Loki Could Be the Key to Doctor Doom’s Plans in the MCU

With the announcement that Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom will be the main villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the primary villain in both 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, many fans have begun to speculate about the plot of the film. Despite being at least two years away, fans are already looking to the comics and other media to see how the two-part Avengers film will play out.

While fans can look to both 1984’s Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars and 2015’s Secret Wars for inspiration, the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t always make direct adaptations but pulls from various comics to craft a unique story. Avengers: Infinity War shares the name of a 1992 comic, but its story draws more from the 1990 comic The Thanos Quest, 1991’s Infinity Gauntlet, and 2013’s Infinity. With that in mind, we have reason to believe that the first foe The Avengers ever fought, Loki, will be the key to Doctor Doom’s evil plan. Loki will be essential to Doctor Doom’s plan in Avengers: Doomsday and laying the groundwork for Avengers: Secret Wars.

Doctor Doom Will Be on a Quest to Take Loki’s Power

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are being marketed as the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, as many projects in Phases 4 and 5, like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Deadpool & Wolverine, have been about exploring the multiverse. The first proper exploration of the MCU multiverse came in the series Loki, which debuted in 2021 and whose Season 2 aired in 2023. That series established many of the rules of the multiverse, like the idea of the sacred timeline, branched realities, and the organization of the TVA being in charge of monitoring those timelines. While it was initially setting up Kang the Conqueror, Loki ended with that threat largely being handled. Loki also committed himself to overseeing the branches of the multiverse at the end of time, rearranging the branches into a tree-like structure.

Loki, the keeper of the multiverse, is alone at the end of time. He is one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse and is key to keeping these various universes alive. That also makes him the last line of defense against any threats. While Loki appears to have saved the multiverse, incursions remain a threat, as teased in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. Rumors circulate that the universe from which the Fantastic Four come in their upcoming film will be destroyed, which likely means this is where Doctor Doom comes from. He will be on a quest across the multiverse to save his world and likely every part of the multiverse, as he believes himself to be the only one who can do so.

Avengers: Doomsday might be all centered on Doctor Doom trying to make it to the end of time to take Loki’s spot. Doom sitting on a throne is one of his signature images, so Marvel likely wants that as the iconic image for Avengers: Doomsday. Doctor Doom could remove Loki from the throne by force, sit on it, and then smash all the various universes together and craft one in his own image: Battleworld, which would be a patchwork of different realities of the MCU multiverse setting up Avengers: Doomsday to unite The Avengers of Earth 616, the X-Men characters on Earth 10005, the new Fantastic Four, and various other Marvel legacy cameos. While Loki was the God of Stories, Doom would become God Emperor Doom.

Loki Will Fill the Role of the Molecule Man and The Beyond From the Secret Wars Comic

In many ways, Loki could be taking the role of both The Molecule Man and the Beyonders from the 2015 Secret Wars comic. Molecule Man was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuted in Fantastic Four #20 in November 1963 and has the power to recreate reality on a molecular scale. It was established that The Beyonders, a race of powerful cosmic alien beings created by Mark Gruenwald and Jerry Bingham in Marvel Two-in-One #63 from May 1980, have a Molecule Man in every universe to act as a bomb across the multiverse. Doctor Doom uses the various Molecule Men in the comics to destroy The Beyonders, take their powerful cosmic energy, and create the universe in his image from the remnants of the destroyed multiverse. Meanwhile, Doom stores Molecule Man in a special chamber, where he is the source of his godlike power.

Molecule Man and the Beyonders have not yet been introduced in the MCU, but that is not an issue. Instead of needing to introduce them to this storyline, Loki could quickly fill the role of both characters. He could fill the role of The Beyonders because he is this powerful cosmic being at the end of the universe that Doom confronts and holds the entire multiverse’s fate in his literal hands. Meanwhile, he could fit Molecule’s Man role in the story as he is the source of Doom’s power, and Loki could be locked away in a chamber. This then allows Loki’s brother Thor to find him in Doom’s Battleworld and reunite with the variant of his dead brother, giving those two characters the closure they need.

This wouldn’t be the first time Marvel Studios has used an established MCU character to take the spot of another character in the film adaptation of a comic book storyline. Notably, in Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner crashes through Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum to warn him about Thanos since the comic featured Silver Surfer in that role. The Infinity Gauntlet storyline is also heavily focused on the character Adam Warlock, who by the time of Avengers: Infinity War was only teased in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and would not appear in the flesh until after Infinity War in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The idea of an MCU character taking the role of both The Molecule Man and The Beyonders from the Secret Wars comics does not originate from us, but in fact, a Marvel star and super fan. A version of the idea originated from Iman Vellani, who starred as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. There is certainly a chance Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios listened to the superfan.

Ms. Marvel’s Iman Vellani Might Have Already Revealed the Plan

On November 10, 2023, Ms. Marvel actress Iman Vellani appeared on the New Rockstars YouTube channel to speak with host Erik Voss. This was done as part of a promotional tour for The Marvels. The SAG-AFTRA strike, which prevented actors from promoting their work, lifted the day The Marvels opened in theaters, so Disney pushed for promotion after the movie hit theaters. Iman Vellani spoke about The Marvels and her role in the MCU, and she also speculated about what was then known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. At the time, Vellani speculated that Kang would take the role of The Molecule Man from The Secret Wars comics as a being who exists in every reality. She also speculated that Kang could have the power of The Beyonders. She said:

“I think it would make sense for Kang to be a version of the Molecule Man, where he’s existing in every single universe, and there’s different variants of him. We’ve already seen that. So that makes sense. But also I feel like he could be the Molecule Man and The Beyonder all at once.”

With Kang now out of the picture, there is a good chance that Loki could fill this role in the MCU. While Vellani is not involved in writing Avengers: Doomsday or even development on the then-titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, she makes for a strong pitch that streamlines the plot. Now, Loki is the role of the Beyonders that Doctor Doom confronts, with the various heroes of the MCU either trying to reach Loki before Doom does or trying to stop him. It follows a similar structure to Avengers: Infinity War, where the script was structured around Thanos as the protagonist on a quest to accomplish his goal of finding all the Infinity Stones, but Avengers: Doomsday focused on Doctor Doom finding Loki and taking his place as the ruler/savior of the multiverse.

While Avengers: Secret Wars is drawing heavily from the 2015 comic of the same name, Avengers: Doomsday might be pulling from another iconic Doctor Doom storyline — not one from the comics or films, but a video game that will be celebrating its 20th anniversary when it hits theaters.

Avengers: Doomsday Might Adapt Marvel Ultimate Alliance

The idea of Doctor Doom going on a quest across the Marvel Universe to gather the power of an Asgardian sounds very similar to the plot of the 2006 video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Developed by Raven Software and published by Activision, Marvel Ultimate Alliance was an original plot that saw the player assemble a wide collection of heroes to combat the threat of Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil. The game features Doctor Doom taking the power of Odin and using it to reshape reality, with the remaining heroes of Earth left to stand against him. That certainly sounds like it could be the basis for Avengers: Doomsday, subbing out Odin for Loki, and with the epic conclusion being Doctor Doom gaining the powers of god before he recreates the world before Avengers: Secret War.

Marvel Studios has drawn inspiration from video games before, such as The Incredible Hulk, featuring the Hulk using a pair of cop cars as boxing gloves like in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and Spider-Man: No Way Home featuring Peter Parker using some of his combo moves from the PS4 game Spider-Man. However, this would be the first time a video game served as a plot inspiration. Combining elements from Marvel Ultimate Alliance and the 2015 Secret Wars certainly works for a good set of Doctor Doom-themed Avengers films.

Loki being the key to Doctor Doom’s MCU multiverse plans allows the filmmakers to streamline characters into the comics while connecting the first Avenger villains the team ever faced with their newest foe. Loki is easily the most successful Disney+ MCU series and one most audiences would likely have seen, so it would require the least amount of explanation while also bringing back a popular and beloved character. All signs so far point to Loki being a significant part of Doctor Doom’s plans in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Loki is streaming on Disney+.