Do you have a tin foil hat to hand? Well, you might want to grab one as we take a deep dive into this wild new Avengers: Doomsday theory.
The Russo Brothers have told fans to "pay attention" to the four sneak peeks that have played in theaters, saying they contain "clues" about what's to come in the movie. At the end of each teaser, a clock begins counting down to the movie's release, but only after displaying a series of seemingly random numbers on screen.
One Redditor believes they've cracked the case, arguing that these timestamps relate to specific moments in 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
For example, in the Steve Rogers teaser, 1:24:20 takes you to the scene where The Ancient One warns The Hulk about the dangers of removing the Infinity Stones from their rightful place in time (and how doing so will create branched timelines).
"This confirms that Steve’s mission to return the stones (and his subsequent decision to stay in the past) is central to the conflict," u/Fear_Itself writes. "It suggests his actions may have inadvertently triggered an incursion."
In Thor's teaser, 1:17:20 lines up with when Loki steals the Tesseract and escapes, another moment that created a branched timeline and eventually led to the God of Mischief sitting at the centre of the Multiverse in the Loki TV series.
The X-Men's teaser features the numbers 1:11:20 and is a little harder to decipher. It corresponds with Rocket asking Thor, "Are you crying?" While not directly linked to the mutant team, this Redditor argues that it might be a nod to Thor crying over a downed Wade Wilson (who is loosely connected to the X-Men) in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Finally, we have 1:04:20 in the Wakanda teaser; in Avengers: Endgame, that takes us to the scene where Earth's Mightiest Heroes plan and test the Time Heist, another strong indication that their mission to restore half the universe will have major ramifications for Avengers: Doomsday.
As u/Fear_Itself puts it, "The Russo Brothers have told fans to 'pay attention' because these aren't just trailers; they are 'stories.' The code tells us that Doomsday is the direct consequence of the Time Heist,. Every timestamp points to a moment where the Avengers meddled with time, creating the fractured multiverse that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) will likely seek to repair or rule."
It's one heck of a theory, and we'd be lying to say it doesn't make sense. Between this and the possibility of key characters being digitally removed from the teasers, Marvel Studios has definitely got everyone talking about Avengers: Doomsday...
SPOILERS: I cracked the code
byu/Fear_ltself inMCUTheories
Avengers: Doomsday officially stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, and India Rose Hemsworth all make their Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum. The Hollywood trades have pointed to Ryan Reynolds and Hayley Atwell also appearing in Avengers: Doomsday.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron is also working on the script.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.