Avengers: Doomsday MLB promo puts Reed Richards on the mound at an 828 Ebbets Field

Marvel Studios' special look at Avengers: Doomsday during Game 1 of the World Series turned out to be a promo with the MLB, not a trailer. It runs about a minute and puts Reed Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm at a baseball game in the 828 universe. My theory going in was that it would involve a baseball scene, and it did. My verdict is simple: "I'm satisfied." "This is more than I thought we were going to get."

The Doomsday promo aired after the third inning and mixed MLB players with new shots

The spot aired right after the third inning of the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers, and MLB released it online afterward. It's a lighthearted mix: actual baseball players who exist in our universe trade wordplay with Reed Richards, intercut with scenes from Doomsday. Descriptions circulating on social media at first weren't accurate.

Many of the shots are familiar from earlier material, but some are new. A new shot from the X-Men battle shows Gambit throwing his staff down. Some people were saying the real trailer would arrive in the seventh inning. My source told me no, and that nothing further from Doomsday would come out during the game.

Reed Richards throws a stretchy first pitch at the 828 universe's Ebbets Field

This isn't a ballpark from our universe. We're in the 828 universe at Ebbets Field, with a "Dodgers World Champs" sign. Maybe this is an alternate universe where the Dodgers never moved to Los Angeles and stayed in New York, becoming something like what the Mets or the Yankees are. Famous players are memorialized with giant statues. Ebbets Field never fully looked like this in our history, and I love that detail. I have to assume Jackie Robinson also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers there, and maybe the number 42 matters to them too.

A little league team is there with Reed and Ben. Reed winds up and uses a stretchy arm to pitch to Johnny while Ben catches. It's more stretching than we'd seen, and it looks like he might stretch the ball all the way to home plate instead of letting go.

Reed looking up at the sky points to an incursion

Reed then looks up at something, which I read as a rift in the sky and an incursion happening. It reminds me of a moment from, I think, Independence Day, where someone looks up mid-game and lets the ball land at his feet. I think it's got to be another Earth colliding.

The incursions involving the 828 universe, 616 and 10005 seem to be a deliberate three-way event rather than the accidental collisions happening elsewhere. Because it's on a more deliberate pace, I think they have some warning time.

I think the baseball scene is part of Doomsday, minus the MLB wordplay

It's possible this scene isn't in Doomsday at all. But they put a lot of VFX into Reed's stretchy pitch and into designing this alternate universe ballpark, and that's a lot of money for a promo. The Russos have said some earlier scenes won't appear in Doomsday exactly as shown, and a lower-budget shoot like the Bruce Banner bunker scene might not. This looks like a fully realized scene. The players' wordplay won't be in the movie, but I think the rest is.

My guess is that while Doctor Doom is with Sue and Franklin in the Baxter Building, the others are at this game doing a media event. I think they should have brought Sue and Franklin. Franklin's old enough to enjoy a game and would have loved seeing his dad throw a baseball incorrectly. Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers appears, and his team isn't in the World Series, which suggests they may have shot this a month ago. I bet it was September.

The Avengers Tower scenes confirm Steve Rogers is with the group

Other shots show a deck that I think belongs to the new Avengers Tower. The buildings look normal, not like the futuristic designs of the 828 universe. This is confirmation that Steve Rogers is on that ship with them when they land at Avengers Tower. Florence Pugh is in the foreground, and the whole gang seems to be there.

Paul Rudd's Scott Lang does the same kind of joke he did in Captain America: Civil War: "Right, Cap? I mean, Steve, right, Steve? I mean, right, Cap?" He clearly felt bad calling Steve Cap in front of Sam Wilson. I want to know how much Scott will bring up Quantumania and Kang, because that matters to his journey. A point raised in the discussion was that despite reports of the movie having no humor, the Cap joke was something funny in a serious movie, and I agree.

Steve Rogers looks off to me, but I'm not sold on the Loki theory

In the line "This doesn't bother you, does it?" and the reply "You know it does," Steve looks a little off, as he has in many of these shots. It doesn't look like Chris Evans to me. It looks rubbery. "I'm in the uncanny valley here." The shots in Steve's house when Loki shows up in the Endgame Encore release looked similar. Chris Hemsworth doesn't look weird next to him, so maybe it's the motion, the makeup or the wig.

I don't think it's evidence that this is Captain Hydra or Doctor Doom in disguise. I think they're using many interesting VFX tools. Since the July 20th trailer, I haven't been convinced that it's Loki. I don't think the Russo brothers like fake identities as much as we think. They change details like scar tissue or clothing in trailers, but not someone's entire identity. If Thor is bothered that Steve wields Mjolnir, I think he's just annoyed at how casually Steve keeps using it, and I think he'd know if it were Loki.

Still, the theory that these shots will be Tom Hiddleston in the movie would explain why Thor says it's not possible. I agree Loki has made enough sacrifice to be worthy of Mjolnir, and I like the theory. I just didn't see it from the start. Based on another shot, I think that's Steve in the bomber jacket with everybody.

Doomsday may spend more time in the 828 universe than I expected

I love learning how the 828 world differs: there's no NASA but an ANSA, no Cold War, and what may be solar panels already set up in its late 60s or early 70s. This promo tells me we'll spend more time in the 828 universe than I thought. I don't think the movie will run 3 hours; more like 2 hours 35 minutes. Jumping between three different looking worlds, even in little scenes like this, is what I want. I want to feel the consequences of this world being destroyed.