Is it time to start getting worried? Doctor Doom is shaping up to be the most ruthless villain the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever seen, rivaling the likes of the Mad Titan himself, Thanos. But as if that wasn't enough, the ruler of Latveria will have company in Avengers: Doomsday.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2026, Marvel unveiled a first look at the Latverian witches—mysterious characters whose identities are concealed behind metallic masks and who will aid Doctor Doom in his mission to reign supreme over the multiverse. Prior to the official reveal, multiple reports had already spoiled the appearance of these antagonistic figures and suggested they would be well-known MCU heroes in disguise.
These rumors turned out to be true. After all, the post-credits scenes of Avengers Endgame: Encore and VisionQuest revealed that Doctor Doom has "collected" or recruited both Hulk and the Scarlet Witch to be part of his team. Moreover, leaked pictures all but confirm that Doctor Strange will also suffer a similar fate. But if that wasn't enough, it's likely that yet another iconic hero was already taken by the ruler of Latveria, even if we didn't notice at the time.
Doctor Doom could've recruited Tom Holland's Peter Parker, explaining the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day featured a pretty unusual post-credits scene. In the film, we learn that Ned Leeds developed a Spidey Tracker app that keeps tabs on the wall-crawler's location. After the credits roll, the app shows the friendly neighborhood hero is in Queens when, all of a sudden, his signal disappears, the screen glitches, and then he appears at an unknown point in space.
Naturally, this scene confused audiences, who couldn't help but theorize about why and how Spider-Man would teleport to a different point in space. Fortunately, Avengers Endgame: Encore may have given us an answer. The re-release of the 2019 ensemble film featured four new scenes, and one of them focuses entirely on Bruce Banner.
After the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Banner was incarcerated in a containment unit inside a military complex to prevent Hulk from causing more destruction. The renowned scientist even mentioned that no one could get into his cell, but unfortunately, this wasn't the case. In a shocking twist of events, Doctor Doom appeared in the room, stated that he was there to "collect" the Green Goliath, and then both characters vanished. While unconfirmed, it is likely that the two went to Latveria in Doom's home universe, which is the same reality inhabited by the Fantastic Four.
Avengers: Doomsday co-director Joe Russo confirmed that Doom is collecting more heroes aside from Banner, and the post-credits scene of VisionQuest doubled down on this idea. After all, the ruler of Latveria also searched for the Scarlet Witch, and now he wants to take her powers. So, who is to say the relentless villain didn't do the same with Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
We know Doctor Doom can teleport in and out of places, and the fact that Spidey suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth suggests that he was also kidnapped. This would also explain the sudden glitch in the Spidey Tracker: it could be a visual representation of the fact that we were looking into an alternate universe.
Multiple reports have suggested that Tom Holland's Spider-Man won't be in Avengers: Doomsday, and one of the reasons this could happen is that the friendly neighborhood hero could be imprisoned in Latveria throughout the whole film. After all, it's unlikely he'll willingly become a member of the Latverian witches unless Doom mind-controlled him. On the other hand, "pragmatic" heroes like Doctor Strange or Bruce Banner could very well join the villain's ranks if it means "saving" the multiverse in the long run (even if there are some sacrifices along the way).
Fortunately, it isn't long now before we finally witness the beginning of the end of the MCU's Multiverse Saga.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on Dec. 18, 2026.
Add us as a preferred source on Google