'I Cracked The Code' — After Avengers: Doomsday Directors Suggested Recent Trailers Contained Hidden Clues, One Fan's 'Timestamp Theory' is Gaining Traction

Days aft Avengers: Doomsday's directors issued a cryptic tease regarding the movie's caller teasers, 1 instrumentality believes they've "cracked the code" hidden successful their countdown clocks.

The past period has seen Marvel unveil 4 Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailers, focusing connected Steve Rogers, Thor, the X-Men and past Wakanda. Along the mode we've seen our archetypal look astatine the erstwhile Captain America and his newborn baby, an aged Charles Xavier and Magneto, and The Fantastic Four's The Thing gathering the caller Wakandan king.

But aft the past trailer released, Joe and Anthony Russo teased determination was much to these clips than met the eye. "What you've been watching for the past 4 weeks... are not teasers. Or trailers," the brace insisted. "They are stories. They are clues... Pay attention." Just days later, a mentation has arisen arounds what these clues could beryllium — and it's present gaining popularity among fans.

So, here's what Marvel fans deliberation is going on. At the extremity of each teaser, a countdown timepiece shows the remaining months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds to Avengers: Doomsday's theatrical merchandise (set from the infinitesimal the trailer was archetypal available).

But each timepiece doesn't commencement instantly — instead, the numbers look successful stages, truthful there's a infinitesimal wherever a shorter timestamp is visible. And now, successful a hunt for answers, fans person been cross-referencing these shorter timestamps with Avengers: Endgame — looking to spot which scenes oregon snippets of dialog they correspond with.

In a reddit station collating fans' findings, Marvel aficionado Fear_Itself has listed retired each timestamp and their respective infinitesimal successful Endgame, opening with the Steve Rogers trailer that features a timestamp of 1:24:20. This matches with the country wherever Tilda Swinton's Ancient One warns Hulk astir removing Infinity Stones during the Time Heist, which volition make branched realities — thing that seems important if Doomsday, arsenic is expected, explores the multiversal fallout of the Avengers' past actions.

"This confirms that Steve’s ngo to instrumentality the stones (and his consequent determination to enactment successful the past) is cardinal to the conflict," Fear_Itself wrote. "It suggests his actions whitethorn person inadvertently triggered an incursion."

The timestamp successful Thor's trailer points to 1:17:20, which corresponds to the infinitesimal Loki steals the Tesseract and escapes, creating the variant seen successful the Loki series. Again, this highlights a multiversal shenanigan which created a branched reality.

Next up, the X-Men trailer's timestamp, which corresponds to 1:11:20. This is the country successful Asgard wherever Rocket asks Thor: "Are you crying?" Fear_Itself suggests this could beryllium a pointer to Thor's intelligence state, but I truly similar a 2nd proposition by elbatcarter, who links this enactment with Deadpool's imaginable flashforward seen successful Deadpool & Wolverine. "Why is Thor crying?" Deadpool says successful that movie, looking astatine what appears to beryllium an lawsuit from the future. It's a escaped crippled thread that fans expect Avengers: Doomsday to wrapper up.

Finally, the timestamp successful the Wakanda trailer is for 1:04:20, which is the country wherever the Avengers program and trial the Time Heist. Again, this could beryllium a pointer to erstwhile the squad archetypal trial retired the exertion that's acceptable to meddle with the multiverse.

"The Russo Brothers person told fans to 'pay attention' due to the fact that these aren't conscionable trailers; they are 'stories.' The codification tells america that Doomsday is the nonstop effect of the Time Heist," Fear_Itself wrote. "Every timestamp points to a infinitesimal wherever the Avengers meddled with time, creating the fractured multiverse that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) volition apt question to repair oregon rule."

While it's a good theory, it is conscionable that — and different fans person suggested the timestamps could use to different Marvel films, oregon simply constituent to applicable moments successful Endgame retired of sheer luck.

And wherefore Endgame? It does marque consciousness to effort this movie first, arsenic Doomsday progressively feels similar a sequel to that film's communicative — picking up Steve Rogers' beingness successful the past, and apt exploring the ramifications of the Avengers' dabbling successful the multiverse, thing which has lone accrued implicit the people of the caller MCU saga. (Also, making a movie that's fundamentally an Endgame sequel besides helps reintroduce the MCU to lapsed Marvel fans, who whitethorn person checked retired of the franchise successful the years since.)

So, what's next? Well, this week Marvel began a unrecorded countdown timepiece to the merchandise of Avengers: Doomsday that's acceptable to tally for much than 11 months. So far, fans haven't seen immoderate further clues there, but hundreds are inactive watching astatine the clip of writing. Fans had hoped for a 5th trailer to get successful theaters this week, though it present looks similar we'll person to hold a small longer for that — until the Super Bowl connected February 8, perhaps.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social