By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Marvel fans are gearing up to see their friendly neighborhood web-head swing back into theaters next month in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a film destined to become this summer’s biggest blockbuster. However, that’s just the appetizer for fans of this cinematic universe. The main course will be Avengers: Doomsday, which comes out on December 18. So far, most of the details on that ambitious crossover extravaganza have been kept a secret, meaning fans could only speculate about this movie’s story based on early trailers. Now, though, Marvel Studios has released an official synopsis for Doomsday.
Aside from details about the cast, the directors, and the producers, the synopsis only contains a one-sentence description of the upcoming film’s plot. “In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.” That’s not much to go on, but Marvel comics fans think they’ve deciphered what this means. If they are right, we know exactly what to expect about this (quite literally) universe-shattering plot, and those details reveal something astounding: that Marvel has been planning the major events of this film for over half a decade, littering films and TV shows with clues!
The Devil’s In The Details
So, what does this synopsis actually mean? Marvel Comics superfans agree that the part about universes being “on a deadly collision course” and facing “an existential threat” is quite literal. In the comics, Doctor Doom’s multiversal shenanigans set off a chain of events in which parallel realities keep colliding with one another, destroying both. To avoid this outcome, there is only one option: one Earth must destroy the other before the collision begins. Afterward, Doom merges the destroyed realities into a Battleworld under his control. Once he’s defeated, the primary universe is reset, but with some changes, like the addition of Miles Morales.
What does that mean for Avengers: Doomsday and the MCU? Doom is going to similarly set off these multiversal incursions, and we’re going to see three different universes fight for survival. In all likelihood, those universes will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man universe, and the original X-Men universe. Those universes will be destroyed, but Doom will revive and merge them into a Battleworld. After he’s beaten in Secret Wars, we’ll have a reset MCU where certain characters and actors have changed. There will also be lore changes, like the introduction of the X-Men and other mutants into the MCU.
Are You Down With Multiverses?
As cool as this sounds, some Marvel fans are skeptical because Avengers: Doomsday feels like a Plan B. Everybody knows that Kang was supposed to be the next Big Bad and only got replaced because of Jonathan Majors’ legal woes. That’s enough to make a cynic think that Doomsday is just a bunch of weird ideas held together by nostalgia. However, some comics fans have been deciphering more clues, and they have reached an amazing conclusion. Namely, that Marvel Studios has been secretly building up to Doomsday for over half a decade!
How does that work? For one thing, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness explicitly introduced the idea of multiversal incursions. If Doomsday had been the first film to introduce this idea into the MCU, fans would likely wonder why we hadn’t already heard of it. Now, Doomsday is building its whole plot on a key thematic element from Multiverse of Madness: namely, that incursions are dangerous, and those causing them can endanger potentially countless lives throughout each universe. That point is further driven home by a villain accidentally causing an incursion in The Marvels.
A Universe Without Its Anchor
Additionally, while we won’t see more incursions until Avengers: Doomsday, we’ve already seen the TVA “pruning” reality and destroying entire multiverses at a time. Furthermore, Deadpool & Wolverine introduced the idea of Anchor Beings whose entire universes will slowly disappear once they die. The intentional destruction of universes will likely play a role in Doom setting off the incursions (maybe he uses TVA tech or resources to travel to different realities). The TVA’s looser grip on the multiverse may even play a role in worlds colliding. Finally, there are persistent rumors that Tony Stark was the MCU’s anchor being, and his death paved the way for the arrival of Doom, his multiversal counterpart.
Obviously, we won’t know exactly how accurate all of these predictions are until Avengers: Doomsday comes out. But the official synopsis lines up with the comics this movie and Secret Wars are based on, and it really does seem like Marvel has been building up to Doomsday by dropping powerful clues in previous movies and shows. Hopefully, all of this buildup will have a correspondingly rewarding payoff. Otherwise, the blockbuster film intended to cure superhero fatigue may serve as the final nail in the coffin for the most successful cinematic universe in Hollywood history.
