Avengers: Doomsday Theory: Is Doctor Doom Collecting the Heroes Who Caused the Multiverse's Incursions?

Doctor Doom isn't just taking Bruce Banner in the new Avengers: Doomsday teaser. My theory is that he needs a specific lineup of Marvel characters for what he's planning: the people most responsible for incursions across the multiverse.

Who those people are may explain why Marvel Studios is being so tight-lipped about Doctor Strange, Peter Parker, Monica Rambeau and a certain mother when it comes to the Doomsday roster. Further down, I'll go through each of them, along with Loki.

Bruce Banner's bunker sits beneath Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling

The second of the credit scenes shown after Avengers: Endgame Encore shows Bruce Banner alone in an underground military bunker, making a diary entry. He says he's two miles underground, which made me wonder what military base he could be in. Looking at the scene again, I spotted it. In the corner of the security camera feed, you see JBA, which stands for Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.

This is a real installation formed in 2010 by combining Naval Support Facility Anacostia and Bolling Air Force Base, southwest of Washington, DC. In Captain America: Brave New World, this was the same base where Isaiah Bradley was briefly held after Samuel Sterns, the Leader, staged his Manchurian Candidate style attack, using Bradley and other service members to try to assassinate the president and other world leaders. It's also where Sterns kept mind controlling people to kill other service members and to try to kill Bradley before Ruth Bat-Seraph caught him in the act.

We don't know the full status of Washington in the MCU since President Thaddeus Ross resigned after the Red Hulk incident and let himself be detained in the Raft. After that, Congress, including James Barnes, tried to hold CIA director Val accountable for her ties to the OXE Group. But I think Val is still in power at the CIA, and if this is a DC area facility two miles underground, I think it would be a bunker she would be aware of.

Doom's rune glitches the feed as he arrives to collect Banner

In his diary, Bruce explains that he recently suffered his first incident in over a decade and has been in self-containment ever since. "The Hulk is not getting out of here. No one else is getting in," he says. He adds that he's been experimenting with a new gamma suppression serum with promising early results, and that he'd like to demonstrate his findings.

Then the overhead lights and the feed glitch, we hear magical warbling, and a green glow shines on Bruce's face. Bruce asks who's there, and we hear Robert Downey Jr.'s voice as Doom: "Mr. Banner." Bruce stands up and asks, in a deeper voice suggesting he's starting to Hulk out a little, what this visitor is doing there. In the glitching, we see a flash of Doom's white magical rune, so Doom's sorcery is affecting the camera itself. Doom says, "I'm here to collect you."

A loud magical chime sounds as the Hulk roars, his voice trails off as he seems to disappear, and the camera tips over onto the bunker floor, where Doom's signature rune glows green. It's exactly what Doom's magic looks like on the floor of his throne room at the start of the D23 trailer. We also got another angle of that throne room in Latveria over the weekend: an image of Doom walking toward us, with stained glass forming three candle shapes and the three Latverian witches behind him.

The Russo brothers won't confirm Banner for Doomsday

When the Russo brothers explained the Encore scenes to Empire magazine, I found it strange how reluctant they were to go into detail on this Banner scene compared to what I thought was the far more revealing TVA sequence. Joe Russo said somebody pays Banner a visit in what he thinks is perhaps the most secure place on the planet, where he's dealing with the trauma and fallout from Brand New Day and trying to protect the world from himself.

Asked what Doom's interest in Banner might be, Anthony Russo joked about being put on the spot. Joe Russo then said, "I mean, look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner, so that's what we'll say about that." When the interviewer pointed out that Ruffalo wasn't one of the names in the chair reveal, Joe replied, "Yeah, you've got to save some surprises."

Pressed on whether the scene confirms Ruffalo for Doomsday, Joe said, "I think what we could say is Banner is certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom. We will not confirm nor deny his appearance in Doomsday." Anthony added, "The farthest we can go is to say there are characters and actors who have not been announced who are a part of Doomsday." The fact that they joked about being this nervous discussing one of the six original Avengers, who was in the most recent MCU movie, kind of tells us that what Doom is doing here is crucial to the plot and the big reveals.

I think the Banner scene connects to Peter Parker's Spidey Tracker glitch

I think we can take this as confirmation that the glitching of Doom's rune on Bruce's feed is connected to the glitching on Ned's Spidey Tracker app in the post-credit scene of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I'm 90% certain this scene was originally shot to be a mid-credit scene for Brand New Day, giving closure to Bruce's arc there, and that we were meant to read the glitching in both scenes as linked: Doom collected both Bruce and Peter and teleported them to whatever form of Battleworld is forming in nearby space. That said, according to Instagram photos posted by the second unit director, it seems to be a scene he shot for Doomsday.

The reason I'm so interested right now is that in the Brand New Day bonus material released this week, a line from Mark Ruffalo all but confirmed that Banner and Peter will keep working together in the near future. Ruffalo said the idea of Hulk and Spider-Man meeting up is iconic in the comics, adding, "I think the way we do it is really a teaser for what's to come with these two characters." I think they're both going to be among Doom's collections in Battleworld together.

Doom may be targeting the heroes who caused incursions

I think the reason the Russos were so hesitant is that the exact people Doom is targeting are the people most responsible for incursions. Peter would be collected for the incursions in Spider-Man: No Way Home, when he disrupted Strange's spell and multiversal visitors crossed into Earth 616. When a few of them were made less evil and sent home, my theory from last week is that it caused the newly forming Earth 1127.

Bruce would be collected for the incursions in Avengers: Endgame, after the Ancient One warned him about what would happen if the Infinity Stones weren't returned to their proper places in time. It was Bruce who said, "It's like I was made for this," and snapped the six stones to restore the dusted. That was a universe altering decision that probably had some repercussions.

In the TVA scene, Miss Minute says, "So, do us a favor and stay in your universe so we don't have to hunt you down like a dog." That's kind of new. I think it establishes a rule in the post Loki finale TVA that will be enforced in Doomsday: going from one universe to another and staying there causes an incursion. Using that logic, the people Doom would collect line up interestingly with the names left off the cast announcement.

Steve Rogers, and maybe Peggy and their child, could be on the list

Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell were among the first names reported for Doomsday by the trades in December 2024, but they weren't in the set chair announcement in March 2025. Marvel confirmed them later, but it took a while; I don't think Atwell was confirmed until Hall H in July 2026.

Steve stayed behind in the past of Earth 616, and it seems that branching off a new timeline resulted in someone from Earth 616 living in another branch universe. I think when Loki knocks on his door, Loki will relocate Steve and Peggy to another universe that won't get pruned. But by doing that, they and their eventual child would exist in a universe they shouldn't be in, so Doom will at some point try to collect them. The question with Steve is whether Doom will succeed.

Doctor Strange: I'm calling him collected

We're almost certain Benedict Cumberbatch will be in Doomsday, despite no confirmation from the Russos or the studio. Strange certainly caused an incursion when he dreamwalked into the body of his dead variant from Earth 617 in Multiverse of Madness. It's believed that this, plus mingling with the souls of the damned, is kind of what led to his third eye opening and Clea accusing him: "You caused an incursion and we're going to fix it."

Last week I reported on shirts being sold as part of the Doomsday collection at New York Comic-Con that mention locations like the Sanctum Sanctorum and Avengers Mansion as spots the Sentinels will visit. If Doom and his Sentinels visit the Sanctum, I'm guessing Strange will be among his first collections. We already saw a Sanctum in the Void in Loki season 1, episode 5, and in Deadpool and Wolverine, Cassandra Nova bragged that she got her sling ring from a different Doctor Strange who must have been pruned. Whether those relate to the Strange that Doom collects or other variants, I think we can safely say Doctor Strange is collected.

Monica Rambeau: I think she's collected too

I fully expected to see Teyonah Parris's name on the set chairs as soon as we saw Kelsey Grammer's. It remains so weird to me that Grammer is returning as Beast after The Marvels post-credit scene, while Monica, in that same scene and same universe, hasn't been announced. Asked by Entertainment Tonight, Parris said she would love to be in Doomsday, adding, "It's ultimately not up to me where Monica shows up. I would love to continue to tell her story."

That uncertainty reminds me of Hailee Steinfeld telling Jimmy Fallon she didn't see her chair either and had "no idea" whether she's in it. I think these actors don't know whether they'll be in Doomsday, Secret Wars or neither, based on scenes shot long ago or scenes they'll shoot later without being told what they're for. But Monica did cause an incursion when she went through the rift created by Dar-Benn and ended up stuck in Earth 10005. I think we'll see her in Battleworld, if not in Doomsday then at least in Secret Wars.

Wanda Maximoff: I'm assuming she was collected

Wanda certainly created incursions in Multiverse of Madness, using the Darkhold to dreamwalk into her variants and controlling interdimensional beasts to try to capture America Chavez. Scoopers are increasingly confident she'll be in Doomsday, and our buddy Alex from the Escape Pod claims he shared a flight with Elizabeth Olsen back from London in September.

Our pals the Nobodies pointed out that in Multiverse of Madness, Christine Palmer was first alerted to Wanda's arrival at the Baxter Foundation by her screen glitching. I don't think Sam Raimi intended that as evidence of an incursion so much as Wanda smashing into the compound, but I like the idea that multiversal arrivals might cause interference with nearby screens and cameras. With every promo for VisionQuest, that show looks increasingly Wanda coded, and maybe we'll get answers there.

Loki may be wanted for different reasons

I think Doom wants Loki for different reasons, because Loki has immense power over the multiverse as the god of stories. But Loki variant L1130, by branching off of Earth 616, is a variant who never went back to a home universe. His branch was pruned by B15's reset charge, and proper TVA procedure would be for him to be pruned too. He never was. Just because he revolutionized the TVA doesn't mean Doom wouldn't want to collect him, but I don't know if Doom will collect him like the others or just destroy him and steal his power.

Why mixed hero lineups in the trailer don't break the rule

If you're wondering why the trailer shows heroes from different universes mixed together, I think this rule only applies to incursions sparked before the final three worlds came together. In Doomsday, those three Earths in their final countdown are effectively one merged Earth, so flying into another Earth's nearby atmosphere won't cause a new incursion. I do think the opening D23 shot, with Doom's green glow across his throne room floor, comes right after he collected a whole bunch of characters the same way he collected Bruce.

Is Doom collecting these people as punishment or revenge, or did something happen to them by being strangers in strange lands? I've always been curious about a red shimmer that seems to glow off Bruce's skin at the precise moment he snapped, visible only in 4K when paused. Could there be some multiversal blessing that made these people ones Doom would want in his inner council? Maybe it's not just Strange serving as Doom's lieutenant, and maybe one of the three witches behind Doom really is Wanda.

I think Doom will build a Hulk village in Secret Wars, but sooner than that, we'll see Hulk and Peter together in Battleworld. I think they, plus Monica, Wanda, Clea and Doctor Strange, will be part of a separate Battleworld grouping left out of the Doomsday marketing, and that the witches and the two figures beside them are characters we know whose faces are being hidden. At some point, I think Loki will say, "I have an army," and Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom will answer, "I have a Hulk."

Which of these characters do you think Doom has already collected?