Avengers: Doomsday theory: the X-Men utopia causes incursions

The utopian mutant universe reportedly at the center of Avengers: Doomsday could be the very thing causing the incursions, because its heroes tampered with the natural flow of things. That's my theory, and it grew out of a report from insider Alex Perez that a reader named Jacob sent my way, describing the X-Men world in the film as a variant of the Fox universe that became a utopia for humans and mutants.

Jacob has long agreed with me that the Fox X-Men universe, the Deadpool universe, would be where the X-Men in Doomsday come from, and that we don't need two X-Men universes. He had wondered how Marvel would handle the inconsistencies in that universe. I've often said they aren't going to overthink it, and he felt this report appeared to bear that out.

Alex Perez says the Doomsday X-Men come from a simplified Fox variant universe

The report Jacob linked came from comicbookmovie.com. According to it, Perez said the X-Men universe in Doomsday is a variant universe where events similar to the original trilogy and Days of Future Past occurred, to make things simpler so the audience doesn't have to do much homework.

What's new, per the report, is that this universe exists as a utopia for humans and mutants. That raises the question of what happened before that allowed the utopia to exist, and what sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. Perez framed that question as the general motive of Doomsday, applying not only to Magneto but to Sam and his Avengers, the Thunderbolts, the Wakandans, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers, Thor, Loki, the TVA, the variants and, most of all, Doom. As he put it: "What would you be willing to sacrifice to gain what you want, to succeed, to save the ones you love, your morals, your beliefs, your powers, your morality, your life?"

The report adds that the insider later suggested the idea of Magneto laying waste to New Jersey was originally planned for the Deadpool threequel. I had received several emails asking about Ian McKellen saying that, as Magneto, he levels New Jersey, and Magneto has a big part to play in where this theory goes.

Why I think it's the same universe as Deadpool's Earth-10005

The homework part is what I've been preaching. The X-Men universe in Doomsday is the same universe as the Deadpool universe. We know Deadpool's universe is 10005, and I think we can say without a shadow of a doubt that's the universe in question. They're not going to give us multiple X-Men universes, and Feige has been very adamant that these are the original X-Men who are returning.

For the super nerds who care to have it explained, which includes us, I think any inconsistencies will be handled two ways. First, it's a slightly different branch of this universe. There's the Fox X-Men universe, but there are branching timelines where different things happened. The big stuff that we and general audiences remember and liked about those movies is the general history of this universe. Second, other inconsistencies can be explained through time travel events. Days of Future Past rewrote the timeline, and Deadpool rewrote some things in Deadpool 2. Time travel and different timelines are already a big part of Doomsday and this multiverse saga.

For all intents and purposes, though, it's the same universe and those are the Fox X-Men from those movies. I'm glad to hear someone else saying it, because I've always thought it would be silly to go with a completely different universe that looks very different, where very different things happened and we have no knowledge of its history, with the characters simply played by the same actors. That's what happened with 838, with Patrick Stewart playing Professor X in an almost utopian type universe. I like the old Fox X-Men movies being that loose history instead. It makes the most sense.

A Fox X-Men utopia could be the reason for the incursions

That Fox X-Men universe has had a bad, apocalyptic future twice. There was the Days of Future Past future, which they fixed, and then just a few years later came the Logan future, where mutants were once again almost annihilated. There were also rumors that what happened in Days of Future Past would have consequences, and that the time traveling and reality rewriting could lead to their involvement in Doomsday.

So it would be interesting to see them achieve some type of utopian future for mutantkind, perhaps a future for a universe that was never supposed to exist. They messed with time once and changed it, and time messed back, with mutants wiped out again a few years later. If they've found a way to reach a utopian future, that could be the very thing causing these incursions to happen.

A leaker claimed the X-Men have already survived many incursions

A second article sent to me, which I think was also by Josh Wilding, was titled "Avengers: Doomsday rumor reveals reason for Avengers vs. X-Men." It drew on a leaker, My Time to Shine Hello, who said that in Doomsday the X-Men have been through many incursions. So when the Avengers and the Fantastic Four come to their universe to try to help, the X-Men assume they came to destroy them. That, according to the leaker, is why there's an initial fight before, I guess, they team up and work together.

There were also rumors that Doomsday begins with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man universe going through an incursion with the Fox X-Men universe, and that the X-Men destroy Tobey's universe. Put that together and this utopian mutant universe may have put a target on its own back. My guess is that every time they encounter an incursion, they all work together to destroy the other universe.

The trolley problem at the heart of Doomsday

That brings me back to the moral questions in the Perez report, and to the trolley problem I've talked about for Doomsday. In the comics and the movies, when two universes collide in an incursion, you can either destroy one universe to save your own, or both die.

The trolley problem goes like this: a train is headed toward three people strapped to a track, and it will kill them. You could pull a lever to send it down another track where it will kill only one person. Isn't it more moral to kill only one? But isn't it also immoral to involve your hand and make a decision that takes someone's life? That's an argument to be had, and I think Dr. Doom is going to land on a side of it.

Magneto's trailer line may hint at regret, and at New Jersey

In the Doomsday trailer, Magneto says it's not about how you die, that death comes for us all, and that it's about who you are when you close your eyes. I'm wondering if Magneto is having regrets for all the universes they've killed. Perhaps he's taken a big part in it, and perhaps that's why he leveled New Jersey. He may have leveled the New Jersey of another Earth.

Maybe he's talking with Charles after destroying yet another universe, and maybe Charles has taken part too, using his logical side over his moral side and deciding that's what the X-Men will do to protect their universe, because otherwise both universes die. They've logicked themselves into a corner that is completely logical, and you could even argue moral, because if they don't act, they die anyway.

We could see the Fantastic Four and the main line MCU Avengers travel to that X-Men universe, fight the X-Men at first, then realize they're not on opposing sides. Maybe by then they're opposing Doom, or maybe Doom is there making an argument one way or the other. Certain characters might argue that they have to find another way. And maybe, in a bit of a twist, it's Magneto who comes around to that quickest: tired of killing people, tired of destroying universes, ready to let death come and worry about who he is when he closes his eyes for the final time. I think that's what this is setting up.

Why I wanted Doomsday to be more than "punch, punch, bang, bang, explosion"

I was so glad to hear someone else say the motif of this movie is what you're willing to sacrifice, whether yourself, your friends, your loved ones, your morals or your beliefs. It's a psychological discussion, in your own mind and with others, about wanting to do the right thing and squaring that with your evolutionary survival instincts. The morals point to two different answers, while survival instinct points to one.

If you know you're in an incursion and you'll both die, you'd think the most logical option is to fight and destroy each other so only one dies. But maybe the more moral argument is to take it on the chin, accept that you might die, and try to find another way, even if it's unlikely.

I love the idea that the audience, our heroes and Doctor Doom would all be posed with that question, and that the characters would have a real moral and psychological argument that is "more than just punch, punch, bang, bang, explosion," something that makes us question where we fall. Civil War did that really well with the Accords. I'm excited for that.