Two Viral Avengers: Doomsday Leak Clips Are Very Likely Fake, and Here's Why

Two clips claiming to be leaked from Avengers: Doomsday are spreading on X and YouTube right now, and I think we can safely say both are fake. One shows Khonshu arriving to claim Yelena Belova as a new Moon Knight, and the other shows Doctor Doom talking with Steve Rogers about Tony Stark.

The first clip is very clearly fake, and I can show why. The second has some plausible elements that make it seem like it might be real. But there's one industry insider update we've basically been holding on to for the last year that may debunk it on its own. A lot of you messaged me these clips, so I'm going through both, along with why it's not outside the realm of possibility that, if Doom's face reveal comes during Avengers: Secret Wars, it may happen in front of characters like Steve Rogers and Peter Parker.

The Khonshu Clip Making Yelena Belova the New Moon Knight Is 100% Fake

This clip claims to come from Industrial Light and Magic, judging by the watermark on it. It shows Yelena Belova about to die when Khonshu shows up. He tells her she's starting to perish but doesn't have to, claims her as the new Moon Knight and asks her to agree to his oath. She then stands up next to Thor, who is fighting Doctor Doom. Doom turns around and takes his mask off.

That is 100% fake. There are all sorts of AI artifacts all through it. It's convincing, and yes, AI has gotten really good, but it's still very fake nonetheless.

Here's what I think happened. There was some actual leaked footage this year carrying an Industrial Light and Magic watermark. It was super pixelated, and then it was upscaled. It showed a crucial scene from what I think is the end of the second act, when the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers finally band together to fight the Sentinels and Doom. Because that real leak already happened, people are trying to take advantage of it and pass off more clips as believable leaked footage. That's not the case here. As exciting as this scene may be to some of you, I think we can rest assured Khonshu and Moon Knight won't be showing up in Avengers: Doomsday, and the new Moon Knight certainly won't be Yelena Belova.

The Doctor Doom and Steve Rogers Scene Looks More Plausible

The second scene seems a lot more plausible, and I wasn't surprised when so many of you sent it to me this morning. It shows Doctor Doom in the foyer of Castle Doomstadt, or at least in front of his throne, in the same basic setting we saw in one of the trailers, with a huge tapestry depicting his lost family. He has his hand on it while he talks to Steve Rogers.

Doom calls him captain and tells him they've lived stolen lives, that a debt has now come due, and that he's here to claim it. He then quotes Tony Stark: "When you mess with time, it tends to mess back." When Steve hears this, he calls him Tony and asks to see. Doom removes his mask and shows him the scarred face of Tony Stark.

An Insider Update Says Doom's Tony Stark Face Reveal Is Meant for Secret Wars

This is why I think we can safely say that all of these clips are fake. The one industry insider update that has basically stuck this entire time is that the face reveal for Doctor Doom as a variant of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., won't come during Avengers: Doomsday. Since we're exactly two months out from the movie, any leaks between now and its release that claim to show Robert Downey Jr.'s face as he takes off the Doom mask are fake, because that doesn't happen in this movie.

Are we 100% sure it doesn't happen? No. But coming from multiple trusted sources, whatever twist is in store with this reveal, a crucial moment when they use him looking like Tony Stark against one character in particular, is intended to take place during Avengers: Secret Wars. In our estimation, that character is Peter Parker, the one it would matter to most, apart from characters like Happy and Pepper Potts who might not be in this at all.

Enough has been said over the last two years about Robert Downey Jr. coming back as Doctor Doom. My only real concern was the idiosyncrasies of Robert Downey Jr. that made Tony Stark somehow showing up in Doom. It seems like they've gone to great lengths to keep that from happening, including the accent he has developed to play Victor von Doom. Love it or hate it, we're two months away from getting it, and this is what we're getting as Doctor Doom.

Why Peter Parker and Steve Rogers Are the Characters a Tony Stark Face Would Hit

I've always maintained that the person his Tony Stark face would mean the most to is Peter Parker, with Steve Rogers second on that list. A lot of characters left in this cast don't care about Tony Stark at all, or they may in some reverent way because of his known sacrifice to save half the universe. But Yelena Belova, Red Guardian and the Fantastic Four don't have the kind of love for Tony Stark that would make his face reveal a pivotal moment.

Then think about the two de facto leaders of the Avengers and the New Avengers, along with Bucky, Yelena and Sam Wilson. Sam and Bucky fought against Stark in Civil War, which left them imprisoned or on the run. They never had a chance to make up or speak, and Stark never had a chance to apologize. They get dusted in Infinity War and come back, but there's no reconciliation shown on the battlefield, no opportunity for Sam Wilson, Bucky and Stark to have it out, and then Stark dies. Their relationship with that character would be, if anything, negative, and seeing him as the villain would only reinforce the feelings they already have about him.

So there's a very, very small group of characters a face reveal like this would matter to. That short list includes Peter Parker, and outside of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts, who may not be part of either film, Steve Rogers would be next. While it's very likely this clip is AI and fake, it's not outside the realm of possibility that if the face reveal comes during Secret Wars, it may be in front of the likes of Steve Rogers and Peter Parker to convey that emotional moment to the audience. Otherwise, it won't mean much to a lot of the ensemble: certainly nothing to the X-Men, nothing to the Fantastic Four of the 828, and very little to many of the heroes making up the two Avengers teams in the 616.

More Often Than Not, a Leaked Scene Online Is Going to Be Fake

There are going to be a lot more AI fakes of scenes between now and the end of the year, and I'm not going to cover them all. This one came up so often that it felt worth addressing. Just keep in mind that if you see something on X or YouTube claiming to be a leaked scene, "more times than not, it's going to be fake."

With the earlier leak, Marvel basically didn't take down any of the footage for a couple of days or a week or so, leaving all of us to believe it must have been fake. Then it turned out to be real and Marvel started issuing DMCA notices. That delay is because people are running this material through AI to mask the original content labels, basically the hidden watermarks, which makes it harder and harder for Marvel Studios and Disney to issue takedown notices. The better way to proceed, the way I taught my daughter, is to assume everything on the internet right now is fake so you don't get duped by supposed leaked footage.

Who do you think a Doctor Doom face reveal would matter to most: Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, or someone else?