Why Doctor Doom May Be After Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday

The first Avengers: Doomsday teaser was all about Steve Rogers. At the time it was one of four teasers we'd been hearing about, and reports offered a reason Doctor Doom might be coming for Chris Evans's Captain America: an incursion that may have cost Doom his family. I'll go through the teaser, those reports, and my own theory about how Loki fits in.

The teaser had already gotten more likes on X than the Avengers: Infinity War trailer. So whether or not you agreed with Steve Rogers returning, people did seem to like it, or were at least very excited for Doomsday.

The Russo brothers said it was always going to come back to Steve Rogers

When the Russo brothers posted the teaser on Instagram, they said it was always going to come back to this. I don't know about that. Maybe that was always their plan. But we know Marvel Studios went through a rough patch with Phase 4 and Phase 5 after Endgame.

It looked like they had one plan, and then that plan got derailed with Kang and Jonathan Majors. They were also forced to do many projects because of Disney Plus, and they were at their limit. So I don't know if it was always supposed to come back to this point. Still, it does seem like the brothers have it all mapped out, and I think Avengers: Doomsday is going to be truly awesome.

We do know two of the main characters are going to be Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom and Chris Evans's Captain America. That's why the first teaser went to Evans. Marvel was signaling that he's going to be one of the main characters and incredibly important.

The teaser shows Steve returning to Peggy Carter after Endgame

What the teaser shows is what happened right after Endgame, plus, I would assume, at least a year into the future, maybe more. We see Steve riding back to Peggy Carter's house on his Triumph motorcycle. Steve loves motorcycles; that's been established in the comics and in the MCU.

Some people online pointed out that the engine on this specific Triumph model wasn't made until around 2008 or 2009. This might be a different scene, but it is an alternate universe, which the Russo brothers have confirmed. The Infinity War and Endgame writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, said they believe Steve has always been in the main MCU timeline, but the Russos said otherwise. So as far as I'm concerned, Steve hasn't been in the main 616 timeline in the background this entire time. He should be in a new, completely different timeline.

I assume this is the first time he goes back in time. He returns all of the Infinity Stones, decides he wants to see Peggy again, and probably decides from there that he's staying. I had to stop and examine the frames of him walking up to Peggy's house, because I thought it might have been Doctor Doom. By all means, it does seem to be Steve Rogers.

Steve is putting the Captain America suit away, not taking it out

After he walks up to the house, the next thing we see is Steve with his Captain America uniform. Some people said he's taking it out, not putting it away. But if you freeze it and look closely, his clothes are on a shelf or bench, with the helmet in the background. We can see the edge of the box. He's picking the clothes up and putting them in the box.

So this is him retiring Captain America in this universe, which makes you wonder whether he did things there first. He knows so much. Would he prevent Thanos from snapping half the universe away? If those events occurred the same, did he get snapped in this universe? It's also way forward in time, so I don't think you have to worry about things like that.

But we do have that bench scene, where he's Old Man Cap and has lived through everything. Did he stop Thanos, or give somebody hints to stop him? Did he help Bucky in the beginning? We have to wonder, but it does seem like he did some things as Captain America, and now he's retiring the suit.

Steve retires to be a father, and Old Man Cap creates a paradox

He's retiring himself as Captain America to be a father, which is the next scene. This is very important for many reasons. For one, it shows Cap does get a happy ending. Some people don't like Steve returning because they feel it erases that happy ending. But we don't know what he went through after he went back. He could have gone through a lot, and we're just going to see it.

One of my biggest questions is whether Old Man Cap at the end of Endgame has already been through Doomsday and Secret Wars. If everything stays intact, you would have to say yes. He's giving the shield to Sam, but he got the shield from Sam by going back to do Doomsday and Secret Wars. It's a paradox. But based on what Marvel has said, that would have to be the case.

Incursions and Time Runs Out point to the end of the multiverse

Here's the issue. We believe, and seem to know, that Doomsday is going to end with the destruction of the multiverse. Marvel has been setting this up in many projects. They've explained that going into a different universe leaves a bad footprint, destabilizing and confusing that universe until an incursion is caused. An incursion is when two universes collide, with their Earths as the focal point.

We also know they're adapting the Time Runs Out story, which is all about incursions. By the time you get into Secret Wars, only a handful of universes are left, and they all die. The entire multiverse gets destroyed. Doctor Doom saves one thing: a world he creates called Battleworld, made of over 30 different universes mashed into one. That's why we're going to get many variants in Doomsday and Secret Wars, which I'm excited about.

Steve going back in time may have caused an incursion, according to reports

Showing Steve with his baby is important, and I believe this was a no-no for Captain America. At the end of Endgame he was supposed to return the stones and come back, causing no problems. He chose to stay with Peggy. Steve is from the main 616 timeline, and wherever he is here creates a new timeline. So their baby carries the DNA of two different universes.

Would that destabilize a universe? Would Steve going back in time cause an incursion? According to reports we've heard, yes. We don't know the exact cause. It most likely is Steve staying back in time, which was probably something he wasn't supposed to do. And according to reports from insiders, this incursion directly affected Doctor Doom and his family.

There's going to be a big theme of parenthood and fatherhood in Doomsday, as the first teaser shows. We've heard the Thor teaser is going to be the second one, with him praying to Odin to make it out alive so he can be with his daughter, Love. Sue Storm and Reed Richards have their immensely powerful son, Franklin, as we saw in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In the scene after the credits, Doom is seemingly going to take Franklin. Children seem to be a big focal point.

I think Loki warns Steve about Doom before Doom shows up

So Captain America seemingly caused an incursion that might have killed Doom's family, and that's why Doom is after Steve. That's where I think Loki comes in. Can Steve handle a fully powered Doctor Doom with tech and magic? The answer would be no. Peggy could get the drop on him and shoot him, but we'd assume his armor protects against bullets.

I think Loki tells Steve about Doom before Doom even shows up, so Steve is prepared and maybe Loki can come back and save him. I don't think Steve would trust Loki at first. But Loki would explain everything, possibly take him to the TVA, and tell him he wasn't supposed to go back in time, that this caused a chain of events, and that a man named Doctor Doom who looks like Tony, but isn't Tony, is after him.

Steve will want to be with his son or daughter; we're not sure which yet. But once the threat of the entire multiverse being destroyed hits him, he'd join the fight, because if there's nothing left, he, Peggy and his child all die. Perhaps Loki takes him to the TVA and a multiversal Avengers team forms with Steve at the head. Or Loki could take him to the present day 616 universe to meet back up with Sam Wilson and the other Avengers.

A reliable insider said the third teaser might be about the X-Men

We knew there were going to be four teasers, but a reliable insider said the third one might be an X-Men one rather than a Doctor Doom one, with the fourth being the big full trailer. I'm all for it. An X-Men element of Doomsday is definitely one of the things I'm most excited for, and maybe the thing I'm most excited for.

Doom reportedly lost a wife and child, and Doomsday may end with him winning

It seems Doom is after Steve because he caused an incursion that possibly destroyed Doom's universe and killed his family. We've heard Doom had a wife and a son or a daughter. It's been said he might have been married to a variant of Sue Storm, with Franklin as his kid in his universe, but they died.

The threat of the multiverse being destroyed is also real. We believe Doomsday is going to end much like Infinity War did, with the Avengers losing and Doom winning. The multiverse gets destroyed, but he saves Battleworld, and that leads into Secret Wars. We've also heard we'll see other universes being destroyed in Doomsday from the perspective of characters like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. That isn't confirmed, but it's been reported by a reliable insider, so I'd say there's a good chance it happens.

A theory says Doom is collecting powerful children

There's a cool theory that Doom is collecting children, because these are very powerful children. In the comics, Franklin can create universes. After Secret Wars destroys the multiverse, Franklin, with help from his father and the power of the Beyonders and Molecule Man, rebuilds it. So you could see why Doom would want him, and the Scarlet Witch's children too, given how strong Wiccan is.

With Steve's child, it could be about revenge, but Doom could also be using the child for something specific. The same goes for the Hulk's child, who will be very powerful. Love was created by Eternity and has some of Eternity's powers, so she'd be useful to Doom. Perhaps he needs their powers to create the perfect universe he wants.

We've also heard much about Doom knowing about Kang and hating that he built the TVA and altered the main timeline. Doom wanted revenge on Kang, and I bet he probably gets it. Then he seeks two things: control over everything, which would mean going against Loki and taking the TVA for himself, and revenge on Steve for causing an incursion that destroyed his universe and family, probably took everything from him, and, I would assume, gave him the scar.

It very much is a teaser. But for me it brings back all the nostalgia of Infinity War and Endgame, and it's awesome to see Steve Rogers back.