6 Questions We Have After Seeing the "Avengers: Doomsday" Trailer

Doom has finally arrived. Well, at least the trailer has. Marvel officially released the Avengers: Doomsday trailer today and it is loaded with our favorite characters, some awesome action and, yes, our first good look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Doctor Doom.

But even with all of that, we are still left with so many questions. So let's take a look at six questions we have from the Avengers: Doomsday trailer and do our best to answer them.

What is Doom warning about?

The trailer opens with a look at some wreckage of the X-Mansion (more on that in a bit) and voiceover from Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. He is issuing a warning to someone:

"Something's coming. Something we may not be able to deter. Before this day is done, we shall be faced with an unthinkable decision."

While it sounds as though this would be coming from another character, warning about the impending arrival of Doom, this message is coming from Doom himself. Which leaves us with the question of, what exactly is coming?

In our best guess, Doom is likely referring to an incursion, or the moment in which two or more universes collide, likely occurring in the destruction of both. This message is likely spoken by Doom before he ever interacts with any of our heroes, instead coming ahead of the destruction of his own universe - whether that be Earth-828 or otherwise.

Doom, being the powerful sorcerer that he is, seems to be aware of the incursions we've been seeing in other MCU projects, like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Marvels, two films in which we actually see rifts between universes. Doom, of course also knows that these incursions will likely lead to the destruction of multiple universes and possibly even the multiverse as a whole.

As for the "unthinkable decision" he mentions, Doom could be considering abandoning his universe in order to either claim another or even create his own. In the 2015 "Secret Wars" story arc, Doom creates his own universe and makes himself god. That could be the mission we see him on in Doomsday.

What is happening at the X-Mansion?

Much of this trailer takes place in the X-Mansion of Earth-10005. Or at least, we think it's that universe. I supposed it's a completely different one altogether.

Either way, the X-Mansion is the site of Xavier and Magneto witnessing some kind of attack, a fight between Gambit and Shang-Chi, a fight between Yelena and... Yelena, and oh yeah, a whole bunch of other characters are there as well.

So what's going on exactly? Starting from the beginning, the trailer is set up in a way that makes it seem as though Doom is attacking the mansion. However, it seems more likely that Xavier is witnessing an incursion, perhaps even seeing the sun of another universe. Of course, it's also possible Doom is, in fact, the one attacking the mansion, but at the very least, he's not the only one.

Which brings us to some of the other action we see in the X-Mansion. First we see Cyclops readying his optic blast before a shot of Gambit fighting with Shang-Chi. We also see Yelena Belova face off against Mystique, who of course impersonates her opponent. It's also worth noting though that, behind Yelena, we can see Reed Richards, Sam Wilson's Captain America and what looks to be Bucky, as well as the Fantastic Four's helpful robot companion HERBIE. Xavier and Magneto clasp each other's hands as though they are accepting their fate and we see Sam preparing for a fight. Another glimpse of the Gambit and Shang-Chi fight shows Reed, Mystique and someone else (possibly Bucky again) fighting in the background. And finally, we see the shot from the X-men-focused teaser a while back of Cyclops on his knees letting out an optic blast as giant feet move around him. In short, it's chaos at the X-Mansion.

But what is actually going on here? Why are the Avengers fighting the X-Men? No, we're not adapting the "Avengers vs. X-Men" story arc here (not yet at least). However, in "Secret Wars" two universes that are about to collide each look at the other as their enemy. Probably because their entire universes are about to be destroyed. The result is an epic battle between heroes of different universes. So that seems to be on the table here.

On top of that, we also seem to be getting a look at an attack on the mansion by Sentinels, which would explain the giant feet around Cyclops. However, the X-Men have dealt with Sentinels countless times in the past, so why is this time any different? Well, maybe those are Sentinels from another universe. And maybe Doom is the one controlling them? Though, wouldn't that technically make them Doom Bots? Either way, they could just be part of this multiversal war.

What exactly is Loki's role?

The trailer also gives us a very brief look at Loki. In that shot, he shows a concerned look on his face and looks at some kind of TVA card in his hands. That's it. That's all we see from Loki.

So what role does he have to play in all this? We know that at the end of Loki season two, he has become the god of stories and he sits in a throne inside Yggdrasil, the world tree, seemingly holding all of the timelines together himself. We can even see Yggdrasil on the back of his TVA card.

So Loki figures to be a powerful piece of this puzzle, but how much will he actually be involved in the fight? Will his role within the new TVA allow him to be involved in the fight at all? Unfortunately, these are questions that the comics don't really provide answers for, so we're just going to have to wait and see.

Where is [insert name here]?

This trailer is absolutely loaded with our favorite characters. Let's do a quick rundown. We see the Fantastic Four (Reed, Rue, Johnny and Ben), the New Avengers (Yelena, Bucky, John, Ava, Alexei and Bob), some of the original Avengers (Sam, Scott and Thor), several X-Men (Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, Gambit and Mystique), several Wakandans (Shuri, M'Baku and several members of the Dora Milaje), Namor and the Talokanil, Shang-Chi, Joaquin Torres, Cassie Lang, Loki and even Steve Rogers. And of course, we also get to see quite a bit of Doctor Doom.

And yet, we still know there is going to be more. Thanks to the unique casting announcement from early last year, we know Kelsey Grammer's Beast and Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler are also set to appear in this film. We also know that last we saw Beast in the MCU, he was tending to Earth-616's Monica Rambeau, who had crossed through a rift into his universe in The Marvels. So it stands to reason she would be set to appear in this film. And if that's the case, one would think Carol Danvers isn't too far behind. But then what about Kamala Khan? And last we saw her, she was recruiting Kate Bishop to her Young Avengers team. Doctor Strange is also notably absent. We could go on and on like this.

Of course, one other notable absence we have to mention is that of Wolverine. With most of this trailer taking place in the X-Mansion, you might expect to see the most famous X-Man make an appearance. Of course, if this is, in fact, Earth-10005, that Logan is gone. However, the Logan we met in Deadpool & Wolverine seems to be calling that universe home now and if there's a fight at the X-Mansion, he likely isn't too far away.

One thing's for sure though, this movie is going to have plenty of surprises.

How is Steve back and why isn't he old?

These are two questions I have been asked personally, multiple times. And the answer is both simple and so incredibly complicated at the same time: multiverse.

There are so many possibilities for this particular Steve Rogers. Is it the Steve Rogers we know and love who left at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Maybe. But also maybe not. When Steve left and decided to stay with Peggy, he created a branch timeline, essentially making him a different Steve. The creation of that timeline, could have subsequently led to the creation of countless other timelines, undoing a lot of what the TVA had worked years to prevent and leading to the incursions we're seeing throughout this trailer.

Now, if those incursions are leading to the destruction of universes and we know Doom was preparing for said incursions, you could bet he would be seeking out the source, leading him to Steve. However, if there is one mind in the Marvel Universe that can match Doom's it would be Reed Richards. And if he also found the source of these incursions and we see that he is seemingly working with Thor, it would make a lot of sense if they were to bring Steve in to join the fight. So imagine Doom is hunting Steve but Reed plucked him from his timeline and brought him here first. Or, if you want to keep things simple, just go with "multiverse."

Is this the end of the Marvel Universe?

In the trailer we also see several shots of characters who love each other, embracing as they prepare for what seems to be the end of the world. We already mentioned Xavier and Magneto, but we also see Scott and Cassie as well as Johnny and Sue. Which leads to the question: is this the end?

Short answer: no. Obviously not because there are plenty of other films and series on the schedule for Marvel. The longer and more complicated answer though is: kind of, yeah.

"Secret Wars" begins with an incursion, a fight between universes and ultimately, the death of the Marvel Universe.

Doom actually prevents the destruction of the entire multiverse by creating his Battleworld, essentially shrinking the multiverse down into one single universe. That figures to be the case here as well as we set the stage for Avengers: Secret Wars.

So will this be the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it? Temporarily, yes. Until our heroes can restore at least one universe after Secret Wars. And yes, it really could be just one. Which would come as welcome news to those who are ready to be done with the multiverse stuff.

Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on December 18, 2026.