Marvel fans are debating whether the MCU's new big bad Doctor Doom should be introduced in other projects before Avengers: Doomsday

The next Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday, is set to bring a brand new big bad to the fore in the MCU: Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr. But just how much introduction does a new Thanos-level villain need? Marvel fans are discussing what they think is the appropriate level of setup.

"Seeing as Dr. Doom is going to be the next big bad for a few movies, how much setup will we need before the events of Doomsday?" asked one Reddit user. "Seems like such a massive production, but doesn't have the same setup as leading up to [Infinity War] or Endgame knowing the stones were the main mission for Thanos."

"A post credit [scene]," suggested another user. "My suspicion is that Doomsday will be an origin of sorts. It'll unite the Avengers and go from there."

"It will be interesting to see what the general plot of Doomsday is going to be," someone else replied. "Doom's origin, setting up the multiverse stuff, reforming the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the various other heroes doing stuff like Strange, Thor, Shang-Chi, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, etc. Not sure how they are going to fit it all in, unless they just cut a lot of people out."

"While I think a cameo in a post credit in F4 this summer is likely, I don’t think we’ll see him pop up or be mentioned anywhere else until Doomsday," wrote another fan. "As for the set up, he just needs to have a scene on par with the opening scene of Infinity War to get audiences on board with the idea of Doom being an Avengers level threat. If we look back, I think we can overestimate how much build up Thanos had. He showed up in two quick post credit scenes and had like a minute of screen time in the first GOTG."

"People remember the first 3 phases so fondly that they forget that Thanos's character set up happened mostly in IW itself," someone else pointed out.

Avengers: Doomsday is set to arrive on the big screen on May 1, 2026, with the Russo brothers back in the director's chair(s). First up, though, is Captain America: Brave New World, which releases on February 14.

For more on what's in store for the MCU (and elsewhere), check out our guide to the other new superhero movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.