Marvel finally dropped the long-awaited full trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, and to say it shattered expectations would be an understatement. Between seeing the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, and the X-Men sharing the same frame—not to mention Robert Downey Jr.’s chilling turn as Doctor Doom fans are left picking up the pieces.
With so many universes colliding, the trailer raised massive questions about character fates, timeline mechanics, and mind-bending tactical tricks. Here is a deep dive into the biggest mysteries coming out of the footage.
The Mystique & Yelena Gambit: What Does It Mean for Secret Wars?
One of the standout moments in the trailer is a brutal sequence where Yelena Belova fights a perfect double of herself, only for the disguise to melt away and reveal Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique.
It’s an incredible dynamic—putting Florence Pugh’s fast-talking, highly lethal White Widow face-to-face with the classic X-Men infiltrator. But it raises a massive question: Is Mystique set to replace or impersonate Yelena long-term, moving through Doomsday and into Secret Wars?
- The Infiltration Factor: Mystique’s classic M.O. is replacing high-value assets to manipulate conflicts from the inside. If the X-Men (coming from Earth-10005) view the MCU’s Earth-616 heroes as a threat during the initial Incursion chaos, dropping Mystique into the New Avengers’ ranks as Yelena is a masterclass Trojan horse strategy.
- The Post-Doomsday Impact: If Mystique successfully mirrors Yelena through the climax of Doomsday, we could enter the multiversal battleground of Secret Wars not knowing which version of Yelena we’re watching at any given moment. It adds a paranoid Secret Invasion-style trust gap right when the heroes need to be united.
The Steve Rogers Dilemma: Aged Out, Yet Holding Mjolnir?
Perhaps the most jaw-dropping shot of the entire trailer is the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. But the confusion is real: Steve aged into an old man at the end of Avengers: Endgame, yet here he is, looking familiar, battle-ready, and even summoning Mjolnir back to his hand.
So, which timeline is this Steve actually from?
Theory 1: The Main Lineage (Earth-616)
There’s a strong chance this is the variant we’ve known since Captain America: The First Avenger. In Endgame, Steve lived out a full, peaceful life with Peggy Carter in a branch timeline before returning as an elderly man. How could he be back in action?
- Quantum/TVA Time De-aging: We already know the TVA (and Loki, who makes a brief appearance in the trailer) possesses the tech to manipulates an individual’s personal time—just like Scott Lang being accidentally turned into a kid and an old man in Endgame.
- Super Soldier Metabolism: It’s entirely possible that when an existential multiversal threat like Doom arrives, the TVA or quantum tech reverses his biological clock to pull Cap out of retirement.
Theory 2: An Adjacent Anchor Variant
Alternatively, multiversal Incursions mean we could be looking at an “Anchor” variant from a world nearly identical to 616—one where Steve made a slightly different choice, never aged out, or was pulled out of his timeline right before returning the Infinity Stones.
Either way, his emotional connection to the core heroes feels authentic, especially in his quiet interactions acknowledging Natasha’s legacy with Yelena.
Passing the Torch Before the Grand Reset
With heavily reported cast departures on the horizon after Secret Wars, Doomsday feels like the beginning of the end for an era. Seeing the old guard (Steve, Thor) stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the modern leaders (Yelena, Reed Richards, Shang-Chi) sets up a passing of the torch amidst total multiversal collapse.
Whether Mystique’s shapeshifting causes internal ruin or Steve’s return gives the Avengers one last beacon of hope, Marvel isn’t holding anything back for Phase 6.
