Doomsday theory: did He Who Remains turn Doom into Tony Stark?

I think He Who Remains, the Kang variant who won the multiversal war and created the sacred timeline, is also the one responsible for turning the villainous Victor von Doom into Tony Stark. There are hidden clues that lead me to believe He Who Remains wiped Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben from existence because they were a threat to his rule of the multiverse. Doom, Kang's biggest threat, wasn't erased. He was kept around for a very important reason. Doom was the key to Kang winning the war and becoming the god of all time.

In my theory, He Who Remains drastically altered Doom's life in the sacred timeline. The man who was supposed to grow up to become Doctor Doom was instead orphaned, adopted by Howard and Maria Stark, and went on to become Iron Man. With Loki dethroning He Who Remains, the multiverse can now expand beyond the sacred timeline. That means Doom can return from his cosmic erasure, determined to take the reins of the multiverse from Loki and make sure he can never be wiped from time again.

Avengers: Endgame and Loki set the Doom story in motion

This whole story was teased and set into motion years ago in Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the first season of Loki (2021), starring Tom Hiddleston. In Endgame, Tony Stark inadvertently freed Loki from his predetermined path, and Loki set off on his journey to free the multiverse. We later find out that it was He Who Remains who arranged for Loki to detour from that path, which means Loki was still on a predetermined path of sorts.

What interests me is that the same way He Who Remains used Loki as a pawn, he used Tony Stark, who in my theory is Doom, as another pawn to make all of this happen. That ties into my bigger point: Tony Stark, or Doom, and Loki are the two most important characters in Kang's takeover of the multiverse. At the time, I argued they would be the two most important characters in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

I also believe the freeing of the multiverse at the end of Loki season 2 will ultimately be Loki's own downfall. In my view, we'll see the reins of the multiverse taken from him the same way he took them from He Who Remains.

How He Who Remains designed the sacred timeline

The sacred timeline was a collection of timelines that run parallel to one another. They never veer off their predetermined path and never collide. The TVA policed the sacred timeline, preventing it from expanding into a vast multiverse and stopping these universes from colliding, which prevented incursions.

Within this timeline was the mainline MCU, a story of events crafted by He Who Remains. In his grand design, he assigned certain people certain roles. A key pillar was that Lokis were bad. They served the purpose of being villains so that others could be heroes. As the show puts it, "You were born to cause pain and suffering and death." Any time a Loki tried to break from that path and find a glorious purpose rather than a villainous one, the TVA would interfere.

Loki has now dethroned He Who Remains. The sacred timeline is one of many timelines, and the universe is allowed to grow into a treelike multiverse rather than an ouroboros, a circular loop that only allows certain things to happen and robs people of their choice. As we learned in Deadpool and Wolverine, the sacred timeline still exists within that multiversal tree, but it's now part of the grander multiverse.

Why the Fantastic Four were missing from the MCU

I give that refresher because only now that He Who Remains is out of the picture can universes like the one belonging to the new Fantastic Four exist again. Under his rule, these characters and their universes didn't exist. I think that will be the in-universe reason the Fantastic Four weren't in the mainline MCU until now.

The real reason, of course, is that Marvel Studios didn't have the film rights. Within the story itself, though, I think we'll learn that He Who Remains viewed Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four as a great threat. So in his crafting of reality, he erased them from existence. Perhaps, to replace them, he even created the Avengers.

It's important to be clear on one thing. Loki taking the reins from He Who Remains at the end of Loki season 2 happens later in the Multiverse Saga's release order, but it is the first canonical event of the saga. That's why films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed us other universes, even one with a Reed Richards. Maybe there was even a Tony Stark Doom, if those Ultron bots that look like Doombots are any indication. There was also the empty chair on the Illuminati dais, and we know from the comics that Tony Stark is a member of the Illuminati.

Franklin Richards and Doom were both threats to Kang

With the Fantastic Four comes Franklin Richards, the very powerful reality manipulator who is the son of Reed and Sue. With Sue pregnant, I thought we would very likely meet him in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Franklin is a character who could certainly be a threat to Kang's rule.

It wasn't only the good guys Kang feared. There's Doom as well, who no doubt would have been a thorn in Kang's side as he rose to become He Who Remains and rule the multiverse. Doom would want that throne for himself.

Why He Who Remains could not erase Victor von Doom

Unlike the Fantastic Four, He Who Remains couldn't simply erase Doom from time. For his reconstruction of the timeline to work, and for him to build his sacred timeline, he needed time travel. He also needed a multiversal constant: a nexus event, a canon event, an absolute point in time, an undeniable truth, whatever you want to call it. That constant is that this one man created time travel.

We know this man as Tony Stark, because the Infinity Saga was the story of the sacred timeline He Who Remains crafted. But what if that wasn't always the case? What if he was originally Victor von Doom, and Doom was the one who cracked the code on time travel? He Who Remains would likely have tried many equations that let him erase Victor from history, just as he did with Reed and the Fantastic Four. Every time he tried, the multiverse would collapse.

So he tried another approach. The same way he destined Loki to be adopted by Odin and become a villain who bolstered Thor and the Avengers, he did the opposite for Victor. He made this grand villain the hero of the story. In the sacred timeline, He Who Remains changed the flow of time so young Victor's parents died. Doom's mother dying is a huge part of his character development in the comics. Victor was then adopted by Howard and Maria Stark, and Tony Stark was born.

The Avengers: Endgame moment that hints Tony Stark was adopted

There's a moment in Avengers: Endgame that I think backs this theory up, where it's hinted that Tony Stark was adopted. When the line "my wife's expecting" comes up, look at the expression on his face. To me, that's a look that says the math isn't adding up.

In many ways, Tony is still Victor von Doom. He still goes on to don a metal mask. He still has high tech, souped up armor. He still creates time travel. But he has been nerfed and neutered into a spoiled rich man-child under the thumb of He Who Remains, walking his predetermined path, playing his part and being robbed of his free will.

I could see He Who Remains arguing that he made Doom's life better by creating a world without the smartest man alive, Reed Richards. Reed was Victor's academic rival and always seemed to best him. In a sacred timeline with no Reed, Doom could become the smartest man alive and have all the fame and glory he always envied Reed for, fame and glory I expected First Steps to give us a glimpse of. In the original multiverse, Reed was viewed as the smartest man alive and one of the greatest superheroes. In the sacred timeline, it's Victor, as Tony Stark, who is seen as one of the most innovative geniuses and the superhero.

Tony Stark's darker side and his death after cracking time travel

If you look closely at the sacred timeline, the Infinity Saga, that mainline MCU, we've seen bits and pieces of what could have been Victor von Doom slipping through the cracks of Tony Stark. It shows when he behaves like an isolationist who feels he has to protect the world and solve every problem, whatever it costs anyone's freedom. Those cracks could be his true self bleeding through.

That darker half of Tony we've seen in films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War shows that despite the efforts of He Who Remains, he couldn't keep the beast buried forever. He only needed him around long enough to create time travel. That's why, very soon after Tony cracks time travel and we see the Möbius strip form, Tony dies.

He Who Remains always wanted Doom gone, but he needed him. So he made Doom his puppet, used him for what he needed, then had him die almost immediately afterward so he could no longer be a potential threat.

Doom will come for the throne at the end of time and find Loki

With Loki having dethroned He Who Remains, the multiverse can expand beyond the sacred timeline, so characters like the Fantastic Four and Doom can come into existence. Imagine how angry Doom will be when he figures out what Kang did to him: turning him into an altered version of himself, killing his mother and using him as a pawn. I think Doom is going to travel to the end of time to find and destroy He Who Remains. Maybe we'll even see Doom roll in and kill the Council of Kangs we met in Quantumania.

Once he arrives at the end of time, where the Citadel once stood, he'll find not He Who Remains but Loki on the throne. Having come from universe 616, Loki will also know this man as Tony Stark. He'll also likely have seen Doom coming and know everything Kang did to him, because he sees everything. We could even get a great line where Loki says he's been waiting for Doom, mirroring He Who Remains having waited for Loki.

Loki is the new Tony Stark of the Multiverse Saga

I've been saying ever since Loki season 1 that Loki is the new Tony Stark of the Multiverse Saga, and I said it before Marvel announced that Robert Downey Jr. would return as Doom. Loki's story across the two seasons of his series was about bucking the villainous path set for him and going on a hero's journey instead.

That's similar to Tony Stark, who was on a somewhat villainous path himself with his weapons manufacturing. He was thrown off that path into a desert, trapped in a cave, saw himself for what he was and decided to change. Loki was thrown into a desert, locked in a cage, saw himself for who he was and decided to change. And who put Loki on that path? Tony Stark, in Avengers: Endgame. But as I've laid out, that path was designed by He Who Remains.

I find it poetic that the villain and hero of Phase 1 are switching roles as main hero and main villain in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and that it could all be because He Who Remains took their free will and made them puppets for his own goals. Now both have broken free of the chains that bound them and are becoming the true selves they were meant to be before he interfered. That would explain why Tony always had villainous tendencies and Loki always had heroic ones.

Both Loki and Tony, or Doom, have always been similar in feeling that they know what's best for everyone. I hope that, despite Kang being gone, the actions he took in previous projects remain a major factor in this unfolding story. I'm looking forward to the thematic beats of seeing these two characters clash once again, this time on opposite sides of the battle between good and evil.