With Marvel Phase 6 about to kick off with The Fantastic Four: First Steps and two new Avengers movies on the way, fans have plenty of theories for what's in store for the future of the MCU. Following the leak of some concept art for Avengers: Doomsday last weekend, one particular theory involving Tom Holland's Spider-Man is gaining support.
The leaked images seem to confirm that a major Secret Wars storyline could be introduced in Avengers: Doomsday. We're talking about Battleworld, a medieval-like land ruled by Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.) made of different collapsed realities, and inhabited by key Avengers characters who don't remember their previous ones. The concept art shows Florence Pugh's Yelena, Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, and more superheroes bending to now Emperor Doom's will.
Just like at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the upcoming Doomsday could leave the superhero team (and the entire Earth-616) in a tragically impossible situation, which wouldn't be resolved until the follow-up Avengers: Secret Wars.
Now, another MCU movie is set to be released in between those two Avengers movies — Spider-Man 4.
As fans will remember, the previous Spider-Man instalment, Spider-Man: No Way Home, saw Tom Holland's hero making a heartbreaking decision. In order to save everyone, he asks Doctor Strange to erase him from everyone's memories. Everyone who knew him, including his family and friends, has now forgotten about him.
Because of this spell, some fans think that Peter Parker would be the only Avenger free of Doom's control. He would be the only character who is able to remember the old Earth 616, becoming an Anchor Being (as explained in Deadpool & Wolverine) for that reality and the biggest threat to the big bad's plans.
"Spider-Man is going to be the key, the hero, the Anchor Being, to wake everyone up from the distorted reality and fight Doom," said Marvel fan blurayangel on Instagram, noting that Peter's identity was erased in No Way Home, even perhaps to Doom himself.
"Whatever Doom did to manipulate everybody and force them to bow to him, it did not affect Spider-Man", he explained, adding that "making them the main conflict is perfect".
The fact that Robert Downey Jr has been cast as Doom would certainly give this confrontation an extra layer of intensity and emotion. Downey's Tony Stark was Peter's mentor in the MCU, so it could be devastating for the young hero to fight against a villain wearing Tony's face.
"Tom's Spider-Man would probably won't be able to do it alone, maybe he'll get other variants, the OG Marvel characters before the MCU was established," continued the Instagram user, sharing images of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, and even Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider.
"Doom might be too much," he continued, "which would give us the perfect opportunity to see Spider-Man upgrade his suit, not with nanotech, with the Symbiote".
There are plenty of theories about the upcoming Avengers and Spider-Man movies, but so far there has been no official confirmations. Doctor Doom is expected to make a first appearance at Fantastic Four, so we might get more answers after that.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on May 1, 2026. Before that, here's every other MCU TV show and movie headed your way.
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