Avengers: Doomsday theory: does Doom unmask as Tony Stark?

I think I've figured out how Avengers: Doomsday ends, right down to the final shot, so consider this a spoiler warning. I don't know that I'm right, but I've done some investigating, and I'm 99.9% certain that the film closes with Doctor Doom removing his mask to reveal the face of Tony Stark, leaving the heroes dumbfounded as the credits roll.

My theory rests on two things John Campea has said on The John Campea Show.

John Campea and Robert Meyer Burnett say their sources told them the Doomsday plot

I'm a fan of John Campea and Robert Meyer Burnett and their show, and they've inspired me a great deal. Both of them have revealed that their inside sources have told them the plot of Avengers: Doomsday from beginning to end. They say they have cross-referenced notes from various sources and that everything lined up, so they are certain they know how the movie ends. They aren't telling anybody, though.

I want to be clear about where I stand. I catch their show every day, but I don't know them personally, I don't talk to them, and they would never tell me what they know. Everything here comes from the brief bits of information John has given on air about what he knows. From those pieces, I think I have put together how the movie ends.

Campea says knowing the plot hasn't changed his 50/50 view on Doom as a Tony variant

The first clue came when John was asked whether what he had heard about Doomsday had changed his opinion on whether Doom is or isn't a Tony variant. He said his whole opinion on that had been that he wasn't sure. "It's 50/50," he said. Then he added: "My opinion on that has not changed. That's the one nugget you'll get from me."

So John has always put the chances that Doom and Tony are variants at 50/50, and now, knowing the entire plot of the film, he is still unsure. Why would that be? If a man who looks like Tony is walking around in Doomsday, surely that would come up. To me, his answer means the question is not addressed in the movie at all.

Why Campea's comment that Doom's face won't be in the trailers stood out

The second clue came on another of John's shows, when he was asked about future trailers and the character teasers for Doomsday, and essentially whether there would be a Doom one. He said there could be, but that he didn't know because he isn't in the know on the marketing plan. He was certain, though, that Doom would be in the main trailers, since he's the villain of the movie.

Then he added a caveat: you won't see his face. And he smiled big. So my question is how John knows, from the plot of the film, what the marketing will and won't show, when he says he has no inside knowledge on the marketing. He has never claimed to know Marvel's marketing plan. He has only said he knows the plot.

I think the answer is that John knows they do not show Doom's face in the movie until the very end, in a big climactic reveal that catches all of our heroes off guard. If that is how the film ends, he would correctly assume they won't show Robert Downey Jr.'s face in the marketing, because it's the big final stinger.

My theory: Doomsday ends with Doom unmasking to reveal Tony Stark's face

Pair those two comments together and here is where I land. John is still unsure whether Doom and Tony are variants, which tells me it never comes up in the movie. I think that's because no one ever notices that Doom looks like Tony Stark, since he's under the mask the whole time.

I think we could get some eerie moments where Steve and Thor look at each other as if to ask whether the other is picking up on something, whether this guy reminds them of anyone. We in the audience know who is under the mask, but I don't think Steve, Thor and the others do until the very end. That, I think, will be the twist ending. I call it a twist loosely, because we'll all know it's Robert Downey Jr., but the characters won't.

Picture the movie ending with Doom removing his mask the same way Robert Downey Jr. did on stage at Comic-Con, when it was revealed that he was back and playing Doom. He reveals Tony Stark's face, our heroes are dumbfounded, and the credits roll. If that's what happens, we'd still be left wondering about the implications. It would be the first time in the movie that the likeness is even acknowledged.

Why the comics and Secret Wars support the theory

This makes sense to me, and it lines up with the comics, because Doom hardly ever takes his mask off there. Him keeping the mask on for the whole movie fits.

There's another layer. In which comic does Doom famously go around with no mask? Secret Wars, when he heals his scarred face. And what comes after Doomsday? Secret Wars. I think I cracked it. The variant question wouldn't be touched in Doomsday because the face is a huge reveal at the very end, and it wouldn't be explored until Secret Wars.

Why I think Marvel has planned the Doom face reveal for years

I think Marvel has had this plan in its back pocket for a while. I believe it was always meant to be the cliffhanger ending of Kang Dynasty, because Kevin Feige and Robert Downey Jr. have been kicking around the idea of him coming back to play Doom for years. They didn't randomly come up with it when they pivoted from Kang to Doom. They moved things around and it's happening sooner, but the idea was already there.

When Kang wasn't received well, I think Marvel decided to go ahead with what it already had in play: tell everyone Robert Downey Jr. is back as Doom, while keeping the twist for the characters to discover. That way, they could still have the big face reveal scene they have been dreaming of for years. When I wrote this, there was nothing left to do but wait and see if I'm right.