‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Incursions Could Leave Only One Universe Standing, Russo Brothers Tease
‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ has been dropping multiverse breadcrumbs for months, and the incursions at the center of the story have become the film’s biggest talking point. Marvel has kept the plot closely guarded, but trailers, promo art and new footage have given fans plenty to chew on. The big question is what exactly is happening to the worlds that keep colliding.
A major clue arrived with the ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ re-release, which added 4 new scenes, including 3 post-credits stingers. One of them takes place at the Time Variance Authority, where Owen Wilson’s Mobius, Ke Huy Quan’s Ouroboros and Eugene Cordero’s Casey watch 2 worlds crash into each other. Reports of more collisions then flood in, with Ouroboros summing it up bluntly: the multiverse is collapsing.
Empire’s recent primer on the film lays out how those collisions fit together. According to a report on the feature, the Fantastic Four hail from one universe and the X-Men from another. For reasons that remain unexplained, those worlds and the main MCU reality of Earth-616 are collapsing into one another, and it seems only one of them can survive.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have been careful with their words, but they have made clear how much the scene matters. Joe Russo told Empire that the TVA sequence is “the most profound thing that’s ever happened to the MCU.” He pointed out that everything the TVA was built to do was to protect the timelines from collapsing, and now they are in a catastrophic collapse.
Anthony Russo described the sequence as the unifying principle that brings the X-Men universe, the Avengers universe and the Fantastic Four universe together. Joe added that everything in the footage was planned all along and that it contains clues that pay off in the film.
The brothers were much more guarded about the bunker scene, in which Doctor Doom is heard but not seen apparently taking Bruce Banner. Joe would only say that Banner is involved in the story revolving around Doom, and he neither confirmed nor denied the Hulk’s appearance in ‘Doomsday’.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom sits at the center of all this. The primer describes him as a seemingly all-powerful villain who has arrived on Earth-616 with a sinister, unknown agenda. Joe Russo has hinted that his interest may extend beyond just Banner, suggesting a much wider collection effort.
On the hero side, there are 2 separate Avengers teams. The official squad is led by Sam Wilson’s Captain America, while the New Avengers, formerly known as the Thunderbolts, form the second group, with reinforcements arriving from the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
There may be a familiar face in the mix too. The ‘Encore’ scenes suggest that Steve Rogers’ happy ending with Peggy Carter could be interrupted by Loki, and Anthony Russo reportedly hinted that Loki will appear as the God of Time, holding the multiverse together. Marvel hasn’t confirmed that, so it is best treated as a tease for now.
He used to be different. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters everywhere December 18. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/J5PUbxvAkc https://t.co/OUutSMZneq
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 15, 2026
The idea of incursions is not new to the MCU. The concept was introduced in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, so moviegoers have already heard that two worlds colliding can doom both realities. In Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Secret Wars’ comic, the Marvel multiverse is destroyed after a series of incursions, which is why many fans expect the films to build toward Doctor Doom’s Battleworld.
Nothing about that has been officially confirmed, but the structure certainly points that way. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is the setup, and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ follows on December 17, 2027, closing out the Multiverse Saga.
For now, the official synopsis keeps things broad, promising heroes from 3 distinct universes on a deadly collision course against an existential threat. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ arrives in theaters December 18, and the incursions look set to decide which worlds, and which heroes, make it out alive.
Which universe do you think will survive the incursions in Avengers: Doomsday?
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