Avengers: Doomsday is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and with that comes all kinds of online speculation. While we know a good bit about Doomsday‘s cast of heroes, details about the plot are still shrouded in mystery, meaning that we mostly have rumors. Tons of rumors regarding the ending have popped up, and while we aren’t certain whether any of them are true, we are terrified that these might be.
The trailers for Doomsday have given a few things away, which is what much of this speculation is based on. Firstly, the involvement of characters like Loki and Steve Rogers implies that there will be time travel as well as direct links to Avengers: Endgame. Plus, the existence of Avengers: Secret Wars means that Doomsday‘s story won’t be wrapped up by the time the credits roll, meaning that the MCU may be repeating its Avengers: Infinity War trick.
The cast of Avengers: Doomsday is filled to the brim with superheroes, but surprisingly, there are very few members of the main Avengers team present. Thor, Captain America, and Ant-Man are the only proper Avengers to have appeared in the trailers, although the film will also feature a retired Steve Rogers and Avengers-associated characters like the Wakandans. If the end of the Multiverse Saga is anything like the end of the Infinity Saga, there will probably be a lot of deaths, and it seems like the character who is most likely to wind up on the chopping block is Ant-Man.
It was previously rumored that Scott Lang was supposed to die at the hands of Kang in early versions of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While this obviously didn’t happen, if the rumor were true, it would prove Marvel’s willingness to kill the character off. While Thor’s death would have more impact, he is one of the few heroes powerful enough to go one-on-one with Doom, meaning that he’ll probably stick around until Secret Wars. Sam Wilson has just become Captain America, so it would be odd to kill him off now. So, this leaves Ant-Man as the primary candidate. It isn’t hard to imagine a situation where Scott growing or shrinking could allow the other heroes to escape death, even if it requires Paul Rudd’s hero to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Rumors of Ant-Man’s death are tragic because we love the character. However, rumors of Loki’s death are tragic because Marvel won’t stop killing him. The original Loki seemingly died at the end of Thor when he fell into the abyss, only for him to return in The Avengers. Then, he had a more definitive death scene in Thor: The Dark World, with him being stabbed, although it was later revealed that this was a deception. Loki finally truly died in Infinity War at the hands of Thanos, although it wasn’t long before a variant popped up. The version of the character who will appear in Doomsday first appeared in the Loki TV show, where he had another fake-out death scene when he was pruned in season 1. Luckily, this wasn’t an actual death, with him escaping the Void and going on to become the new He Who Remains.
Doom undoubtedly wants to conquer the multiverse, meaning that Loki is a direct obstacle. Loki holds the multiverse together, and it’s hard to imagine how Doom can succeed without killing him. Loki’s death in Doomsday seems inevitable, meaning fans of the character have to brace for what feels like his hundredth death scene.
The story of Doomsday and Secret Wars is a two-part epic, meaning that the former will undoubtedly end on a cliffhanger. The best choice that Marvel Studios made in Infinity War was having the heroes lose at the end of the film, subverting audience expectations and raising the stakes for Endgame. However, doing this again in Doomsday will make the MCU feel like a one-trick pony, which really isn’t what the franchise needs in its current critical and commercial state. Tragically, Marvel may be backed into a corner, because it is hard to imagine a Secret Wars adaptation where Doom doesn’t reshape the multiverse.
It feels like an inevitability that Doom will take over the multiverse at the end of Doomsday, setting up Battleworld as the backdrop for Secret Wars. Hopefully Marvel has figured out another way to subvert expectations, such as having Battleworld appear much earlier in Doomsday than anyone is expecting. However, ending the film with Doom winning and the heroes losing will only feel repetitive, not exciting, and hopefully Marvel has the foresight to realize that.
