Marvel Studios’ centerpiece of its Multiverse Saga is almost upon us. Yes, Avengers: Doomsday is just three months away and the anticipation couldn’t be higher. It’s a sign that the studio has successfully pivoted from an era full of shortcomings and revived hype for the franchise that matches the unbelievable levels of anticipation it saw during the peak of the Infinity Saga. And that’s one of the many reasons as to why the Marvel Cinematic Universeremains the undefeated box office champion.
The upcoming film will see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes reunite, while also teaming up with the recently-introduced Fantastic Four and the returning X-Men, to battle a threat far greater than any they have ever faced before: Doctor Doom. MCU veteran Robert Downey Jr. – who previously played Tony Stark in the Iron Man and Avengers movies – returns to bring the new villain to life. And, as the film’s trailers and promotional material have shown us, he’s a force-to-be-reckoned with.
The most recent trailer has also shown us just why that is.
Doctor Doom’s tragic backstory takes center stage in new Avengers: Doomsday trailer
Marvel Studios recently unveiled the brand new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, showcasing what a threat Victor von Doom is going to be in the upcoming MCU film. The teaser trailer, titled “A Special Look”, primarily focuses on the new villain – who the studio has been coy about revealing too much about – and reveals what it is that is driving him to take on the Avengers. And, as it turns out, tragedy struck him – turning Victor von Doom into the infamous Doctor Doom.
The trailer confirms tha Doctor Doom is out for revenge as its opening moments reveal that he suffered a great loss as he stares at an image of his wife and child. Although you can’t see his face behind that mask, the look of loss is clear in his eyes – and that will very much drive him to do some devastating things in Avengers: Doomsday as he battles Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Watch the trailer for yourself below:
“Victor was always the smartest man in every room,” Sue Storm tells us tearily. “He used to be different, he used to be kind, he used to be caring. And then… everything he loved was taken from him.” And with that, Doomsday is upon all of the heroes and villains in the Marvel multiverse.
While much of Avengers: Doomsday‘s plot has remained under wraps, there were theories that Doctor Doom’s reign of terror would be born out of grief. Reports claimed that he would lose his wife and son in a multiversal incursion that also resulted in his own physical scarring (hence the iron mask that he wears under that cloak). And those reports also claimed that these major deaths in his life were caused as a result of Steve Rogers’ decision to go back in time to spend his life with Peggy Carter in the 1940s.
That would be a tragic twist as the happiest ending in Avengers: Endgame would directly cause the most tragic of debuts in Avengers: Doomsday. But the truth is that, ever since Marvel Studios pressed the reset button on its Multiverse Saga, removing plans for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and reworking it into Avengers: Doomsday, it was clear that they were going to tie the upcoming fifth Avengers movie more directly to its Infinity Saga predecessors. And, unfortunately, it seems that this is how it is going to pull it off.
This would explain why Steve has returned, why Loki has also gotten involved (a popular fan theory also suggests that the God of Stories will reach out to his old enemy to inform him of the coming danger and the threats that Doom poses to the multiverse), and how Doom’s arc ties directly into the Multiverse Saga – which, as of yet, hasn’t had any real references to him (until 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps definitively placed him on the board).
The stakes have never been higher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom is now coming to destroy the multiverse itself. He has plans to eradicate the lives that the heroes have built for themselves, calling them “stolen lives” because of the changes that have been made to the timelines and universes over the years. And all of this is highly likely an attempt to get revenge on those he holds personally responsible for taking his family from him.
If an incursion took his family, he will have no problem using them to take the lives of those he blames for the deaths of his wife and child. And with that, Doomsday is coming to the MCU.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026.
