The new Avengers Doomsday trailer, which debuted at D23 after being shown at Comic Con, opens with the Fantastic Four of Earth-828, where Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom is also from, meeting with the original X-Men from their universe and the Avengers of Earth-616 (the MCU Sacred timeline).
Doom’s Tragic Backstory
Vanessa Kirby’s Invisible Woman says, “Victor [von Doom] was the smartest in every room. He used to be different. He used to be kind. He used to be caring. And then everything he loved was taken from him. I knew he was lost, but I did not realise that he was broken.” As she says this, Doom looks up at the mural from the teaser poster of what seems to be his dead wife and child.
Tony Stark appears to be snapping his fingers in the background, suggesting the events of Avengers Endgame caused a multiverse incursion that blessed the Sacred Timeline but cursed Doom’s and now he wants revenge.
Stolen Lives
Overlooking a decimated city, Reed Richards asks Doom: “Victor, did you do this?” And Doom is heard saying, “All of you have lived stolen lives and now you must give them back”, over footage of the Avengers and their children, including Steve Rogers and his baby.
It all goes back to Avengers Endgame. When Captain America went back in time to return the Infinity Stones, he didn’t come back. He went back to the 1940s to marry Peggy Carter and have a baby together. That’s his stolen life. Remember when Tony Stark said, “You mess with time, it tends to mess back.”? That’s what Doomsday is all about.
Steve Rogers’ Zero-Sum Game
The trailer clearly implies that Steve’s actions were a zero-sum game, where he got a family, and Victor von Doom lost his. It seems Steve may have created the Earth-828 timeline, which by the time of the early 1960s had the Fantastic Four. And we know Doom is from this universe because of the empty Latveria chair teased in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the country where Doom is from. He also appears in that film's end credits scene, kidnapping Franklin Richards, who can manipulate reality.
Clearly, he has a history with Marvel’s First Family and now wants to sacrifice other universes to bring back his dead loved ones. This also explains why Steve is young again, as presumably he’s just aged up to the early 1960s setting of Earth-828.
Avengers Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, 2026.
