Avengers: Doomsday special look hides Brooklyn Dodgers lore, a Doom ambush and a Steve Rogers mystery

I found over 20 details and clues in the new Avengers: Doomsday special look that aired during game one of the World Series. It shows new shots from a Fantastic Four scene on Earth 828, set around Doctor Doom confronting Sue Storm and Franklin Richards. It also shows Reed reacting to what is probably an incursion, along with several other new shots from other scenes.

The promo was made with MLB, and it cuts in reaction shots of MLB players reacting to the Fantastic Four as if they were in the ballpark with them. They definitely are not, and they are not in the movie. Freddy Freeman plays for the LA Dodgers, but this scene is set on an alternate Earth where the Dodgers stayed in Brooklyn and never left for LA. The players also reference things like the Avengers, and the Avengers do not exist on Earth 828. So I'm going to set the MLB parts aside and focus on the Easter eggs in the new Doomsday shots.

Ebbets Field still stands as home of the Brooklyn Dodgers on Earth 828

The promo opens on a shot from Avengers: Doomsday of Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, on Earth 828. Right away, this shows it is not a goofy commercial shot solely as a tie in. There is serious VFX and world design in this one shot, which shows Marvel Studios built it as part of this universe.

In our world, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles to become the LA Dodgers in 1957. The Fantastic Four live on Earth 828, an alternate reality where Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are celebrity scientists, astronauts and thought leaders, and now superheroes who have shaped society. History is different there. There's no NASA, only ANSA, because there was no space race and no Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Susan Storm's Future Foundation has brought about world peace.

Reed Richards is a Robert Moses style urban planner who has reconceived New York City with his Reed tech, giving it a futurist flair and excellent public transportation. The idea here is that his influence also led the Brooklyn Dodgers to stay in the New York area.

How Robert Moses lost Brooklyn the Dodgers, and how Reed Richards might have kept them

The real Ebbets Field, in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, was where the Dodgers played from 1913 to 1957. In those later years the aging ballpark could hold only 32,000 fans and lacked modern car parking, which made getting to games tough in a decade when car travel was booming. Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley tried to secure a new site in Brooklyn: a privately funded 55,000 seat stadium on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

And this is true: Robert Moses himself refused to condemn the land and support a new location. He instead pushed for a municipal stadium in Queens, which would later become Shea Stadium, home of the Mets from 1964 to 2008. Since New York City officials refused to give O'Malley any subsidies, he gave in to offers from Los Angeles city leaders, including an offer to build Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine. MLB approved the team's relocation in 1957.

I love the detail that on Earth 828, instead of Robert Moses, they had good old Reed Richards. Reed might have supported O'Malley's plan to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn, using his technology to offer certain subsidies, with this fancy stadium built on top of the original Ebbets Field.

The 1970 stadium keeps the old architecture and adds a Jackie Robinson statue

Fantastic Four: First Steps was set in 1965 to 1966, and the post credits scene is four years later, so we're now in 1970 in this timeline. The Dodgers are still here. I love how it looks like they kept the original architecture of Ebbets Field and built a higher stadium over it and around it, so they didn't have to tear down any of the history.

In the foreground we see the elevated train tracks from First Steps, leading back to Manhattan in the background. The blue Fantasticar whizzes past. On the right is a multi tiered parking structure with covered parking and coverings that I suspect might be solar panels. There are trees everywhere. In the courtyard below stand bronze statues, of what I assume are Hall of Famers, towering 30 to 40 feet.

I'm pretty sure the humble one on the left is Jackie Robinson, number 42. He was the boundary breaking Black player whose number 42 has been hugely influential on Marvel heroes like Miles Morales, and Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman played him in the movie 42. There's also a red hovercraft in front of the stadium, maybe a fire engine drone, since we saw in First Steps that Reed operates police hover drones around the city.

Fantastic Four Day brings the New York Giants back to face the Dodgers

Outside Ebbets Field are banners reading Fantastic Four Day. First Steps was bookended by the fourth and fifth anniversaries of the team's return from space with powers, which makes this the ninth anniversary. Reed, wearing a Fantastic Four blue Brooklyn Dodgers B hat, waves to the crowd before his ceremonial first pitch as Ben Grimm, the Thing, claps behind him. Then Ben poses to playfully scare some Little League kids in Little Sluggers uniforms.

Behind them are players from the New York Giants. In our world the Giants were in the New York area until 1958 and then moved to San Francisco, but on Earth 828 they're still in New York. I love that, because the Dodgers and the Giants were archrivals, and it looks like these two hometown rivals are playing each other on Fantastic Four Day in 1970.

So it seems New York on Earth 828 has three MLB teams: the Yankees, the Dodgers and the Giants. Or maybe Reed told the Yankees to move somewhere else. Either way, I would suspect this means Earth 828 has no Mets, because in our world the Mets started in 1962 to replace the departed Giants and Dodgers. That iconic shot of the Mets' Citi Field empty after Thanos's snap in Avengers: Endgame isn't even a possibility in this universe.

The Abe Stark sign is Dodgers history, not a nod to Tony Stark

One player asks if the Avengers are next. They don't exist in this universe. But as Bryce Harper joins them at the top of the stands, you can see the name Abe Stark. Not that Stark family. This is a piece of Dodgers history.

Abe Stark was a New York area clothing store owner and future politician. In 1931 he came up with a well known advertising gimmick, placing a sign for his business directly under the scoreboard at Ebbets Field in right center field so newsreels and TV cameras would see it. It read Hit Sign, Win Suit, with his address at 1514 Pitkin Avenue and a line calling him Brooklyn's leading clothier. Any player who hit the sign would get a free suit. Few ever did. The only opposing player to hit it on a fly was Mel Ott of the archrival New York Giants, who did it twice.

It looks like Johnny Storm is ready to burn this sign down. Interestingly, the sign on Earth 828 changes Abe Stark's address to what looks like 7841 Vernon Avenue.

Steve Rogers on the Avengers Tower landing pad raises a Loki theory

The players ask if the heroes will drop a hammer, a reference to Thor, and then we get the shot from the July 20 Doomsday trailer of Mjolnir flying out of Thor's hand into Steve Rogers' hand. That's followed by a new exchange: "This doesn't bother you, does it?" and "You know it does."

We don't know if this background was keyed in, but this is not the exterior of the Baxter Building on Earth 828. It's the Quinjet landing pad of the new Avengers Tower on Earth 616, the building we see the inside of in the Thunderbolts post credits scene, the outside of in the Doomsday trailer, and in the skyline of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The buildings behind it are modern Manhattan skyscrapers of Earth 616.

Many people, myself included, think something looks off about Chris Evans' Steve Rogers in these shots: his skin, his eyebrows, the hair of his wig, his overall build. I don't know exactly what's going on, but he looks far more real in the later shot of him inside the tower. Many people are theorizing that in these shots, and in the July 20 trailer shots where Thor says "It's not possible" and Steve smiles, the marketing might have used VFX trickery to layer a somewhat realistic CGI Chris Evans over the person who is in the shot, like Loki.

In that reading, maybe Thor's astonishment at seeing Steve on the Fantastic Four ship is astonishment at seeing his brother Loki alive again. Thor wouldn't be bothered by Steve holding Mjolnir, since Steve held it through the final act of Endgame to Thor's approval and delight. But Thor might be unsettled at his often traitorous brother holding it, because he wouldn't yet know the redemptive journey Loki went through in the Loki series to become worthy. Alternatively, the artificial look could be in our heads, or the result of lighting, green screen, or some odd VFX tool used on Chris Evans for whatever reason. I've pointed out that Chris Evans also looked quite artificial in the new epilogue scene with Loki in Avengers: Endgame Encore, and there it couldn't have been covering up Loki, because Loki was already in the scene.

Scott Lang trips over calling Steve Cap in front of Sam Wilson

Next the players joke about who the real Cap is, which leads to a moment with Scott Lang: "Right, Cap? I mean, Steve." In Civil War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Endgame, Scott was proud of being able to call Steve Rogers Cap, because he says that's what Steve's friends call him. Reunited with Steve in Doomsday, he messes up right in front of the current Captain America, Sam Wilson. Sam gives him the same death stare that shows he hasn't forgotten how Scott embarrassed him in 2015's Ant-Man.

This is all part of the penthouse scene in Avengers Tower from the July 20 trailer. Scott stands on the side with the original Avengers, including Thor, Sam, Shang-Chi and Steve Rogers, which confirms he's there with them. He steps off the Fantastic Four ship with Thor. Yelena Belova is in the foreground, across the room with the other New Avengers, aka the Thunderbolts.

I think this is the first time any trailer shot shows Shang-Chi in this location. We figured he'd be there, and I'm glad to see him. It looks like he has all ten of his rings on his wrists.

Only three heroes at the game suggests Doom finds Sue and Franklin alone

The crowd holds signs reading "Fields on fire" and "Four heroes, one historic field." But only Reed, Johnny and Ben are here. Not Sue, not Franklin. I think that must confirm this is all happening at the same time Susan Storm is back at the Baxter Building with Franklin and Herbie, at the exact moment Doctor Doom arrives.

Reed winds up for the ceremonial first pitch, and I love seeing how stretchy he is. This is more rubbery stretchiness than First Steps showed us for the character. It also looks like he holds on to the ball way too long in that forward thrust. Ceremonial first pitches don't normally have a batter, but maybe the three of them are putting on a little display where Johnny ignites the ball and then flames on around the bases to make the four logo.

Then we get two quick horrified reactions from Reed, looking up above the stadium right after his pitch. It reminds me of the scene in Men in Black at Shea Stadium where Bernard Gilkey, playing himself, looks up at the alien spaceship and gets hit on the head by a fly ball he should have caught. I think we can assume Reed is looking up at an incursion, another Earth appearing in the sky, and I'm assuming it's Earth 616. We saw what this looks like from the TVA's point of view in the special scene after Endgame Encore; now we're seeing it from the ground on Earth 828. Avengers: Doomsday will center on this Earth, Earth 10005 of the X-Men and Earth 616 of the Avengers on a three way collision course.

The closing montage hints Herbie could be in danger

After a bit where Bryce Harper seems to react to the shot of Doctor Doom from the D23 trailer, we get a montage of previously seen Doomsday shots, with Robert Downey Jr.'s line as Doom: "You have lived stolen lives. Now you must give them back." Thor swings Stormbreaker at Doom, who stops it with his magically armored gauntlet. Professor X reacts to an incursion outside the X-Mansion window in the sky of Earth 10005. Cassie and Scott Lang are in what we think is Kate Bishop's apartment, according to the ScreenX trailer. Thor clenches his fist, and we see a bearded Steve Rogers, and this shot does look like Chris Evans.

Magneto cries in his helmet. Gambit brings down his staff in the X-Mansion in front of Shang-Chi, with Sam Wilson, Mystique and Reed Richards fighting in the background. A new detail here has me very worried. Are those the broken parts of Herbie on the left by the stairs, and between Shang-Chi's foot and where Reed is? Is Herbie going to die in this battle?

Then we see the Wakandans in a drained throne room, Doom resurrecting what by my count are seven broken Sentinels, and Cyclops ripping off his visor to unleash his optic blast. It ends with Freddy Freeman grabbing some popcorn. This isn't a full trailer, and we're expecting a third and maybe final trailer in the first half of November.

What this special look tells us about Doom's plan, and Sandra Hüller's casting

One major takeaway is that Reed, Johnny and Ben will be at a baseball game on Earth 828 exactly when Doctor Doom finds Sue and Franklin. Doom is going to target the wife and kid when they're alone. Pedro Pascal said on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast that one line he can confirm saying to Victor von Doom in Avengers: Doomsday is "It's good to see you again." Doom will choose to approach the Baxter Building on Fantastic Four Day, the ninth anniversary of their return from space as superheroes.

It also looks like we'll get to know even more of Earth 828 and the fun things the Fantastic Four did to make that world better, like keeping the Dodgers and the Giants in New York. That's going to make it hurt even more to see this Earth destroyed. Please, let's not get a close up of the Jackie Robinson statue being destroyed.

Something is going on with many of these shots of Steve Rogers. I don't know if it means he's Loki, Doctor Doom in disguise, or a Hydra Captain America, but it does seem like they're using CGI to hide something about Chris Evans' appearance. Finally, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Sandra Hüller, star of Project Hail Mary, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, will be in Avengers: Doomsday. I suspect she's going to play Doctor Doom's wife, the wife who died along with a child to make Doom feel he lost everything.