Steve and Thor's Avengers: Doomsday Bifrost Trip Could Be Headed to the TVA

Avengers: Doomsday has a new TV spot that shows Steve Rogers and Thor using the Bifrost on top of Avengers Tower, and I believe they're headed to the TVA. I also wonder if they're alone, because I'd love for Ant-Man to be with them, and maybe he's been digitally removed from the shot.

I think Marvel is making a smart decision by putting Steve and Thor front and center in the Doomsday marketing. I'm also going to address the pushback this spot has gotten over Ant-Man accidentally calling Steve "Cap," a joke I don't think is disrespectful to Sam Wilson at all.

Why Steve Rogers and Thor leading the Avengers: Doomsday marketing is a smart move

"Some call it desperate, I call it giving people what they want." Steve Rogers and Thor are the Avengers. Tony, Bruce, Natasha and Clint are too, but Steve and Thor are part of the big three of the MCU alongside Tony. With Tony dead and Robert Downey Jr. back as Doctor Doom, I couldn't have asked for anything better than seeing Thor and Steve go on a mission together in this film.

We've seen Steve and Thor have some fantastic moments together in every Avengers movie, but they've always been brief. These are two soldiers, or warriors, or whatever you want to call them, that we've been following for around 15 years. Now we're getting to see them go on a mission of their own and interact more than we've ever seen them interact before, and I'm very excited for it.

Look at the marketing and you'll notice that front and center are Doctor Doom, Thor and Steve. They're two of the most recognizable and beloved faces of this Avengers franchise. When you're trying to sell the next big Avengers event film to a wider audience than the dedicated fans who follow every detail, who better to put up front than Steve Rogers and Thor, the leads from all the other Avengers movies?

The argument that Marvel is giving up on Sam Wilson and the new generation

I know some people aren't thrilled about this. They wanted an Avengers movie with new blood. Yet I think many of the same people complaining about this pivot back to Steve and Thor would have complained about an Avengers movie built on new blood, because it wouldn't feel the same and they wouldn't be as excited for characters they have no connection to. People like to complain for complaining's sake, which ties into the backlash over this TV spot that I'll get to further down.

I've seen the argument that Marvel is admitting defeat with the characters it has spent the last several years building up. The idea is that by bringing Steve Rogers back and putting him and Thor at the forefront of the marketing, the studio is somehow giving up on Sam Wilson, Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Shuri and the other characters who were supposed to carry the franchise moving forward. I understand where that concern comes from. I do. But I don't see it that way.

First of all, Thor never went anywhere. He didn't die in Endgame. He didn't retire. He's still out there doing his thing and he's still an active part of this universe, so of course he's going to be in the next big Avengers movie. It would be even more weird if Thor wasn't involved.

Steve Rogers' Endgame choice makes him a natural fit for a multiverse story

As for Steve Rogers, I love that they brought him back. I know some people feel that bringing Steve back undermines his ending in Endgame, but I don't agree. When you think about it, Steve is one of those characters whose actions in Endgame have the most interesting potential consequences for a movie about the multiverse.

This is a guy who went back in time, returned the Infinity Stones, then decided to stay in the past, be selfish for the first time in his life and live an entirely different life. Now we're getting a movie about the multiverse falling apart and the consequences of all these different universes and timelines interacting with one another. So the idea that Steve might have a role to play in all of this makes perfect sense to me. It's great storytelling.

More importantly, Avengers: Doomsday is a sequel to Avengers: Endgame, something I called more than a year ago, before the Russos came out and said it. From a marketing perspective, getting people back into theaters is what keeps this whole thing going. And this is an Avengers event film. It's not like they shoehorned Steve's return into Sam Wilson's first Captain America movie. There's nothing wrong with putting Steve Rogers in an Avengers movie.

I'm very excited he's there, because we're getting to see him wield Mjolnir again. I won't lie, I got the chills seeing Thor and Steve on top of Avengers Tower, Steve holding Mjolnir, Thor with Stormbreaker, and the two of them taking off in the Bifrost together. That is awesome. And I think giving Steve and Thor their own mission allows the other characters to have their own stories at the same time. We're going to see Sam and Yelena forced to work together, which opens up relationships and character dynamics we haven't gotten to explore yet.

Could Ant-Man be joining Steve and Thor on their mission?

You know who I'd love to see go on this mission with Thor and Steve? Ant-Man. I adore Paul Rudd's Ant-Man. Scott Lang has become such a crucial piece of this universe, and I'd love to see him go with Steve and Thor on their mission to what I believe will be the TVA. Maybe they digitally removed him from this shot. Maybe he's standing on one of their shoulders. I love the idea of maybe getting a little trio of Steve, Thor and Ant-Man, a character I think has earned his place among these legends.

That's not to say other characters haven't earned it. But Sam and Yelena are both in new leadership roles, and I think having them learn to work together as a team without the guidance of Steve or Thor is going to be good, not only for this film, but for the future of the MCU.

We haven't gotten a clear picture of whose team Ant-Man is on in this movie. He's on the good guy team, of course, but when the heroes split into different groups and head to places like Wakanda or the X-Men universe, Ant-Man hasn't been in any of the leaked battle scenes in front of the X-Mansion. He's also not on the X-Mansion battle poster released for international markets. I'm somewhat informed on the leaks, and many of them out there are fake, but I haven't heard much about Ant-Man's role.

Is it possible he stays back at Avengers Tower with younger recruits like his daughter, Kate Bishop and Ms. Marvel, setting them up to become the Champions or the Young Avengers, while someone protects New York and their Earth? Maybe. Or is he sent on a quantum mission? Or is he going with Steve and Thor to the TVA? That would make sense, because Ant-Man has been tangentially connected to the TVA and Loki through his run-in with Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. For all those reasons, I think it would be cool to see him with them.

Loki's TVA card could be the key to the Steve and Thor mission

From some leaks surrounding this movie, as well as the trailers themselves, we see Loki give Steve Rogers a TVA card, something that allows Steve to contact him. I think that card is going to be the key to this entire mission. I think Steve is going to tell Thor about his encounter with Loki, about the card and about whatever information Loki gave him, and the two of them will conclude they need to go find Loki and the TVA.

That raises a question. How does the Bifrost get to the TVA if the TVA exists outside of time and the Bifrost can only travel within the universe? Maybe the card provides some kind of destination, like a portal or connection that allows entry, or a secret map of how to get there. Maybe the card simply grants permission to travel there and the Bifrost is only the means of transportation. Maybe Thor's powers can interact with whatever technology or magic Loki has put on the card.

A wrecked TVA and what Doctor Doom might want with Loki

This is where things could get dark. When Reed, Sam, Yelena and the others enter the X-Mansion in that universe, it has seemingly been attacked and is in rubble. The TVA is rumored to be found the same way by Steve and Thor. I think the attacks on both the X-Mansion and the TVA were Doom's doing. I've said before that I think we'll get a scene that cuts back and forth between the heroes at the X-Mansion and Thor and Steve at the TVA as both groups discover Doom is the one who betrayed them and is responsible for much of what's going down.

So we could see Thor and Steve arrive at a TVA that has been wrecked, with dead agents lying around. They could find OB, Mobius and Casey, but the main person they're there for is Loki. If Doom's ultimate goal is to take control of the multiverse and reshape reality into something of his own design, then Loki is potentially the single biggest obstacle in Doom's way, and also the one who has the very power Doom may need.

I think we'll see Steve and Thor find Loki. Rumors have suggested they find him dead with his heart ripped out, but I think that might be inaccurate. I think they may find a Loki who has been badly beaten, but whom Thor may be able to bring back to health, and Loki can then join them to take on Doom, who is in the X-Men universe at that point. That would explain why Loki is on this poster. It's also possible they do find a dead Loki, and that's why Thor is so livid when he gets to Doom.

I don't want to see Loki dead again, though. It's old and it's repetitive. I'd rather see Doom keep Loki locked away in his castle, using him as a power source for his big plan and for Battleworld, the way he did with Molecule Man in the Secret Wars comics. If you're trying to build or control an entirely new multiverse or reality, the guy currently holding the multiverse together seems like somebody you'd want to get your hands on to power and maintain it.

Ant-Man calling Steve Rogers 'Cap' is not disrespectful to Sam Wilson

Now for the controversy over Scott Lang accidentally calling Steve Rogers Cap in the spot: "Right, Cap? I mean, Steve, right, Steve?" I shouldn't even call it a controversy, because I don't think five people complaining about something really constitutes one. What's annoying is that those very few complainers are giving fuel to right-wing grifters online. Ant-Man calling Steve Cap and immediately correcting himself is hilarious on many levels, and it's in no way disrespectful to Sam as Captain America.

I look at it like this. Say you had a boss you greatly admired, worked with closely on major projects for years and always called boss. That boss retires, you get a new one, and you carry on the tradition. Then a big project brings you, your new boss and your old boss together, and while planning you accidentally call your old boss by that nickname right in front of the new one. Is that disrespectful? Absolutely not. "It's an honest, humorous mistake."

I'm not dense. I know Sam Wilson, both in the story of the MCU and in our own world, has had trouble being accepted as Captain America, and him being a Black man certainly contributes to that refusal from many of the more hate-filled folks. But there are also non-hateful casual audiences who know Sam as Falcon. They accept that he's Captain America now and have no problem with it, yet they still think of Steve Rogers as Cap, because that's what everyone has called him for years.

So I don't think it's disrespectful, in universe or in a meta sense, for the Russos to include this joke. It's an acknowledgment that this is awkward: Sam is the new Captain America, but Steve is back, so now Scott needs to call him Steve and not Cap. It works well, especially with the scene taking place at the start of the film, as a wink and a nod to the audience. I don't think Sam or Anthony Mackie would take it as disrespectful. Ant-Man is on Sam's team, and he's quick to correct himself.

To anyone saying this is a slap in the face to Sam: no, it's not. What was a slap in the face to Sam was making Falcon and the Winter Soldier a show instead of a movie, and making Brave New World a mediocre movie. When people attach racism and disrespect, things that are real and out there, to an innocent joke that has none of that, all they're doing is giving fuel to those online who do have a racist and disrespectful remark to share about Sam being Captain America. Don't fall into that trap.

The baseball tie-in spot was fun, not boring

I liked the new trailer. I saw some people complaining that there wasn't enough new stuff in it, or that it was boring because it was intercut with baseball. I don't watch sports and I don't care about baseball, but people are acting like this has never been done before. I've seen many trailers and commercials for Star Wars, Marvel and other movies intercut with basketball or football players. It's very common. I want to say they did it with Spider-Man for a basketball game.

I thought it was fun, and it gave us another glimpse at Doomsday. I think we probably have a trailer coming in mid November.