Is ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Quietly Adapting ‘The Children’s Crusade’? The ‘VisionQuest’ Finale Has Fans Convinced

Marvel fans have spent years trying to work out which comic book stories will shape the end of the Multiverse Saga. ‘Secret Wars’ was the obvious guess for the final film, but the road there has also pointed toward a smaller, more personal storyline from the comics. That second story is ‘Avengers: The Children’s Crusade’, and the theory that it will inform ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ is suddenly everywhere.

The comic itself is a nine-issue limited series that ran from 2010 to 2012. It follows the Young Avengers members Wiccan and Speed, who believe they are the reincarnated sons of Wanda Maximoff and go searching for her after Wiccan loses control of his powers. When they find her, she has lost her powers, suffers from amnesia and is engaged to Doctor Doom.

That setup now sounds eerily familiar to MCU fans, and the latest push came this week. The online theory says ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ will seemingly adapt the Children’s Crusade storyline, with Wanda at the center of a family-driven plot involving Doom. Marvel has not confirmed any of this, and it has not said that the films will follow the comic’s events.

The theory got its biggest boost from the finale of ‘VisionQuest‘, which arrived on Disney+ on Nov. 10. Its post-credits scene returns to the collapse of Mount Wundagore from ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ and shows Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom lifting the rubble off Wanda. He tells her to awaken and says her power will be his.

Reports say the scene appears to confirm that Elizabeth Olsen will return as Wanda in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, although other coverage notes Marvel has not officially confirmed her involvement. It also fits with the Latverian witches promoted for the film, who are not in the comics, with some fans guessing Wanda could be one of them.

The finale also reunited Billy and Tommy with White Vision, giving the show its own family reunion. Joe Locke plays Billy, the character who becomes Wiccan in the comics, and Ruaridh Mollica plays Tommy, who becomes Speed. With Wanda now back in the picture, the parallels to the comic’s search for a missing mother are hard to ignore.

The finale is only the latest piece of the puzzle. Earlier this year, scoopers claimed that ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ would draw significant elements from ‘The Children’s Crusade’, adapted to the context of Doom’s rule over Battleworld. The same rumors suggest Wanda is imprisoned in Doom’s castle, with versions of Sentry and Reed Richards held alongside her, and that Doom marries Sue Storm.

Other insiders have said the film will also use elements of ‘Avengers Forever’, which features Loki as Avenger Prime. A separate set of rumors says Doom uses Scarlet Witch’s powers to create Battleworld. All of this remains unverified, and several of the claims came from social media posts rather than trade reports.

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

Marvel has been building toward a younger team for some time. The first official concept art for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ reportedly showed a Young Avengers lineup of Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, Wiccan and Speed. Another rumor says the Young Avengers will not die in the film’s final incursion, though that is not confirmed.

There is also chatter about a series that could follow the group, supposedly titled ‘Champions’. Marvel has not confirmed that project, and the reporting that links Billy’s finale return to it is speculative.

The first trailer for #VisionQuest, premiering October 14 on Disney+. https://t.co/jIcsJ2Iarl

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) August 15, 2026

An exact adaptation looks unlikely. In the comic, the story takes place after the Young Avengers are already established, while the MCU is still assembling its version of the team. Any version on screen would probably be a remix, borrowing the emotional shape of the story rather than its plot.

What is certain is the timeline. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ opens in theaters on Dec. 18, and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ follows on Dec. 17, 2027. That leaves just over a month before we learn whether Wanda is truly Doom’s captive and whether ‘The Children’s Crusade’ was ever the blueprint.