An Avengers: Doomsday Easter egg was hidden in plain sight in VisionQuest's premiere. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day in the rearview mirror and VisionQuest underway on Disney+, Avengers 5 is finally the next MCU project. And yet, despite being Marvel Studios' last release before Doomsday, VisionQuest thus far seems to be a rather standalone story focussed on Paul Bettany's Vision and James Spader's Ultron, all while concluding the WandaVision trilogy.
VisionQuest Episode 2 featured a subtle Avengers: Doomsday Easter egg tucked in Ultron's upstairs apartment in Vision's Mind Space. When the A.I. Avengers are examining information releating to Todd Stashwick's Paladin on the TV screens, an up-close shot reveals a DVD or CD case labelled "Countdown to Doom," seemingly a nod to the looming arrival of Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
Ultron's "Countdown to Doom" may have something of a double meaning, as much of the footage displayed on his many screens is filled with war and human conflict. While viewers will see this as a reference to how the MCU is on the countdown to Avengers: Doomsday, it may actually be filled with footage of military conflicts and global disasters, referring to the "doom" for humanity due to its own actions.
It's clear that the Mind Space is home recordings of previous MCU movies and shows, as Vision was reflecting on his memories with Wanda Maximoff projected onto a theater screen, displayed as fans saw them in the real world.
As such, one could look at "Countdown to Doom" as Ultron's recording of the Doomsday countdown stream that Marvel Studios has been running on YouTube since January as the long-awaited Avengers: Endgame sequel inches closer.
The first two episodes of VisionQuest are streaming now on Disney+, with two more double-episode drops coming on Tuesday, October 20 and October 27 before switching to one episode a week for the final two chapters. The series will wrap up on Tuesday, November 10, just over a month before Avengers: Doomsday finally releases in theaters on Friday, December 18.
How VisionQuest Might Secretly Set Up Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars
As VisionQuest is the final MCU project before Avengers: Doomsday, wrapping up just weeks before the Phase 6 blockbuster, its weekly premieres truly feel like a countdown to the Multiverse's demise. Despite VisionQuest's grand scale, proximity to the apocalyptic event, and major connections to the Avengers franchise, there aren't many signs of synergy with Doomsday thus far.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that Paul Bettany will reprise Vision in Doomsday, although he has teased that VisionQuest is a "really exciting springboard" for his MCU future, suggesting that he will be back after his solo series. The most likely location for that is Avengers: Secret Wars, reuniting Vision with his old colleagues on Doctor Doom's Battleworld and introducing him to new ones.
Last year, evidence suggested that Joe Locke would return as Wiccan, aka Vision's son Billy Maximoff, in Doomsday after his debut in Agatha All Along. That could suggest that Ruaridh Mollica will also be back as Tommy/Speed for the Avengers ensemble, perhaps after the Maximoff twins reunite in VisionQuest, as many have speculated they will toward the series' climax.
There has been a lot of talk that the Young Avengers will have an important part to play in the next Avengers movies, and Billy and Tommy are likely to be members, alongside Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, and Ironheart. That goal could be finding Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, which seems like a logical next step if VisionQuest finally brings Vision and his sons back together.
But with no word on Vision's involvement in Doomsday, one has to wonder how Marvel Studios could explain away his absence from such a major event. The Russo Brothers have teased that RDJ's Doctor Doom is collecting more MCU characters after the Hulk, and Vision may be a solid candidate to be taken off the board in Doomsday before re-entering the fray in Secret Wars.
