Avengers: Doomsday's Surprise Ending May Be Darker Than Infinity War, According to a New Insider Report

The Russo brothers, who are directing Avengers: Doomsday, have told us to be prepared for a surprise ending, and a new insider report suggests the film could close on something more disturbing than Infinity War: a multiverse that dies, then is rebuilt by Doctor Doom, with no one remembering what came before. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige also said not too long ago that it is basically going to be a cliffhanger.

That means a hard wait of a whole year for Avengers: Secret Wars. Hopefully it is just a year and they don't delay it. They might. We've heard recently that filming has kind of been delayed. Fingers crossed they don't, unless they need the time, in which case I think it would actually be a good idea. As for the ending itself, I have two questions. First, of course, what is the surprise? Second, will it actually be a surprise, or do we already know what's going to happen? I think a lot of Marvel fans have a pretty decent idea.

The Russo brothers call Avengers: Doomsday a focused, propulsive story of about two and a half hours

The Russos have been doing a lot of press lately because of the rerelease of Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Endgame Encore, which everybody is saying is on track to become the biggest movie of all time, beating out Avatar. We'll have to wait and see, but fingers crossed it does. Speaking to Fandango, Anthony Russo described the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday as a focused, propulsive narrative, and said it will run around two and a half hours.

That is still a pretty long time for a Marvel movie. Only three Marvel movies have actually gone past two hours and 30 minutes: Eternals, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Avengers: Endgame, which comes in at three hours and one minute. In Anthony Russo's words, it is a "focused, propulsive narrative that has an organizing principle at its center, and everything has to orbit around that." He added that part of the creative challenge for him and Joe is figuring out what that orbit is and how it all smashes together.

When the brothers talked about how Avengers: Doomsday concludes and leads into Secret Wars, Joe Russo said people are going to be surprised. "It's a very surprising ending. It's a very surprising movie. And that's all we'll say about it."

I believe the organizing principle is a countdown clock to the multiverse's doomsday

When it comes to the ending, I think we have to go back to that idea of an organizing principle. What I believe that organizing principle is, is basically a countdown clock, a timer to doomsday. The title has a double meaning. It is literally the multiverse's doomsday, a countdown until it is doomed and everything gets destroyed. And of course, Doctor Doom is here, and I'm pretty sure he's the one who is kind of making it all happen.

I've said this many times. Maybe at first Doctor Doom was trying to save the multiverse, but I think there came a time when he realized he has to destroy it and remake it his way, which is what Doomsday is going to be about. We'll really see it his way in Avengers: Secret Wars. But the ending, I think, revolves around that organizing principle: a countdown clock to the destruction of the multiverse.

A Doctor Doom victory echoing Infinity War would not be too surprising

So, is it really that big of a surprise to us? I think we all know it ends with Doctor Doom winning, especially because there is basically a parallel between Avengers: Infinity War, where the heroes lost, and Avengers: Doomsday. They're not going to be exactly the same. It has already been said that there will be really big key differences, but there will still be some similarities.

IGN makes the same comparison, writing that "even without knowledge of the Secret Wars comics or informed speculation based on filming leaks and reports, it seems fair to compare Doomsday to Infinity War." That movie ended with the Avengers losing to Thanos, with multiple main character deaths throughout the film that were not reversed, then a climactic event that acted as a shocking cliffhanger. And I have to say, at the time, Infinity War really was shocking.

IGN then asks whether the Avengers will lose again to Doctor Doom, and says: "I would not describe this as too surprising." It adds that it would certainly serve as an interesting jumping off point for Secret Wars should it follow the general story of the Marvel Comics. Like I said, that doesn't come as too surprising. What I think the big surprise is, is how Doom wins, because it's not just killing people. It goes much deeper than that, and I actually think it's kind of twisted and kind of dark.

We've heard recently that Avengers: Doomsday is probably going to be the darkest Marvel movie they've ever made, which is crazy to me because they've made some dark ones. It has been described as borderline horror by people who have seen the test screenings.

Insider James Mack says the Doomsday ending is more agonizing than Infinity War

An insider report, I think, offers some really good insight into what the key difference is. It's a little bit of a spoiler. This comes from James Mack, who states that the way Avengers: Doomsday ends is much more agonizing, disturbing, uncomfortable, and sad than the ending of Avengers: Infinity War. In Infinity War, the heroes lose and Thanos eliminates half of all life in the universe, followed by five years of people knowing what happened.

In Avengers: Doomsday, according to the report, the heroes also fail to stop the villain. They can't stop the end of the world because of the incursions, and everyone in the multiverse dies. There is no one left, just emptiness. But Doom creates a new world where he is God. The people who live in this new world have no memories of their previous lives, and they go on to live new lives believing that reality has always been that way, completely mentally manipulated by Doctor Doom.

That is why the ending would be shocking and surprising. It's not just that everyone dies. It's that they die and are then brought back by someone who mentally manipulates them, so they have no recollection of anything that happened in the past. They literally believe that Doctor Doom is a god.

Doctor Doom as a literal god, just like Secret Wars 2015

This is a really big thing to understand. It's not just that Doom is the ruler and thinks of himself like a god, so he becomes God Emperor Doom. In the Secret Wars comics from 2015, people view him as the literal god because he literally created Battleworld. As far as the people living on it are concerned, he created all of them, gave them life, and created the world they live on.

That's what I believe is going to happen in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Everyone is going to be dead. He's going to bring them back, create the world they all live on, and then decide what they believe reality is. It's not even like WandaVision, where people are under a spell but are in pain because they kind of remember the past and can't do anything because they can't control themselves. No, it's different than that. It's actually worse. They don't remember anything from before and are continuously deceived into believing Doom is their savior, literally their god.

I think that's the big surprise: a villain who wins by getting what he wants, then wins again by having everybody believe he is actually a god.

Surviving heroes like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man could be another surprise

Then I think we get another surprise along the lines of: Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine are still alive somewhere. Some people survived in the Quantum Realm, and some people might have survived in the Void. I think there are some good surprises for us at the end, but those might actually be scenes after the credits.

The way the movie itself ends, though, is almost going to be no hope. The Avengers literally lose. Then it's like, don't worry, the new world comes back, and the Avengers are there. But wait a second, they're not really there. The people who were just fighting Doom are now worshiping and serving Doom and have no idea what the past was.

Doom might keep Steve Rogers' memories intact out of pettiness

The exception, I think, might be Steve Rogers. Doom might keep his memories intact and keep him prisoner just to torture him, because Doom is that petty. Some people say Doom isn't that petty, but one time he met a variant of himself who had made a literally perfect universe, and Doom killed him in that universe pretty much just out of pettiness.

So I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps a few heroes with their memories intact and makes them watch everything that happens. That, I think, is the big twist. Yes, the Avengers lose, but not just like they did in Infinity War. They lose once by failing to stop Doom from winning and failing to stop the destruction of the multiverse. Then they lose again when Doom resurrects them and takes over their reality. That's multiple losses, to be honest.

That's what I believe we can expect from the ending of Avengers: Doomsday, and it's pretty much exactly what happened in the comics. There, life rafts carried people like Reed Richards, Star-Lord, Spider-Man, and Miles Morales, along with basically a bad one from the Ultimates universe, and that's how everything goes wrong.

Given how closely it seems to follow Secret Wars, would this ending actually surprise you?