Avengers Doomsday Trailer 2 Breakdown: Doctor Doom's Rune Magic, Loki's Apparent Death and a Possible Tobey Maguire Spider-Man Tie-In

The new Avengers Doomsday trailer is out, and I personally think this is quite better than the first one we got, and I already loved the first one, but this one just seems to be so much more intense. We learn a lot more about Doctor Doom, including how he moves, how strong he is, and more of what he sounds like.

The trailer starts with Doom sitting on his throne, most likely at his castle in Doomstadt, Latveria, and right away it makes clear he is going to be an incredibly powerful sorcerer. Green rune magic covers the ground beneath him, the same style of rune magic we saw in WandaVision, and the same marking appears on his hand when he blocks Thor's Stormbreaker with just two fingers. Based on where Doom places his fingers, Thor appears to be going for his head, meaning he learned from Thanos, but Doom is simply too strong because of his sorcery.

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds Basically Confirmed for Doomsday

The trailer breakdown also teases Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool showing up in the movie. A D23 clip shows Jackman calling out to Kevin Feige unprompted, joking, "I just just wanted to check in, just totally unprompted and uh just wondering if you might need some help rounding out" the cast, with Reynolds interjecting on the joke before Jackman adds, "I might be able to convince Ryan to appear in Avengers Doomsday."

I think at this point they basically just confirmed this between Ryan Reynolds showing up at SDCC wearing a color that was literally Jean Grey, which we now know is confirmed, and Hugh Jackman pitching Kevin Feige directly with Reynolds helping him do it.

Sue Storm Reveals Victor Von Doom Used to Be Kind Before Everything He Loved Was Taken

While Doom sits on his throne surrounded by green magic, we hear the voice of Sue Storm telling everyone that Victor was always the smartest person in the room. That line matters because in the comics, Reed Richards is supposed to be the smartest man alive, and he and Victor went to college together with a difficult history. But based on what Sue says here, it looks like Doom had a pretty good relationship with the Fantastic Four at one point.

Sue says, "He used to be different. He used to be kind. He used to be caring. And then everything he loved was taken from him." We get a shot of Doom's green eyes as she says this, and Sue is crying as she speaks, addressing the X-Men, the Avengers, and anyone else present, including Shuri, M'Baku, and Namor, all seemingly gathered at the Baxter Building, which lines up with earlier reports that everyone ends up there.

I believe this scene happens after a first fight with Doom, since he initially acts like the good guy trying to save the multiverse before revealing his true intentions in the Sentinel scene later in the trailer. The good news is most of the Avengers and X-Men appear to survive that first fight, even though Magneto looks bruised. Professor X is not shown in this scene, but other leaked photos have shown him elsewhere, so I think he is okay.

Sue is crying partly because of what Doom has become and partly because of his past. In the same scene, there is a close-up of a mural dedicated to Doom's wife and child, and the planet behind it is visibly cracked, which suggests an incursion is connected to their deaths.

A Rumor Says an Incursion Killed Doom's Family, and He Blames Steve Rogers

From what I've heard, Doom finds out an incursion is going to happen, tries to build a multiversal device to stop it, and it goes wrong, exploding and killing his family. I want to stress that this is just a rumor we've heard, not confirmed, though a lot of the rumors around this project have turned out to be true so far.

What we do know is that Doom ends up blaming Steve Rogers. Loki gives Rogers a TVA card in the trailer, and from what we know, this is because Rogers was never supposed to stay in the past after Avengers Endgame, creating a multiversal problem. Loki moves him to a universe without Captain America, which is Victor Von Doom's universe, and Rogers' presence there is what causes an incursion to begin there. That is why Doom blames Rogers for his family's death.

Beyond revenge, Victor genuinely believes his plan is better than anyone else's because he considers himself the smartest person alive, and he believes he should rule the multiverse. That likely means creating one combined universe, Battleworld, the comics concept where Doom essentially becomes a literal god over a world built from many different universes.

Thor's Rage Suggests Doom Has Killed Loki

Everyone in the Sue Storm scene looks beaten up from fighting Doom, but Thor looks both sad and incredibly angry, clenching his fists as Sue says, "I knew he was lost, but I did not realize that he was broken." I believe that reaction ties to something the trailer does not show outright: Doom killing Loki.

Steve Rogers eventually reunites with Thor, who says, "It's not possible," before Rogers summons Mjolnir to prove it's really him. I don't think Thor's shock is just about seeing Captain America again. I think what shocks him is Rogers explaining that Loki saved him and moved him between universes, revealing some kind of multiversal power, since Loki had given him that TVA card as a way to contact him.

My theory is that while the Avengers and Fantastic Four head to the X-Men's universe, Thor and Rogers go to find Loki, and Doom has already killed him and destroyed most of the TVA. That would explain both Thor's fury in the Sue Storm scene and his later line promising Doom will "beg for hell long before he grants it."

How the Fight Actually Breaks Out Between the Avengers and the X-Men

Here is how I think the order of events goes: the Fantastic Four, Doom, and Rogers travel from their universe to the main Earth-616 Avengers universe, where Doom and Reed Richards tell everyone about incursions. One shot shows three orbs on a screen at the New Avengers Tower, representing the X-Men universe, the main Avengers universe, and the Fantastic Four's universe, all on a collision course.

A group heads to the X-Men's universe, and because the X-Men have destroyed other planets before to survive incursions, they assume the Avengers have arrived to destroy theirs, sparking a fight. I think Thor and Rogers arrive and reveal that Doom is the one really responsible, with Reed shouting, "Victor, did you do this?" while Thor tells him Doom destroyed the TVA and killed his brother.

Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch's Magic May Already Be Following Doom

During the spinning shot of Doom as Sue calls him broken, a cloak visible to the left looks to me like it belongs to Doctor Strange. Marvel has revealed at expos that Doom will have a following of witches, including a male witch, which lines up with this being Strange.

Avengers Doomsday is based on the comics story Time Runs Out, in which Doctor Strange realizes Doom is the only way to save anything once the multiverse can no longer be preserved, and Doom goes on to create Battleworld and rule it, with Strange coming to believe he is a good ruler. I think that same arc could play out here.

There is also a small red dot glowing in the emblem on Doom's chest that I think could be tied to Scarlet Witch's chaos magic. Given the harm Strange and Wanda caused in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it would make sense for them to want to do some good by aligning with Doom if he presents himself as the multiverse's only remaining hope, possibly even infusing some of that magic into his suit.

Is the Destroyed City Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man Universe?

A shot of a wrecked city shows the Chrysler Building and Central Park, confirming it is New York, but I feel like it might not be our New York. I think this could be Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man's universe, which fits with what we've been hearing, that the opening of the movie features Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, with the X-Men traveling there to destroy it before it collides with their own.

Sir Ian McKellen has publicly stated he was filming a scene as Magneto destroying New Jersey, so perhaps this destruction, including New York, is the X-Men's doing rather than Doom's, tying into the same idea that the only way to survive an incursion is to destroy the other Earth.

I think this opening act will make it seem like Wolverine and Spider-Man died, but I don't believe they actually did. My guess is Loki sees Doom coming and saves them as part of a plan to build a multiversal team that returns in Avengers: Secret Wars, though it's also possible this is simply our New York and Doom attacked it directly while the Avengers were away in the X-Men's universe.

Doom's "Stolen Lives" Speech and a Scene That May Show the Multiverse Dying

When Reed screams, "Answer me, Victor. Did you do this?" Doom essentially confirms it, telling everyone, "All of you have lived stolen lives," while the trailer cuts through images of parents and children: Ant-Man with Cassie Lang, Uncle Johnny holding Franklin Richards, Steve Rogers with his son, and Thor with his daughter Love.

I previously pointed out the Johnny and Franklin shot, and I actually think what's happening there is the destruction of the entire multiverse, with Johnny turning away and bracing for the end against a massive explosion. Since I do think Doctor Doom wins and the multiverse gets destroyed before he rebuilds it as Battleworld and brings everyone back, this scene reads to me like everybody dies before that happens.

We also see Professor X and Magneto looking terrified, which could be them reacting to the X-Men destroying another universe themselves, or to Doom's Sentinels. Doom's "stolen lives" line likely reflects his belief that the heroes caused these incursions themselves, through things like Doctor Strange and Wanda's spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home or Rogers staying in the past. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, has said that Doctor Doom does believe he is the hero, genuinely convinced his rule is best for the multiverse's future.

Thor Battles Doom's Rune Magic, and Rune King Thor Could Be Coming

Doom leaps from a building and lands hard in what I'd call a superhero landing, very deliberate rather than soft, before Thor charges at him with Stormbreaker, promising he will "beg for hell long before" Doom grants it. Doom blocks the strike with ease using the same rune I noticed on his throne room floor, now glowing on his hand.

That detail makes me think we could eventually get Rune King Thor in Secret Wars, one of the most powerful versions of Thor in the comics, and I truly hope we get that here or in Secret Wars. Doom throws Stormbreaker aside and uses his magic to throw Thor away like nothing, delivering the line, "Hell answers to me, for I am Doom," a clear mirror of "I am Iron Man."

The battlefield is littered with dead Sentinel parts, and the building Doom jumped from is visible, placing this on the front lawn of the X-Mansion, which appears completely destroyed, explaining why everyone regroups at the Baxter Building afterward. Doom then raises the Sentinels themselves with his magic, seemingly controlling them like puppets to go after everyone, not just mutants, similar to how the Sentinels wiped out most mutants in the Fox film Days of Future Past.

A Theory That Doom Is Stealing Power From Loki and Scarlet Witch

Some viewers think the green magic Doom uses resembles Loki's magic, and I wouldn't be surprised if killing Loki at the TVA also let Doom absorb some of his power, on top of sorcery he may have learned from his mother's books and from monks.

A leaked figurine reportedly shows Doom wielding the Darkhold, the book tied to Wanda in Multiverse of Madness and WandaVision, which fits a theory that Doom has been collecting artifacts and power, including from people like Scarlet Witch, making him close to unstoppable. That is a big part of why I believe Doom really does win by the end of this film.

Doom Wins and Rules Battleworld as a Literal God Until Secret Wars

That victory leads into Secret Wars, where Doom creates Battleworld by combining multiple universes into one, which would also finally unite the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers into a single rebooted universe, with Doom ruling over it as its literal god, since in the comics he created it and is worshipped as such.

I'm not sure the Avengers can really stop him within Avengers: Doomsday itself. It will probably take a much bigger multiversal team, and some very smart people, in Avengers: Secret Wars to figure out how to dethrone him.

What did you make of this trailer, and do you think Doctor Doom really wins by the end of Avengers: Doomsday?