There is a strong chance Marvel Studios will fix a major injustice involving Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War in a key sequence in Avengers: Doomsday. Infinity War remains one of the MCU's most ambitious films from the Infinity Saga, as it carried the weight of the responsibility of pushing Thanos and his plan to retrieve the six Infinity Stones to the forefront. Despite the huge scale of the MCU crossover film, there are still missed opportunities from Infinity War, most notably the Xandar sequence that was supposed to show how Thanos wiped out the Nova Corps to retrieve the Power Stone. Instead of showcasing this brutal sequence, Avengers: Infinity War only confirmed Xandar's fate through Thor's dialogue, revealing that Thanos "decimated" the planet and tore through the Nova Corps to get it.
Thanos creator Jim Starlin said in an April 2023 interview that the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios cut a 45-minute sequence of Thanos "getting the first Infinity Stone [Power Stone]" from Avengers: Infinity War, citing "they never wanted to spend the money on the effects:"
"But about a month before the movie came out, I got an email or something from Joe saying, 'the 45 minutes of Thanos that we had at the beginning of Infinity War, we had it cut.' There was a whole sequence of him getting the first gem and they had to cut that out. They shot it, but they never wanted to spend the money on the effects and they didn’t want the movie to be as long as the second one ['Endgame'] was. They didn’t realize it was going to be quite the hit it was."
Many felt that the sequence's omission from Avengers: Infinity War was a major injustice because it limited Thanos to a villain whose first great conquest exists only as exposition. The fact that it was never released as a deleted scene only compounded the problem.
Avengers: Doomsday is now best positioned to fix Infinity War's mistake due to what the latest post-credits scene from Avengers: Endgame Encore revealed about the true state of the Multiverse.
The sequence showed the Time Variance Authority (TVA) witnessing realities die and incursions in real time. Given that Loki is the one holding those timelines together and the fact that the branches are falling during that sequence, Doctor Doom may already be striking at the source, attacking the God of Stories with the intent to kill him and take his power. The logical next target is the TVA itself.
A full-scale attack in Avengers: Doomsday from Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom that levels the TVA (and potentially Loki, the Employee of All Time) would finally put a villain's methodical and large-scale destruction on-screen, the way Thanos never received in Avengers: Infinity War.
It is unknown when the attack at the TVA will happen. Regardless of whether it is in the opening or midway through the movie, seeing Doctor Doom decimate an entire organization and an actual God would perfectly announce his arrival in the Multiverse Saga's climax, sending a clear message that he is not someone to be messed with.
Why Avengers: Doomsday Needs to Show How Powerful Doctor Doom From the Start
The Infinity Saga had the luxury of a 10-year build-up with Thanos as the true big bad and endpoint of this MCU's chapter. Avengers: Infinity War could open with the wreckage of the Statesman (Thor's ship from Thor: Ragnarok) and the massacre of the Asgardians without ever showing the fight itself. At the time, fans already understood the scale of the threat.
Doctor Doom is a different story because he arrives in Avengers: Doomsday with almost no MCU history, with a post-credits scene debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and then an immediate jump into a Multiversal crossover. Doomsday cannot assume the audience already fears Doom, even though the marketing clearly emphasizes how powerful he truly is.
Avengers: Doomsday needs to demonstrate Doom's powers immediately, which is why the TVA's destruction and Loki's death would be the perfect entry point for both diehard and casual fans.
If Doom does not look capable of threatening all of them at once from the first time he appears, the premise of Doomsday would instantly fail, considering that it needs a reason for the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men to unite against him.
The MCU cannot afford to take its time to establish Doom as a threat. Pushing his dominance to the forefront from the operating scenes is the only way a villain with almost no prior history or screen time can carry the weight Doomsday's story demands.
