One after another, Victor Von Dooms filled the stage. “My God,” we all thought. “This is the moment. This is the moment they’re going to announce who’s playing Doctor Doom.” And as the last Doctor walked on stage, one appeared to stand out amongst the rest. He approached the crowd. The anticipation was thick enough to cut with a knife. The figure removed their mask to reveal that they were… Robert Downey Jr.

The crowd erupted with excitement, but eventually that excitement turned into curiosity. Downey was Iron Man, and last time any of us had checked, Iron Man was dead. So what did this mean? How would this work? The folks behind the upcoming Doomsday and Secret Wars claimed they had a reason, but what could it be?

Every fan immediately went to the obvious. Doom, whether he always looked like Tony Stark or somehow stole the man’s face and body, planned to use this to trick Earth’s mightiest heroes. The thought of Spider-Man seeing the face of Tony Stark after all of these years would be heartbreaking… but then I thought more about it. 

We, the audience, already know that Downey is Doctor Doom, so where’s the tension? Are we just supposed to watch our favorite heroes get tricked for three hours before he inevitably wins and sets up the next movie? That honestly doesn’t sound like a very fun time at the movies. So what if we’ve been thinking about this all wrong? With the first real trailer finally coming out for Doomsday, we’ve heard Doom’s voice, and it’s about as comic accurate as I would have imagined after reading comics for much of my life. Well, if the voice is comic accurate, why not the face? What if, at least for Doomsday, Downey is actually scared up? What if he’s just Doom? No secrets. No hidden agendas. He’s as straightforward as one can be when they’re hopping around the multiverse. 

So what does that mean for our movie? Is the tension just in watching Doom pit the X-Men against The Avengers? Maybe, but we need to be honest with ourselves about these X-Men. They’re not “our” X-Men. Don’t get me wrong, I lost my mind when I finally got to see James Marsden in the comic-accurate clothes, but these X-Men are old and fighting for a world that intends to leave them behind. The MCU’s X-Men are just around the corner. So for as much as I love the X-Men, I fully expect them to lose this fight. Unless…

What if this entire time we’ve actually been underestimating Marvel? I may be a massive supporter of the MCU, but even I can admit that they’ve dropped the ball on certain projects. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that while I’m excited to see Steve Rogers back on screen, there is a part of me that’s disappointed that Marvel plans to change how we view the character after his perfect send-off at the end of Endgame. But what if we’re wrong? 

What if the Steve Rogers who finally got his dance with Peggy and returned to pass the shield to Sam isn’t who we saw in the trailer? Our Steve Rogers is about 135 years old, living his final days out in some log cabin, remembering the good ol days. So who is this guy? Why does like the Steve we saw in Infinity War? Well, I’m avoiding every leak that’s allegedly out there, so if I’ve nailed this, it’s complete luck, but I think this version of Steve is our Judas. The man on the inside sent by Doom to help defeat the team just when it looks like they’re about to save the day. 

But why? Why would Steve Rogers betray everyone? I think the answer lies within the Steve teaser trailer that we saw a couple of months ago. In that teaser, we see short-haired Steve with a baby, and while we never see a wife, I feel like it’s safe to assume that somewhere in that house is Mrs. Rogers. But what does this have to do with an “evil” Steve Rogers? Well, what if through no fault of his own an incursion appeared and took everything away? His wife. His child. His friends. All gone. And what if a traveler in green who felt the exact same loss told a grieving Steve Rogers that he could bring them back? What if Doom promised Steve everything and all Steve had to do was betray a group of people whom he didn’t really know?

Sure, we see during one of the first big team meet-ups that Reed already has a theory of three planets or universes that are all connected for one reason or another, but what if Reed is wrong because he doesn’t have all the information? What if there’s a 4th universe that, for reasons we don’t know yet, fell victim to an incursion that’s directly tied to the MCU’s universe? 

We all wondered about the MCU’s Steve Rogers going back in time and living out his life. Why didn’t that cause an incursion? Why didn’t the TVA get involved? Well, what if our Steve went to a universe where another Steve Rogers existed? And what if our Steve made the decision to stay hidden under a different name because he thought it was the best way to prevent changing anything? What if he was wrong and the second he travelled back to the MCU’s Earth, an incursion was created? The MCU often tries to make its big bad an understandable villain. I think motivation like this is pretty understandable, and something that could lead fans to debate one another for months as we all anxiously wait for Secret Wars. “Steve was wrong.” “Steve was right.” And no matter what side of the debate you end up on, it won’t matter because it’ll feel good to have so many people talking about the MCU again.

So, what do you think? Am I right? Probably not. But could you imagine?! I think the only time I’ve ever come close to nailing one of these predictions was for The Eternals, and I couldn’t even brag about that because none of you went and saw it. Shame on you! Go watch The Eternals! 73% of that movie is really good.