Marvel Officially Confirms Avengers: Endgame Is To Blame For Doctor Doom

Avengers: Endgame is the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that explains why Doctor Doom is on the path that fans will find him in Avengers: Doomsday, as a key update just confirmed. Robert Downey Jr. was crucial to the formation of the MCU when he gave life to Tony Stark back in 2008's Iron Man. Without that hit movie, there would be no MCU.

Since then, the MCU's slate of projects has grown in extraordinary ways. Every single member of the MCU's original Avengers team either got to lead a movie or a Marvel series on Disney+. That said, in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, two of them died. Both deaths were sacrifices to help Earth's Mightiest Heroes defeat Thanos, with Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow dying for the Soul Stone, and Downey's Iron Man to snap Thanos out of existence.

Now, seven years later, RDJ is officially returning to the franchise he helped build. Perhaps the MCU's most ambitious movie to date, Avengers: Doomsday brings back the star, who will now play the Avengers' main villain, Doctor Doom, instead of the team's main hero. Ever since Downey was cast as Doctor Doom, several theories about Victor's connection to Tony Stark have emerged.

While Marvel may very well end up tying the characters together in one of the upcoming Avengers movies, that is not the confirmation that has come in the new Avengers: Doomsday trailer. Instead, the footage shows why Avengers: Endgame is to blame for the path that Downey's Doctor doom will be on in December's Avengers: Doomsday.

How Avengers: Doomsday Connects Doom's Story To Avengers: Endgame

The biggest nod to Avengers: Endgame in the Doomsday trailer comes from Doctor Doom's "stolen lives" line. In the footage, Downey's Marvel villain claims that the Avengers have been living on borrowed time, and teases that it is now time to collect on that. This makes a lot of sense, as Avengers: Endgame was a movie about time travel and undoing Thanos' actions in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. In that film, the Mad Titan was victorious, using the Infinity Gauntlet to snap half of the universe out of existence. Then, Avengers: Endgame saw the heroes that were left alive reverse it.

At the end of the latest Avengers movie, Downey's Iron Man sacrificed himself to get rid of Thanos and his army, and before that, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk had already snapped to bring back everyone that Thanos had killed, with the Hulk sustaining a gnarly injury, but surviving. All of those characters, from regular citizens across the MCU to fan-favorite heroes like Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Chris Pratt's Star-Lord, fall into Doctor Doom's new line from Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday trailer, as they were meant to be dead, but now have been living stolen lives. There is also an even bigger situation.

Steve Rogers' "Stolen Life" Explains Chris Evans' MCU Return

While many characters have been living stolen lives, none are bigger than that of Chris Evans' Captain America. Not only did Steve Rogers play a major role in bringing back dead characters, but he also chose to time travel to live with Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter in the past. As the first Avengers: Doomsday teaser confirmed, that relationship led to Steve becoming a father. The Marvel hero was never meant to live this ideal life with Peggy after they were separated at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. As such, Steve lives the biggest stolen life of them all.

For years, Evans claimed he would not return as Captain America unless it made sense, as he was protective of Steve's Avengers: Endgame ending. Now, the actor is back, and it really is a perfect storm, as not only will he be reunited with Downey onscreen, though on opposite sides, but Steve Rogers' Avengers: Endgame ending is being set up as a central factor to Doctor Doom's journey in Avengers: Doomsday. The new MCU trailer seemed to hint at Doctor Doom losing a wife and child, judging by a carving on a wall he was looking at. Steve's stolen life suddenly becomes more topical.

Avengers: Endgame & Doomsday Connection Will Get Stronger In 2026

Avengers: Doomsday's directors, the Russo Brothers, have also talked about how the film is a direct sequel to Avengers: Endgame. Sure, the Multiverse Saga, with events like Deadpool saving his reality, and other live-action Marvel projects, like X-Men: Days of Future Past bringing back several deceased X-Men, are likely to play into the whole stolen lives narrative. However, the MCU's creatives are making sure that fans recognize the direct through line from Endgame into Doomsday. In the next month, that connection is set to grow even stronger through a new theatrical experience.

That would be Avengers: Endgame's re-release, which has been officially titled Avengers: Endgame Encore, and will arrive in theaters on September 25. While largely the same movie that fans saw in droves back in 2019, this new Avengers: Endgame theatrical release will come with features like new footage and a post-credits scene that will directly tie into Avengers: Doomsday. Previously, at the end of Avengers: Endgame's credits, all that was left was the sound of Tony Stark making his original Iron Man suit in the cave from the 2008 movie. Perhaps Marvel will reveal it was Doctor Doom building his armor instead.

The Real Reason Marvel Needs Endgame To Sell Avengers: Doomsday

Finally, aside from a narrative connection making sense for the Avengers franchise, Marvel needs to tie Doomsday to Endgame for the simple fact that a lot of the Multiverse Saga's releases were divisive, with the new characters the shared universe introduced failing to match the popularity of the Infinity Saga's stars for the most part. Sadly, the connectivity, which was the MCU's strongest factor across Phases 1 through 3, was poorly handled in the Multiverse Saga. Several characters only appeared once, sometimes debuting as cameos, never to be seen again. Many have been absent for years.

Additionally, Marvel Studios had to pivot from Kang the Conqueror after Jonathan Majors was fired, which derailed the Multiverse Saga's main villain plan. Kang had been thoroughly set up through two seasons of Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before he was set to face the heroes in the now-dead Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which was the Multiverse Saga's best piece of connectivity. As such, going back to the movie everyone loved, Avengers: Endgame, with the MCU's most popular characters, and leaning on that to sell Avengers: Doomsday is completely understandable.