Incursions have become a major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although some MCU directors have described them as a challenge, the reality-colliding phenomenon is expected to play a crucial role in “Avengers: Doomsday.” Watch Looper’s video above for a complete breakdown of how incursions could shape the upcoming film.
The concept first appeared during Marvel’s “Secret Wars” comic event, where a race known as the Beyonders set out to destroy the multiverse. Since the Beyonders do not exist in the MCU, the franchise has reworked the idea. As revealed in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” an incursion happens when the boundary separating two realities weakens, causing their worlds to collide. Dreamwalking — possessing an alternate version of oneself — prolonged travel across the multiverse and remaining in a reality where one does not belong can all trigger this deterioration.
In “Multiverse of Madness,” Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) of Earth-838 destroyed a reality after using dreamwalking to discover how to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin). The film ends with Clea (Charlize Theron) recruiting the Doctor Strange from the Sacred Timeline to help stop an incursion caused by his own interference across the multiverse.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Adult film star Kagney Linn Karter gave tragic interview about planning ‘retirement’ years before she died by suicide – NewsFinale
Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) also mentions incursions in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” while discussing the multiversal war between different versions of Kang. Those incursions, however, were contained by He Who Remains. The MCU has already shown the consequences of these catastrophic collisions, but “Avengers: Doomsday” appears poised to raise the stakes considerably.
How will incursions factor into Avengers: Doomsday?
Much of “Avengers: Doomsday” remains under wraps, as the movie is not scheduled to arrive in theaters until December 18. However, additional footage shown in “Avengers: Endgame Encore” confirmed that incursions will factor into the story in some way. In one of the special’s post-credits scenes, the Time Variance Authority, first introduced in “Loki,” responds to thousands of worlds colliding and being destroyed.
Something within the multiverse appears to have set off these incursions at the same time, and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) may be at the center of the problem. At the conclusion of “Avengers: Endgame,” Steve returns the Infinity Stones to their proper places, then remains in the past to live with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). A second post-credits scene from “Endgame Encore” shows Steve dancing with Peggy before Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrives to visit him.
The likely explanation is that Steve’s decision to stay in the past created a new timeline, fracturing the multiverse in the process. Since being in the wrong reality is one known cause of incursions, that timeline change — combined with the MCU’s many other multiversal disruptions — may have pushed reality toward a simultaneous collapse. Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) is now assembling a group of heroes to restore order, though he intends to reshape reality according to his own vision. For a closer look at how incursions work, watch Looper’s video above.