Avengers Doomsday Theory Solves 5 Trailer Countdown Timer Mystery

A new theory may have solved the mystery behind the countdown timer in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday trailers. The Doomsday trailers have taken the world by storm, teasing thrilling new interactions between the MCU’s finest while setting up an epic adventure. On top of that, they have also offered plenty of mystery as fans count down to the release date for the fifth Avengers movie.

The four Avengers: Doomsday trailers include a flash of a set of numbers in a code before the countdown to the movie’s release date is shown. One theory, shared by @comic on Instagram, indicates that these codes are actually timestamps for important moments from past MCU movies.

The first code, shown at the end of the trailer confirming Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers, reads "1e:24ber:02020." Going to the 1:24:20 (one hour, 24 minutes, 20 seconds) mark of 2019's Avengers: Endgame, fans see the scene in which Tilda Swinton's Ancient One warns Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner about the consequences of messing with the timeline by taking the Infinity Stones.

At the end of the trailer showing Chris Hemsworth's Thor and India Rose Hemsworth's Love, the code read "1e:17ber:2020." At the 1:17:20 mark of Endgame, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki changes into Captain America to mock him as the Avengers take him prisoner for his crimes with the Tesseract after the Battle of New York. After getting his hands on the Tesseract and escaping, he becomes the variant who stars in the Loki Disney+ series and, eventually, the God of Stories at the end of Season 2.

The trailer featuring the return of the X-Men (Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops) concludes with a code that reads "1e:11ber:02020." At this moment in Endgame, Chris Hemsworth's Thor is seen crying in front of Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon as they work out how to steal the Aether in 2013 Asgard (from Thor: The Dark World). That movie also featured a scene that was later used in Deadpool and Wolverine, where Deadpool replaces Loki in his death scene with Thor on camera, as the main Deadpool asks, "Why is Thor crying?"

Finally, the fourth trailer, which includes a meeting between Winston Duke's M'Baku and Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben Grimm (along with Letitia Wright's Shuri), finishes with a code reading, "1e:04ber:02020." Correlating this timestamp to Endgame, the Avengers are in the middle of planning the Time Heist and locating where and when the Infinity Stones are located. Specifically, at this moment, Rocket Raccoon comes up to Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and compares him to a puppy when Scott Lang asks about the planet Morag being in outer space.

Marvel Studios then released a fifth video for Doomsday, celebrating the previous teasers combining to amass over one billion views. This video also ended with a special code, this one reading, "1e:01ber:02020." The 1:01:20 timecode in Endgame is the scene in which Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye tests the time-travel gear that Tony Stark, Scott Lang, Bruce Banner, and the Avengers developed together. Specifically, this is right when he gets taken back to the present day after hearing his daughter Lila's voice.

What all of these scenes have in common is that they all center on moments in which the Avengers interfered with the timeline. Outside of planning the Time Heist in the present day (2023), the other four timestamps all take place during the heist itself. Two of them are during the Battle of New York in 2012, one comes in 2013 Asgard, and the last one comes from the initial testing phase.

Avengers: Doomday will be Marvel Studios' fifth Avengers movie and the third film to be released as part of the MCU's Phase 6 slate. Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU as Victor Von Doom opposite at least 28 other stars from the MCU and past Marvel legacy movies, with the fate of the multiverse hanging in the balance. Avengers: Doomsday will debut in theaters on December 18.

Avengers: Endgame's Time Travel Mayhem's Impact on Avengers: Doomsday

As Tony Stark so eloquently stated just before Avengers: Endgame's final battle, "You mess with time, it tends to mess back." Based on what has been deciphered in this theory about Avengers: Doomsday, it appears inevitable that this statement will be as true as ever, especially with multiple timelines and universes hanging in the balance.

While Downey's Doom may or may not have ties to his version of Iron Man, the fact that Tony Stark made said this line in Endgame feels almost prophetic when taking into account his role in Doomsday. All things considered, it seems abundantly clear that the Avengers' travels through time will lead to major consequences fo the multiverse when they reassemble this year.

Reports have teased that Doom will have major isssues with the multiverse as a whole, meaning he may look to use the Avengers' time-jumping antics to find weak points to exploit across time and space. Once fans learn more about what his true plan is, more information will help reveal how the X-Men's world and the Fantastic Four's Earth-828 will be impacted.

This theory also lends more insight into Marvel using Steve Rogers' return for the first Doomsday teaser, as Evans' hero jumped back to the past from his own timeline to live out his life with Peggy Carter. A ripple in time that big is sure to make an impact on the greater timeline, and even though Steve looks as happy as ever holding his baby, that choice is sure to have its share of consequences.

Looking forward, Marvel may tease more of this plot idea once a full trailer for Doomsday is released, although there is no official timeframe for when that may happen.