The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for consistently being two steps ahead and setting up future storylines years in advance—especially when it comes to the big crossovers. For example, Captain America: Civil War built upon the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Furthermore, the Infinity Stones were individually introduced in separate projects before finally coming together in Avengers: Infinity War. To top things off, every anti-hero who appeared in Thunderbolts* made their debut in a previous movie or TV series (except for Bob, that is). That's why it comes as a surprise that there hasn't been much build-up for Avengers: Doomsday, even when it's set to release next year.
The lack of setup hasn't been due to a lack of trying. Marvel initially intended for Kang to be the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, and he even appeared in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, a sudden change of plans meant that Victor Von Doom will now take over, even when his only appearance was during a very short post-credits scene. Now, fans have the same question in mind: How will the Ruler of Latveria fit into the preexisting MCU storyline? Well, a new report indicates why he'll enter the picture, and it's all due to Steve Rogers himself.
Steve Rogers reportedly caused the incursion that killed Doom's family, and now the villain wants revenge
Multiple insiders have been slowly giving us a better idea about what the story of Avengers: Doomsday will be like. First, Daniel Richtman revealed that Victor Von Doom will hunt down everyone who has caused an incursion, which is the clash between two or more different universes. While candidates like Doctor Strange are the first to jump to mind, it seems a retired hero might be the biggest culprit behind the multiversal chaos. Scooper MyTimeToShineHello has now unveiled that the incursion that killed Doom's family was caused by Steve Rogers going back in time to live with Peggy Carter.
While it may seem odd that Steve's simple time travel could destroy an entire world, it makes sense when looking at the rules the MCU has established when it comes to the multiverse. For starters, we need to address two concepts that have gained relevance since the start of Phase 4: branched timelines and the multiverse.
As established by Loki, branched timelines are created whenever there's a deviation from what was supposed to be a universe's original path. You know, when something that wasn't supposed to happen actually ends up happening. This can be an unexpected event, such as Steve traveling back in time to live with the love of his life.
However, these events won't result in the creation of another universe altogether. Instead, we can think of it like a tree (just like Loki used to do). An individual tree can have multiple branches, but they stem from the same roots. Well, the same logic applies to one single universe, which may have many branched timelines, but they all share the same origin. That's why some character variants can look identical and share the same origin story, even if their individual stories have major differences further down the line.
The multiverse, on the other hand, is like a forest filled with countless trees. These are worlds that might share a few unintentional similarities here and there, but whose timelines are radically different from the get-go.
In one universe, Peter Parker looks like Andrew Garfield, lost Uncle Ben, fell in love with Gwen Stacy, and fought against Rhino, while in another, he resembles Tom Holland, lost Aunt May, dated Michelle Jones, and put a stop to the Vulture. Granted, Spider-Man is a constant across these two universes, but these versions of the wall-crawler don't share the same timeline by any means. They have distinct personalities, look physically different, and their stories didn't pan out the exact same way at any specific point. They are, by all means, two different characters.
So why, then, can a branched timeline (which takes place in a single, isolated universe) cause an incursion? Well, He Who Remains explained it best. If a universe is like a tree, and its branches aren't pruned, then there's a huge risk of those branches intertwining with those of another tree. That's why Kang went to such extreme lengths to ensure that branched timelines weren't really a thing in the MCU. That way, his whole world could be isolated from the rest of the multiverse as a whole, free of the influence of other Kangs. However, He Who Remains is no more, and now every unexpected event, such as Steve going back in time, can cause a clash between universes in the long term.
We could've unknowingly witnessed the setup for Avengers: Doomsday since the very conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, which would be a huge twist if it becomes a reality. Fortunately, it won't be long before we finally figure out if Steve Rogers will be back in the picture courtesy of Doom's crusade, or if Marvel will take the crossover's story in a different direction.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on Dec. 18, 2026.