AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Directors Confirm Doctor Doom Is Collecting MCU Heroes, Fueling a Huge Spider-Man Theory

Doctor Doom is building himself a collection of MCU heroes, and Bruce Banner apparently isn’t the only name on his shopping list.

Following the reveal in the added Avengers: Endgame Encore footage thatRobert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom has kidnapped Bruce Banner, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo have offered another interesting piece of information about what Doom is doing ahead of Avengers: Doomsday.

Their comments also add some fuel to a theory involving Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and the strange ending of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Speaking with Empire about Doom’s interest in Banner, Joe Russo teased that Hulk isn’t necessarily his only target: "I mean, look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner. So, that's what we'll say about that."

That opens the door to a pretty big question: Who else has Doom taken? One popular theory points directly at Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

The connection comes from the post-credits scene in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Ned’s tracker follows Spider-Man as he leaves Earth, only for the screen to glitch before showing him arriving on a mysterious planet.

There’s now a very interesting parallel with Endgame Encore. When Doom infiltrates Banner’s bunker, the screen begins glitching in a remarkably similar way.

What if that glitch isn’t simply a visual effect? What if it represents Doom grabbing his targets and transporting them somewhere else?

If so, Brand New Day may have already shown us Doom kidnapping Spider-Man. The timeline works, too. Holland hasn’t been officially announced as part of the Doomsday cast, but neither has Mark Ruffalo, despite Banner now being directly connected to Doom’s story.

When Joe Russo was asked whether Ruffalo appears in the movie, he carefully avoided giving anything away, saying: "[Banner] is certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom. We will not confirm nor deny his appearance in Doomsday."

Anthony Russo then made it clear there are still some major surprises hiding in the cast: "The farthest we can go is to say, there are characters and actors who have not been announced, who are a part of Doomsday."

The Russos have previously confirmed that Marvel hasn’t revealed the complete Avengers: Doomsday cast, so Holland and Ruffalo could easily be among the actors being kept secret.

Spider-Man and Hulk won’t be Doom’s only potential captives, either. Marvel fans have also been questioning what’s going on with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers following his appearance in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer.

His behavior and look has sparked theories that something happened to the original Captain America, with some fans even suggesting the character we’re seeing could be like a version of Hydra Cap rather than the Steve Rogers we know.

For now, that remains fan speculation, but the Russos confirming Doom’s interest goes beyond Banner gives all of these theories a little more room to play.

It also makes Doom’s role much more interesting. He isn’t waiting around for the Avengers to come after him. He’s already making moves involving some of the MCU’s biggest heroes, and Marvel may have been showing us pieces of his plan across multiple projects.

We’ll know more when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters December 18.