Avengers: Doomsday: the six key stories explained

My read on Avengers: Doomsday was that it would focus on six main stories in the MCU, and eight if Marvel chose to include two characters who, at the time, had not been confirmed by Marvel or by insiders to be returning. Many people had been wondering how Marvel could fit in all of the cast, all of the characters and all of the plot points, from the TVA and Doom's origin story to the Avengers, the X-Men and the new Avengers. My answer was that they would, and that each of these stories feeds into Doom's own.

Doctor Doom's plan to save the multiverse sits at the center of Avengers: Doomsday

The first story, and the overall story, is Dr. Doom. My expectation was that the film would tell Doom's story from start to finish, using the stories of other teams and characters to tell it. This film is primarily focused on Doom, much like Infinity War was focused on Thanos trying to do what he was trying to do, while the Avengers came together, or in that movie remained apart, to try and stop him.

I expected something similar here. There are many different teams in Avengers: Doomsday, but overall it's about Doom and what he's trying to do. Ultimately that's to save the multiverse, but in doing so he ends up causing its destruction and creating Battle World.

Reed Richards, Franklin and the Fantastic Four drive Doom's story

The second story is Reed and Doom, and the Fantastic Four in general, because of Franklin Richards. The scene after the credits of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), starring Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, showed Doom appearing in the Baxter Building and interacting with Franklin. Many people think that Franklin touching his face might be him clearing Doom's scars, which would be a wild turn. I definitely want to see how he got those scars.

Reed and Doom are a big part of Doom's story. "Reed and Doom have always been rivals." They went to college together, and Doom has always hated Reed. Yet he's also sometimes an accomplice to the Fantastic Four. He saves Sue's life and he saves their daughter Valeria's life. He even names her Valeria. It's a very complicated relationship.

That's why I believed the film would have to focus on Reed, the Fantastic Four and specifically Franklin Richards. Doom is using Franklin as a giant power source to do whatever he's trying to do with the multiverse.

Doctor Strange could become Doom's right hand man

The third main story is Doctor Strange and Doom. In the comics, Doctor Strange becomes Doom's right hand man. He becomes Sheriff Strange, the person in charge of everything under Doom. It looked like that would be much the same in the MCU, because of leaked concept art from the official Marvel Studios artist that gave a peek into Avengers: Secret Wars.

In that art, Doom sat on his throne as God Emperor Doom. To his left, which is our right, were Franklin Richards and Sue Storm. To his right, our left, was Doctor Strange.

There would be no Doctor Strange 3 before Avengers: Doomsday. But thanks to the scene after the credits of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we know Clea showed up and told Doctor Strange that an incursion had been caused. Based on what was going to happen in Doctor Strange 3, that movie was going to be about Strange discovering that he and his variants across the multiverse were responsible for many different incursions. As Reed Richards said in Multiverse of Madness, the greatest threat to the multiverse is Doctor Strange. Throughout that film, Strange was going to try to undo the damage he had done.

That's how I thought it would most likely play out for him in Avengers: Doomsday. He runs into Doom and says he wants to help save the multiverse, because that's what Doom is going to be preaching at first. We might get a situation similar to Avengers: Infinity War, where Strange tells Tony Stark there was only one way. Here, he might believe that one way is Doom's way. This happens in the comics as well. Benedict Cumberbatch did confirm he would be in the movie.

Loki, the TVA and a multiversal Avengers team

The fourth story is Loki and Doom. With Loki, everything comes together when it comes to the TVA, the multiversal Avengers team and the heroes across the multiverse that Doom is tracking down because he believes they've caused incursions. That includes Steve Rogers. Chris Evans was set to return, based on what we had been told and on leaked set photos of his house back in the past. He would return as the exact same Captain America who left us at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

Ultimately, though, we had heard that it all leads to Loki and the TVA. Doom is going to be seeking out what Loki has, because he apparently has a vendetta with Kang and with the TVA. We'd heard that Kang messed with our timeline. The original Sacred Timeline had the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, and maybe the Inhumans, but Kang made it exactly what he wanted it to be. Then he secluded the other branches, won the multiversal war and cut our universe off from the others. Apparently Doom has a big problem with that.

I also think Kang possibly took the tech he had from Doom and Reed. It all looks very similar in the TVA to what the Baxter Building looks like in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, in the 828 universe. So Doom is trying to get to the TVA. Loki sees this because he is attached to his universe and all of its branches, so he puts together a multiversal Avengers team. They try to go up against Doom, and ultimately they warn the others out there who play big roles in the movie too.

Avengers versus X-Men, and why Monica Rambeau is the key

That brings me to the fifth story, the Avengers and the X-Men. We hoped, and had heard reports, that it would be the Avengers versus the X-Men. My theory is that Doom shows up and attacks the X-Mansion, which set leaks indicated would happen. He probably defeats them easily. He doesn't kill all of them, but whatever he's there for, he manages to accomplish it without much trouble.

When the Avengers then show up, the X-Men view them as hostile. Monica Rambeau is the key here. She is in the X-Men universe, and that's why the Avengers go to that universe: they track her down. Once the two teams start fighting each other, I think Monica is going to realize these are her friends from her universe and tell everybody to stop fighting. "None of you are the bad guys." They aren't associated with Doom, who is on his own. That's where they begin to realize the bigger story of what's going on.

Shuri and Wakanda discover the incursions

The sixth story is Wakanda, Shuri and the incursions. We had heard that Shuri is the one who discovers that incursions are happening and that other universes are heading toward theirs. That makes sense to me, because there's no other place in the world with more advanced technology than Wakanda, and she has that technology. We had also heard that Wakanda would play a big role in the movie, which Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, had confirmed.

How all six stories come together, and why I don't think they stop Doom

All of these stories come together. Wakanda discovers the incursions. The Avengers and the X-Men discover the incursions. Then there's what Doom is trying to do, which ties into Doom having Reed Richards and Sue Storm's son. That leads them to discover that Doom is a big threat to the multiverse, and then that the TVA, run by Loki, has its own multiversal Avengers team trying to stop him as well. That leads to all of them coming together to stop Doom from having his way with whatever he wants to do with the multiverse.

Many people, including me, believe they're not going to stop him. That takes us to Secret Wars, which will give us Battle World.

The Scarlet Witch could be a seventh story

Beyond the six main stories, two others could happen if those characters were in the movie. The first is the Scarlet Witch. We had heard rumblings about things that could happen with her in Avengers: Doomsday, and Elizabeth Olsen had said she would like to return as the Scarlet Witch, so she was open to it.

One rumor I enjoyed is that the Scarlet Witch did die, but Doom uses Franklin Richards to revive her. Because he revives her, she believes he is good, and she sides with Doom. Another rumor I liked is that she comes back, whether that's through being resurrected or because she's alive and something happens with the multiverse, and she ends up part of the X-Men universe. There she has her brother Quicksilver and her father Magneto. I think that would be incredibly cool. But we hadn't heard anything close to official on it. If she is in the movie, though, her story with Doom is clearly going to be a focus.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man could still be an eighth

The same goes for the last one, Spider-Man. We had heard that Tom Holland's Spider-Man would not be in Avengers: Doomsday, while Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man probably would be. Even so, I still thought there was a chance Holland could appear. "These leakers, they hear things, but perhaps they don't hear everything." Otherwise we would know every single thing that happens in every second of the movie.

If Tom Holland's Spider-Man is in the movie, the film is going to focus on that, because Dr. Doom is going to look just like Tony Stark, and I think that's going to mess with Spider-Man. If that story doesn't come in Doomsday, it will come in Secret Wars, though the story of Secret Wars is going to be very different from Avengers: Doomsday.

With six main stories, and possibly eight, my hope was that Avengers: Doomsday would be at least three hours long, because it is going to need that time to tackle all of them. I think the bare minimum should be two and a half hours.