Avengers: Secret Wars will conclude the Multiverse Saga in the same manner Avengers: Endgame wrapped up the Infinity Saga. As a result, fans are expecting the biggest MCU movie ever made, with returning fan favourites - including Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man based on recent rumours - joined by the current crop of new superheroes.
As exciting as it is to imagine the likes of Shang-Chi, Shuri, and Ms. Marvel fighting alongside members of the X-Men and Fantastic Four, we still don't know for sure what Marvel Studios has planned for either this movie or The Kang Dynasty.
The titles provide some clues, of course, with The Beyonder rumoured to be Secret Wars' big bad. Previously, it's been reported that he'll be another Kang Variant, but with Jonathan Majors' ongoing legal issues and an apparent lack of interest in the villain, there have been rumblings lately about shifting focus to Doctor Doom.
It makes sense seeing as there's a Fantastic Four reboot on the horizon, and insider Jeff Sneider recently shared some insights which suggest Doom will simply be one of several villains set to appear in the Multiverse Saga's final Avengers movie.
"I still believe that Doctor Doom will be introduced in the post-credits sequence of Fantastic Four," he explains. "[The strike] could affect that potentially. That movie is due two years before Secret Wars and it just seems like if you're going to introduce him in 2025...maybe that's where the semantics thing is...he's not the villain, he's a villain."
"There are multiple villains in Secret Wars," Sneider adds. "It's inaccurate to say he's THE villain."
In 2015's Secret Wars, Doom stole the powers of The Beyonders and created his own "Battleworld" when the Marvel and Ultimate Universes were destroyed after colliding in an incursion.
Using Molecule Man's powers (a character many fans believe Loki will be subbed in for), the villain ruled as "Emperor Doom" for years before his fake reality came crashing down around him and a new world was created in its place...which is how Marvel Studios is expected to reboot the MCU.
Introducing Doom as a threat to the entire Multiverse would be an unexpected and intriguing move on Marvel Studios' part, with it likely setting the stage for him to then target the Fantastic Four in an eventual sequel to the 2025 reboot.
Do you think Doom should be one of Avengers: Secret Wars' villains?