Avengers: Doomsday photo: is it teasing Avengers vs X-Men?

The Russo brothers released a cryptic photo from the set of Avengers: Doomsday, and I think it's hinting at Avengers versus the X-Men. The image is full of letters hidden in the set, and the clearest ones are A's that look like the Avengers logo and X's that look like the X-Men.

The photo arrived less than a day after Variety reported that Marvel's unnamed release date slot between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars had gone to a Simpsons sequel, which brings that franchise back after 20 years. With no Marvel movie left between the two Avengers films, the studio needed something to get people talking about Doomsday again, and that's exactly what this photo is meant to do.

The Russo brothers repeat their Avengers: Endgame cryptic photo trick

The Russos have done this before. Ahead of Avengers: Endgame (2019), when nobody knew the title yet, they posted a cryptic set photo. People spotted an A and what they believed was an E, which turned out to stand for Avengers Endgame. The Russo brothers never commented or confirmed anything, but that reading was right.

This new image looks almost exactly like that earlier one, and as far as I can tell the caption is the same too: "Look hard..." Back then, fans studied every object in the shot. One device was guessed to be a photon cannon for War Machine. In the end, the answer was simply the title.

The shot is clearly part of a set. There's a huge green or blue screen in the background, so they were shooting something big. Joe Russo appears to be in the frame on his phone, and a giant egg shaped object sits in the scene. The angle feels very intentional. They could have taken it from anywhere, and the shot looks very intentional, especially with the shadowing and the color taken away.

Why I think the A's and X's point to Avengers vs X-Men

Right away there's an A that is very intentionally designed to show us an A, and that's obviously for Avengers. Look to the right and you can see X's. Many people online believe the photo is showing an Avengers versus X-Men theme, and I can see it myself. There are three or four A's, maybe more, and I do see a V as well, along with another X. Put together, that gives you AVX.

Some people have pointed out numerous ways the letters could spell it. One reading goes A, then a V, then an S, then the X's. These A's look a lot like Avengers logos, and these are clearly X's. "I am convinced that there is something here," and the A's paired with the X's is what makes the most sense to me.

I think the Avengers and the X-Men will probably be the biggest marketing point for this movie, outside of Robert Downey Jr. returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the villain. The original X-Men coming back is a big selling point too. So this photo most likely is teasing something about that.

What the rumors say about the Avengers and X-Men clash in Doomsday

The X-Men and the Avengers crossing paths is almost confirmed for the movie. From what we've heard in rumors and reports, the Avengers are going to go to the X-Men universe. We've also heard that Doom is going to attack the X-Mansion using Sentinels.

We're assuming Doom goes first. He attacks the X-Men, gets what he wants, does what he came to do, and leaves. Then the Avengers show up seeking Monica Rambeau. The X-Men probably view them as hostile, since the last person who came from a different universe attacked them and probably killed some of them. I think the Avengers are going to show up and they're going to fight for a little bit.

"I hate to say it, but I think some X-Men are going to die." I don't think it will be the main ones, though. I don't need to see Professor Xavier die on screen once again.

Could the photo tease another Avengers movie or a two part Secret Wars?

Because the photo landed right after the news about the empty release slot, some people think the repeated A's could mean another Avengers movie. I wouldn't go that far. It's what I want to believe, because I've been saying for a while that I think Secret Wars needs to be two parts.

I would love for Marvel to reveal a part one and a part two. It would be crazy if they even waited until Secret Wars came out to reveal it, maybe with a post credits scene saying the Avengers will return in Secret Wars Part Two. I think that would be amazing. I'm not sure that's what this photo is telling us, though.

A possible TVA hint and a Loki vs Doom fight

Another idea some people have floated is that the letters resemble TVA. You can find T's, A's and plenty of V's in the image. The theory is that they could have filmed a scene here where Doom confronts Loki.

We recently heard a report that Doom is going to completely destroy the TVA. If you're angry that the multiverse is coming to an end, and you learn there's an entity that has been watching the whole thing and destroying universes and timelines itself, you might be pretty mad. And if you don't want anybody else to have any control, you would destroy that entity. With Loki in charge, we're going to get a Loki versus Doom scene.

We've also heard that the Avengers rush to Loki's side, get to the TVA and try to defend him. So the final battle is most likely going to be a giant fight with Doom trying to get to Loki, and it probably ends with Doom winning. I don't think Loki is going to die, but he will be defeated and dethroned. There could be something in the photo for that, but I still think the bigger hint is Avengers versus the X-Men. I was also trying to see if maybe there's a T for Thunderbolts or a W for Wakanda.

Is this the X-Mansion set for Avengers: Doomsday?

Interestingly, there were no leaks of any of the Doomsday actors at this point. There were tons of pictures of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which was being shot in public with people allowed to take photos. For Doomsday, we had pictures of the set. We've seen the Sentinels and what we believe to be the X-Mansion.

This could be that X-Mansion scene. Part of the set looks like an opening, maybe a doorway into the mansion. The whole thing could be CGI, but I hope this is a real set, and that the background is just trees or hills or something like that. We know there will be some CGI, but based on how practically they're filming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I want to assume they're doing a lot of that for Avengers: Doomsday as well.

Why the Doomsday photo is mostly marketing, and why it works

The sole purpose of this is for us to talk about it. That doesn't mean they aren't giving us something, but they want people discussing the film. With the recent talk about MCU resets, the news that no movie would come between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and now this photo, I think it's going to work.

Everybody is looking at the image asking what the big secret is, what they're revealing, or whether they're trolling us. They could very well just be trolling us. We probably won't get anything mind blowing from it either. The last photo only gave us a title, and we already know this one is called Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel has also already revealed with its chair reveal that the X-Men are in the film.

We may never hear from the Russos about this one, just as they never explained the Endgame photo. But the biggest takeaway for me is Avengers versus X-Men, or simply a message telling us it's the Avengers and the X-Men, which we know.