Who has Doctor Doom already taken? 8 suspects before Avengers: Doomsday, ranked

Doctor Doom has already taken Bruce Banner, and the theory is that he took several more heroes before Avengers: Doomsday even begins. The strongest suspects are Doctor Strange, a grieving Wanda from another universe, and Monica or Maria Rambeau from the X-Men’s world. Loki, Jean Grey, America Chavez and Spider-Man round out the list. Only Banner is confirmed on screen. Everything else here is theory.

Label: theory and speculation. Nothing in this piece is confirmed by Marvel Studios unless we say so. Avengers: Doomsday is in cinemas on December 18, 2026.

The idea comes from a sharp ScreenCrush video, hosted by Ryan Arey and written by Colton Ogburn. We took their list of suspects, scored each one with our own test, and landed on a different conclusion about what Doom is really doing. You’ll find their full video further down.

What does Doctor Doom’s “collection” actually mean?

It means Doom isn’t just fighting heroes. He’s gathering them. According to ScreenCrush, the Avengers: Endgame Encore post-credit scene shows Doom appearing in Bruce Banner’s hideout, two miles underground, and telling him he has come to collect him. That’s the only abduction we’ve actually seen.

The bigger idea is that the film opens with Doom’s work already half done. Heroes who seem “missing” from the cast and the marketing might not be missing at all. They might be in Latveria, working for Doom, locked in a cell, or stripped of their powers. In the comics, Doom’s endgame is Battleworld, a patchwork planet stitched together from dying universes, which he rules as a god in Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars. To build that, he needs people who can bend reality.

Why did fans think Doom was only taking children?

Because the first clues all pointed at kids. The Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credit scene puts Doom right next to baby Franklin Richards, whose comic book powers can create and rewrite whole realities. ScreenCrush notes that early Doomsday character trailers then centred on Thor’s daughter Love and Steve Rogers’s son, with Shuri’s trailer and the X-Men trailer pointing at a young T’Challa and a Summers child.

ScreenCrush spotted the thread that ties those kids together: none of them is “supposed” to exist. Love was brought back by a wish. Steve’s son only exists because Steve stayed in the past with Peggy. Their logic is that Doom would want children born from broken rules. It’s a clever read, but the newer evidence points at adults, and at a very specific kind of adult.

How did Pylcrow score each suspect?

We call it the Pylcrow Doom Ledger. Three questions, each worth 0, 1 or 2 points, for a score out of 6:

1. Clue on screen. Is there a real scene, shot or official image pointing at it, or just a gap?
2. Power Doom needs. Does this person give Doom something he can’t build himself?
3. Suspicious absence. Is the character missing or unconfirmed when you’d expect them to be in the film?

Why is Bruce Banner the only sure thing?

Because it’s the one abduction Marvel has actually shown. Everything else on this list is built on clues. Banner is built on a scene.

The open question is why. ScreenCrush asks it directly and doesn’t fully answer it, and neither can we yet. Our best guess is that Doom wants the scientist more than the monster. Banner helped build Ultron’s mind and the time-travel tech that undid the Snap. If you’re planning to rebuild the multiverse, that’s a résumé you want in your lab. ScreenCrush also floats a fun idea: that the Banner scene may first have been shot for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. We’d file that one under “possible, not proven.”

Ledger score: 5/6. Full marks for proof and absence. One point for power, because we still don’t know what Doom needs him for.

Is Doctor Strange already working for Doom?

Possibly, and he may have walked in willingly. In Hickman’s Secret Wars, Strange becomes Sheriff Strange, Doom’s right-hand man on Battleworld. On screen, the last time we saw him was the Multiverse of Madness post-credit scene, where Clea tells him he caused an incursion and leads him away to fix it. ScreenCrush points to an official image of Doom flanked by masked figures, one of them with a third eye hole in his mask, and suggests that’s Strange.

Here’s what makes this suspect so interesting. Benedict Cumberbatch told reporters in January 2025 that Strange wouldn’t be in Doomsday, then walked it back days later, saying he’d got it wrong and that he is in it (The Playlist covered the first comment). A hero who is in the film but can’t be shown in the marketing is exactly what a masked servant would look like.

Ledger score: 5/6. Strong clue, huge value to Doom, and an absence that has already tripped up its own star.

Which Wanda would join Doctor Doom?

Not the one you know. Colton Ogburn’s theory, explained in the ScreenCrush video, is that our Wanda didn’t die under Mount Wundagore. She erased herself, which sent her, and pieces of the mountain, to the Void at the end of time. That’s why the giant Scarlet Witch carving turns up in the Void in Deadpool & Wolverine.

But the Wanda on Doom’s team, in this theory, is the one from Universe 838. Think about what that woman has lost. She was possessed and used as a weapon. Her children watched. And if the incursion Strange caused destroyed 838, she has now lost her whole universe too. Doom could arrive at the last second, save her, and promise to give her children back. That’s a pitch Wanda has never been able to refuse.

We like this one a lot. It gives Elizabeth Olsen something new to play, a Wanda with nothing left, without undoing the ending of her own story.

Ledger score: 5/6. The Void carving is a real clue, chaos magic is exactly the power Doom wants, and Wanda hasn’t been announced.

Who did Doom take from the X-Mansion?

Probably someone powerful, and maybe more than one. ScreenCrush walks through the trailer shots of a wrecked mansion and X-Men fighting the Avengers on sight. Their read: the X-Men are on edge because they’ve just been attacked, and whoever did it took one of their own.

There are three candidates:

• Jean Grey. The Phoenix Force is reality-level power, the kind Doom would need for Battleworld. But there’s no Jean-specific clue yet, only an empty space.
• Monica Rambeau. The Marvels post-credit scene left her in an X-Men universe, waking up next to Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, who is confirmed for Doomsday. If she’s still there, why isn’t she in the marketing?
• Maria Rambeau. In that same scene, Monica meets her mother, alive and working as the hero Binary. A Captain Marvel is one of the few beings who could beat Doom in a straight fight.

This is where the Ledger rewards a pattern. Carol Danvers is also absent. If Doom is clearing every Captain Marvel off the board before the real fight starts, that’s not collecting. That’s strategy.

Ledger score: 5/6 for the Rambeaus, 4/6 for Jean.

What happened at the TVA, and why would Doom want Loki?

Because Loki is holding the multiverse together. At the end of Loki season 2, he sits at the end of time and keeps the branching timelines alive. If Doom wants to collapse the multiverse, or rebuild it in his own image, Loki is either the biggest obstacle or the battery he needs.

ScreenCrush covers an online rumor, which they flag with a spoiler warning, that Doom or his masked allies storm the TVA, kill agents and go after Loki. They imagine Steve Rogers and Thor finding the wreckage while Reed Richards’s team finds the wrecked mansion, with both groups realising the same man is behind it.

Loki scores lower for one simple reason: he isn’t missing. Tom Hiddleston was named in Marvel’s official Doomsday cast reveal in March 2025. Doom may still steal his power, but Loki himself is very much in the film.

Ledger score: 3/6. Huge power, a rumor rather than a scene, and no absence at all.

Could Spider-Man and America Chavez be Doom’s wildcards?

America Chavez could. Spider-Man is the weakest case on the list.

America is the most useful person in the MCU for anyone building Battleworld. She can punch holes between universes with her bare hands. No tempad, no sling ring, no machine. She has already been hunted for that power twice, by Defender Strange and by the Scarlet Witch. If Doom needs to drag universes together, she is the ideal tool. There’s no clue pointing at her yet, which keeps her score at 4/6.

Spider-Man is where we part ways with ScreenCrush. They point to the Brand New Day post-credit scene, where Peter’s tracker shows him leaving Earth and glitching across a barrier into another universe. That’s a real hook. But their reasons for Doom wanting Peter, his brains and his No Way Home history, are thin next to everyone else here. Doom already has Banner and access to Reed Richards. Peter’s best use to Doom is as a hostage, not a weapon. We cover how alone Peter is at the end of that film in our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review.

Ledger score: America 4/6, Spider-Man 3/6.

Where does this theory come from?

From ScreenCrush’s video “Avengers Doomsday: Doctor Doom Has Already Won”, hosted by Ryan Arey and written by Colton Ogburn. It’s worth watching in full, especially for their shot-by-shot read of the X-Mansion scenes and the moment Doom is thrown out of the ship’s window.

Pylcrow’s take: Doom isn’t collecting the strongest. He’s collecting the culprits.

Look at the list again. Strange cast the No Way Home spell that cracked reality, and Clea says he caused an incursion. Wanda read the Darkhold and tore through universes hunting her children. Peter was at the centre of that No Way Home spell. Monica sealed a tear between universes. America opens new ones every time she’s scared. Loki is the reason the timelines branch at all.

Almost every suspect has personally damaged the multiverse. That gives Doom the perfect cover story. He doesn’t have to say “I’m kidnapping heroes.” He can say “I’m arresting the people who broke reality, before reality ends.” It’s the kind of noble-sounding mission ScreenCrush rightly says Doom believes in. It’s also exactly how you’d recruit Strange and the 838 Wanda without a fight, and how you’d justify locking up the rest.

That’s why we think the title of their video is right. If the film opens with Doom already holding the people who understand the multiverse best, the Avengers aren’t racing to stop his plan. They’re racing to catch up to it. And the heroes in the trailer who trust Doom on that ship? They might be next on the list.

Frequently asked questions

Who has Doctor Doom taken before Avengers: Doomsday?

Only Bruce Banner is confirmed, in the Avengers: Endgame Encore post-credit scene. Popular theories add Doctor Strange, a Wanda from Universe 838, Monica and Maria Rambeau, Jean Grey, Loki, America Chavez and Spider-Man.

Is Doctor Strange in Avengers: Doomsday?

It’s unclear. Benedict Cumberbatch said in January 2025 that he wasn’t, then corrected himself days later and said he is. Marvel hasn’t shown Strange in the marketing, which fuels the theory that he’s one of Doom’s masked allies.

Why does Doctor Doom want the Hulk?

Marvel hasn’t said. The most likely reason is Bruce Banner’s mind. He helped build the time-travel tech that undid the Snap, which would be useful to anyone planning to reshape the multiverse.

When does Avengers: Doomsday come out?

Avengers: Doomsday is in cinemas on December 18, 2026, according to Marvel.

What is the Pylcrow Doom Ledger?

It’s Pylcrow’s three-question score for how likely it is that Doom has already taken a character: is there a clue on screen, does the character have a power Doom needs, and is their absence suspicious. Each answer is worth 0 to 2 points.

What should you read next?

Start with our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, then see every callback in Peter’s new suit. If timelines and broken realities are your thing, read what if Tannhaus’s time machine in Dark actually worked. More from the TV & Film section is waiting. We’ll score the Ledger again when the next Doomsday trailer drops.

Sources: the suspect list and much of the scene analysis come from “AVENGERS DOOMSDAY: Doctor Doom Has Already Won” by ScreenCrush (host Ryan Arey, writer Colton Ogburn). Release date from Marvel.com. Cast reveal from TVLine. Cumberbatch’s comments from The Playlist and JoBlo. Ledger scores and the “culprits” reading are Pylcrow’s opinion.