The fate of our heroes in Avengers: Doomsday may be in danger, but that shouldn't surprise long-time MCU fans. With Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom entering the fold, no one is safe, but there's an even greater threat than Doom himself. One leading theory points to a particular moment in the Doomsday trailer that may reveal its closing moments. As promised in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene, the new Fantastic Four are entering the Earth-616 fold, but it may not last.
At the 1:22 mark of the first official Avengers: Doomsday trailer, the camera pushes into a tight close-up: Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm, battle-worn, holding his nephew Franklin Richards against his chest. Behind him, the frame is nothing but a wall of white-yellow light. On its own, it looks like a standard hero-in-peril moment; maybe Doctor Doom blew up a building, ship, or something else large. However, this moment has become the source of a growing theory. Instead of this being during a fight mid-movie, it is actually one of Doomsday's final moments, and the light isn't an ordinary explosion but an Incursion in which different realities collapse into one.
The bright visual language here also seems to match the beginning of the first Doomsday trailer, where Professor X blocks his eyes from a harsh beam of light.
If this theory proves to be right, this wouldn't just mean Earth-616 is in danger. This could (theoretically) be the Avengers' Sacred Timeline, the Fantastic Four's Earth-828, and the X-Men's Earth-10005 all collide at once. While many plot details remain under wraps, Marvel Studios has made it clear that this film will be about those three universes colliding.
The theory gained traction because Marvel didn't use this shot only once. It resurfaces in the Doomsday Special Look, framed slightly wider but otherwise identical with the same embrace and golden blaze.
When the shot has been darkened further by users online, more of its sun-like quality comes out, with pockets and shadows that could serve as the visual for an Incursion.
This moment with Johnny and Franklin also raises a question: why is he holding his nephew rather than Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) or Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal)?
Their absence, coupled with the look on Johnny's face, makes it seem like this could be another Infinity War-style gut-punch when the Avengers lost and half of existence was dusted, including many of fans' favorite heroes.
The theory holds a lot of merit, but nothing is set in stone. Reshoots have reportedly been taking place, and the finished ending could still technically change or be adjusted before December 18.
But the comic blueprint, which Marvel Studios and president Kevin Feige are openly following, is hard to ignore. In Jonathan Hickman's 2015 Secret Wars, Incursions destroyed universe after universe until Earth-616 and the Ultimate Earth-1610 finally collided head-on.
Doctor Doom, now with stolen power from the Beyonder, saved fragments of the dying worlds and stitched them into Battleworld, ruling over it as God Emperor Doom. If Doomsday is building toward that same kind of collision, this shot of Johnny holding Franklin in a world-erasing light may be the first glimpse of Battleworld's creation.
Will Battleworld Be the New MCU?
Whatever the Incursion ultimately costs Earth-616, the fallout would dwarf the Snap, not half of existence quietly erased, but entire realities forced into one. One idea is that Doom won't build Hickman's sprawling, multi-world Battleworld at all.
Instead, Doom may fuse three realities into a single composite Earth, with its people alive but memory-wiped, and Doom ruling as an outwardly "benevolent" God Emperor from Latveria. This would be an adaptation of the Secret Wars comic, but not the exact same outcome, which isn't uncommon for the MCU.
This is also where the direct Snap comparison breaks down a bit. The time heist of Avengers: Endgame was a reversal, a clean undo button, trying to fix the Avengers' mistakes of five years prior.
Secret Wars sounds like it's trying to accomplish something else: the Russo Brothers have already called it "a new beginning," meaning 2027's sequel may be less about reversing Doom's Incursion than finding a way to live through it.
This will lead to the final timeline of the MCU, which will first be explored in three 2028 MCU films: X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther 3.
