Avengers: Doomsday’s main twist might be hidden in plain sight

Avengers: Doomsday’s latest teaser features a meeting between The Wakandans and The Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. The Thing’s shot features considerable negative space to his left and the camera’s right. Amid some viewers arguing that positioning features a blur, rumors and theories have sparked about a digitally removed figure next to Thing. The most popular candidate is the movie’s villain, Victor Von Doom.

SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR THE FIRST STEPS, THUNDERBOLTS*, AND LOKI

This isn’t the first time Marvel has manipulated their viewers by addition/removal, the most notable example being the Hulk in Infinity War’s trailer.

Besides the point to the filmmaking techniques, The Thing sounds noticeably relaxed. He doesn’t quite give off the vibe of someone whose spiritual nephew got kidnapped, as The First Steps’ post-credit scene indicates. This helped many viewers arrive at the theory that Doom is initially allied with the Fantastic Four, and came to Earth-616 alongside them.

The aforementioned F4 post-credits scene has a popular interpretation: the idea that Sue Storm is apprehensive of Victor Von Doom because he has come to kidnap her son, Franklin. It certainly is the easiest read to make when watching the scene. But what if it’s a red herring?

What if in reality, Sue recognized the Latverian representative, shut down her powers, and asked “Victor, where have you been?”

It’s pretty much a given that Doom is from Earth-828, which is the Fantastic Four’s Earth. If the empty seat for the Latverian diplomat wasn’t indication enough, I pose this question. How can Doomsday highlight the iconic Reed-Doom rivalry if they don’t know each other? Amidst the innumerable other plot points and characters to address within the movie, it hardly seems plausible to build a brand new character relationship and clash of philosophies.

Keeping this in mind, First Steps highlights Sue’s skills as a diplomat when she persuades Mole Man to support the surface dwellers. An apprehensive Doom — hopefully one that retains the comic accurate storyline of blaming Reed and Ben for scarring his face — can get on neutral terms with the F4 through Sue’s diplomacy. This of course, is not to undermine the hidden resentment he harbors for the Fantastic Four. Doom is a snake in the grass waiting to strike and enact revenge.

In his quest for absolute power, he’ll most likely take Franklin Richards — who harbors the power of reality manipulation — at some point in the movie. But before that, it is possible he gets the F4 on his side by informing them of the incoming incursions. The F4, especially Reed, being aware of Doom’s intellect would take his word — despite it being flimsy — and work with him. Eventually, the group would travel to the 616 as multiversal diplomats, hence the arrival in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene.

While Marvel’s first family would be told by Victor that it is because the 616’s heroes are powerful and technologically-advanced, they’d be unaware of his actual intentions. The Sacred Timeline — as established in Loki — houses reality-breaking artifacts such as The Ten Rings, held by Shang-Chi, and The Quantum Bands, currently worn as bangles by Kamala Khan.

Having Doom present himself as a concerned universal citizen highlights his manipulation, one of the best traits about him. Doom’s manipulation knows no bounds in his quest for ultimate power, and feeds into his ego as he commends himself for outsmarting another individual.

One of the best cases is when he pretended to bow to the Silver Surfer as a humble Earthling, before taking his power for himself and wrecking havoc on Earth. I predict Secret Wars won’t get much of a chance to showcase this as it’ll involve Battleworld’s creation and everyone knowing who Doom truly is, so Doomsday is the best time to highlight this key character trait.

I also believe it’ll make for a more entertaining movie, as watching our beloved heroes fall for the tricks of someone the audience knows is evil creates a desperate emotional appeal, hoping they realize it eventually. The foreknowledge that Doom is the villain when prior 616 characters don’t know of him doesn’t make sense, and I believe would hamper the movie as it would involve a basic straightforward plot to stop Vic for a reported runtime of 3 and a half hours. Watching our favorite characters react to betrayal creates a dramatic effect, and a greater sense of urgency as they scramble to fix their mistakes.

Of course, I am open to the other theory that Doom’s villainy will be known from the start and he did indeed abduct Franklin Richards. Either is fine to me, as long as Victor von Doom’s character receives the justice it is due.