Marvel’s multiverse saga has been building toward something catastrophic, and new speculation suggests Avengers: Doomsday might conclude with the bad guy actually winning for once instead of learning a valuable lesson about friendship.
According to recent theories circulating through the usual channels, the film ends with Doctor Doom standing triumphant while the heroes count their dead and wonder why they didn’t just stay home, which would be a refreshing change from the usual “teamwork saves the day” nonsense we’ve been force-fed since 2012 broke our hearts with actual consequences.
Avengers: Doomsday is rumored to feature a conclusion so bleak that it makes Infinity War look like a cheerful picnic with minimal genocide and better lighting. The speculation points to Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom—not a typo, that’s actually happening, we’re doing this—successfully destroying most of the multiverse or at least putting a serious dent in it that requires more than a weekend to fix.
Apparently, the Russo brothers looked at the script and thought, “What if we just let the villain win and see if Disney notices before the shareholders meeting?”
This would set up Secret Wars perfectly, giving the Avengers actual stakes for once instead of fighting another CGI sky beam over a major metropolitan area while civilians presumably die off-screen. If Doom wins, we get to see the heroes actually lose, regroup, and probably complain about their feelings in a farmhouse for forty minutes before the next movie inevitably fixes everything.
It’s bold storytelling, or at least bold for a franchise that once made $2 billion off a purple guy collecting jewelry and snapping his fingers like he’s at a poetry slam.
The AI-generated leaks—or whatever we’re calling them this week when we’re not calling them “fan fiction with better graphics”—suggest the final shot involves Doom sitting on a throne made of broken Captain America shields or something equally on-the-nose and metaphorically heavy. “Doom reigns supreme,” might be the final line, delivered with that specific Downey smirk that made Iron Man tolerable for a decade and now makes him terrifying as a genocidal maniac in a metal mask.
Will Marvel actually commit to a downer ending that lasts longer than the credits sequence and the obligatory post-credits scene where someone jokes about the apocalypse? Historically, no. They love a good reset button more than they love continuity or logic.
But if Avengers: Doomsday actually lets the villain win and keeps him winning until the next installment, it might justify all those Disney Plus subscriptions you keep forgetting to cancel while wondering why you’re watching She-Hulk again. At least until they fix everything in Secret Wars with time travel, positive thinking, and probably another speech about how we’re stronger together despite the mountain of corpses and the destroyed timeline.
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