a street-level story to involve the likes of Ghost Rider and Mephisto, it would be easy to fold Strange back into things ahead of Secret Wars with a post-credit cameo or more substantial role. Coupled with his new-found knowledge of incursions and the Multiverse, he will likely be a major player in Secret Wars. Cumberbatch has hinted at as much, telling Variety he will be “in a lot” of the Russo Brothers’ 2027 movie. The sixth Avengers movie is set to do far more than just round off Phase 5 – with Secret Wars apparently going to reboot the MCU.

Then again, there are fears that Doomsday and Secret Wars are already going to be saturated with characters. Strange will surely return with Clea in tow, but alongside these two and the rest of the New Avengers, everyone from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man are rumored to be suiting up. The Secret Wars of Marvel Comics stitched together various realities and forced heroes to forge unlikely alliances with villains from across the Multiverse. Assuming that Battleworld will be adapted into the MCU, decades of Marvel movies are ripe for exploring. Avengers: Endgame already had a groaning cast list that looked like it couldn’t get any bigger. But when it comes to Secret Wars, Cumberbatch is destined to be part of the biggest superhero hero movie of all time.

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