Avengers: Endgame Encore Post-Credit Scenes May Reveal Dr. Doom Already Captured Spider-Man

The new post-credit scenes added to Avengers: Endgame Encore tell us a lot more than I think a lot of people realize, and Anthony Russo has now confirmed one of them ties directly into the start of Doomsday. I want to go back over all of these scenes with the new information we have, because there is a theory forming that Dr. Doom may have already captured Tom Holland's Spider-Man.

The Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter Scene Sets Off Doomsday, Says Anthony Russo

The first addition is not really a post-credit scene at all. It is an extension of the very last moment of Avengers: Endgame, when Steve is dancing with Peggy and there is suddenly a knock at the door. Steve hides behind a wall, Peggy answers it, and it is Loki. She asks, "Can I help you?" and he replies, "No, but I can help you, both of you," before looking toward the wall Steve is hiding behind. Steve steps out, and the scene ends there.

Anthony Russo did a Q&A about the re-release and said that moment, Steve going back in time and staying there with Peggy, is when Doomsday begins. Steve was not supposed to do that. Everything Marvel has told us, even if the rules get a little muddy sometimes, suggests the Avengers were meant to go back in time but not necessarily stay there at the end.

This is probably related to Dr. Doom, since we have heard that Steve staying in the past created an incursion, whether that is in his own timeline or in the Fantastic Four's universe after Loki takes him there. Either way, it is Dr. Doom entering the picture because of what Steve did, and I think it is really cool that Anthony Russo basically confirmed what a lot of us were already thinking.

The Hulk Post-Credit Scene Hints Dr. Doom Already Captured Spider-Man

The second scene focuses on Bruce Banner and the Hulk. We see Bruce but hear the Hulk, recording himself in a military compound two miles underground after having another episode a decade after the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He says no one can get in and no one can get out, until everything starts glitching. Dr. Doom's voice comes through, the Hulk asks who he is, and Doom says, "I've come to collect you." The camera falls to the ground and we see Doom's runes glowing on the floor.

This is really interesting because it hints that Dr. Doom may have kidnapped Spider-Man too. In the Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credit scene there was a glitch that looks close to the one in this Hulk scene, so the theory going around is that Doom is collecting powerful people, and that glitch could be Doom grabbing Peter Parker, explaining why the Spidey Tracker shows him on Earth and then suddenly somewhere else.

The one issue I have is that the Spidey Tracker was described in Brand New Day as working through people reporting Peter's location, so it is not clear how it would show him off Earth at all. That said, this was already a problem with that scene by itself, and the same logic applied to the Hulk's glitch could still support the idea that Doom collected Spider-Man.

An Insider Claim About Dr. Doom Using the Hulk in a Doombots Battle

We are hearing from the insider James Mack that this Hulk capture will come into play later, though this should be taken with a grain of salt since it is not confirmed. He states that the Avengers invade Latveria at the end of Avengers: Doomsday to fight Dr. Doom, facing thousands of Doombots and Doom's witches, which is confirmed, along with the Latveria fight itself.

According to this claim, John Walker says it cannot get any worse, and then the Hulk roars and appears in front of the army wearing a Doom mask. The mask says, "Leave this one to me," and charges, with the line, "It's clobbering time." I had actually heard about this scene before but was told it had been removed, so maybe that changed, or maybe it was always the plan.

This would line up with the Hulk post-credit scene setting up that Doom has him. We already know Doom can mind control people and that his sorcery is powerful enough to reach two miles underground and pull a multiverse traveler out of the 616 universe, which is not an easy thing to do to the Hulk. Doctor Strange is confirmed among his witches, though who else is with him, possibly Scarlet Witch, Sylvie, Clea, or Death, is not confirmed.

The Tony Stark and Doctor Doom Mask Reveal

My favorite of the additions, though it is close with the Hulk one, replaces the clanking sound at the end of the original Endgame, where we heard Tony making his first Iron Man suit in the cave. Instead we get three quick clips: one appears to be Tony Stark hammering the mask, then it cuts to the Doctor Doom mask, then to Doom's face.

There is obviously some connection here to Robert Downey Jr. playing both characters, but we do not know what it is yet. It seems like Marvel is really going to hold that reveal until either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars.

The TVA Scene Confirms Only Three Universes Are Left

The TVA scene means a lot more than people think. It confirms that by the end of Doomsday there are only three universes left. The dialogue references losing 20, then 100, then 300, then 3,000 universes, and people are catching the parallel to Tony's "I love you 3,000" line, though I am not sure it means much beyond a fun echo.

In the background, the Yggdrasil tree Loki is holding together only has three branches left: our 616 universe, the Fantastic Four's 828, and the X-Men's 1005, one of which is shown firing missiles at another. This confirms our universe and those two are the only ones left at the end, and I think this scene is actually Dr. Doom destroying the rest, which adds context to Reed Richards asking, "Victor, did you do this?"

We have heard that Steve and Thor go to the TVA in Doomsday, since Loki gives Steve a card to contact him, and Thor demands to be taken there once Steve explains what happened. Once there, they find Doom has destroyed the TVA and is behind everything happening to the multiverse. Some think Doom killed or dethroned Loki and that caused the collapse, but I think if that were the case all the universes would be destroyed, not just all but three, so I think what's happening is Doom is actually going out there and killing these universes, setting off a domino effect the way it happens in the comics, leading eventually to Secret Wars.

Once Steve and Thor learn what happened, they go back to the X-Men universe to explain that Victor von Doom caused the collisions because he wants the multiverse to end so he can remake it in his own image. There is a line from Thanos in the original Endgame that points to this, when he says, "I thought by destroying half of life, people would be grateful, but now I'm going to build a new one because I've found out now that as long as people remember what was, they won't accept what is." I think that will be a big part of Doom's plan for Battleworld, erasing memories so people accept him as ruler instead of holding onto the old reality.

As for why these specific three universes survive, I think it comes down to revenge, with Doom wanting to settle things with Steve Rogers, and he reportedly needs something, maybe a person given how he is collecting people, in the X-Men universe as well. When Reed Richards asks, "Victor, did you do this?" it is probably after Steve and Thor return from a destroyed TVA and tell him it was Victor von Doom, with Doom likely answering that it had to happen and had simply run its course.

What do you think Dr. Doom actually needs from the X-Men universe, and could that be another person he is collecting?