What if Avengers: Doomsday spends the entire movie making us fear that Bob Reynolds will become the Void, only to reveal that he can save everyone in front of him and still lose the world?

My theory is that Sentry could become the centerpiece of a massive storytelling subversion. The Avengers spend the movie preparing for the catastrophe Bob might cause, while Doctor Doom exploits the decisions they make to prevent it. By the time they recognize Doom’s actual objective, Bob has achieved a genuine heroic victory, but the Avengers have lost the larger conflict.

Thunderbolts already gives Marvel everything it needs to make that work. Bob possesses extraordinary power, but using it carries the possibility of unleashing the Void. His friends know what happened in New York, Bob knows what happened in New York, and everyone understands that another catastrophe could be devastating. The obvious destination is an impossible choice: Bob must decide whether saving people is worth risking the return of the very thing that nearly destroyed them.

But if Doomsday leads into the collapse of the multiverse and the creation of Battleworld, what if Bob makes the difficult choice and succeeds? What if he becomes Sentry, saves the people who need him, and keeps the Void contained, only to discover that the Avengers’ response has given Doom the opening he needs to win?

And the more I think about it, the more this reminds me of one of my favorite tricks the Russo brothers pulled off in Captain America: Civil War.

Spoiler note: This article discusses major events from Thunderbolts and Captain America: Civil War, along with the 2015 Secret Wars comics. The proposed Doomsday scenes are hypothetical story possibilities, rather than confirmed plot details. Marvel has not confirmed that Doomsday will end with Battleworld or use the Sentry storyline explored here.

The Civil War Twist That Could Make Sentry’s Story Work

In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo leads Steve, Bucky, and Tony to Siberia, where they expect to confront five additional Winter Soldiers. Instead, they discover that Zemo has already killed them. His real objective is to show Tony the footage of Bucky murdering his parents, forcing the Avengers into a confrontation that destroys their already-fractured relationships.

That’s the craft tool I want to apply to Bob Reynolds: the false objective. The heroes believe they’re trying to prevent one catastrophe, only to discover that their opponent has been pursuing an entirely different goal. The twist works because it exposes a conflict the story has been developing all along. In Civil War, that conflict is the growing divide between Steve and Tony. In Doomsday, it could be the Avengers’ fear of what Bob might become.

The important distinction is that Zemo’s plan grows out of a conflict the characters already possess. Steve and Tony have spent the movie disagreeing about responsibility and loyalty, and the Siberian revelation makes that disagreement impossible to resolve without a personal cost. The Winter Soldiers give them a reason to reach the facility, while their relationships provide the actual stakes of the climax.

For a similar subversion to work with Sentry, Doomsday needs to exploit something equally specific about Bob and the people who have chosen to stand beside him. Fortunately, Thunderbolts gives us exactly that.

Thunderbolts Already Proved Why Bob Is Afraid to Become Sentry

When Yelena meets Bob in Valentina’s vault, he believes everyone would be better off leaving him behind. His childhood memories explain why: when he tried to protect his mother from his abusive father, he was blamed for making things worse. That belief follows him into adulthood, and Project Sentry appears to prove it right. Bob finally acquires the power to help people, but after Valentina activates her kill switch, the Void emerges and engulfs New York.

The climax gives Bob a different answer. Yelena enters the Void, finds him hiding in his childhood home, and helps him confront the darkness he cannot overcome alone. The rest of the team joins them, and their connection helps Bob regain control. He discovers that he can rely on other people rather than withdrawing because he believes his presence will hurt them.

But the post-credits scene establishes that his problem remains unresolved. Fourteen months later, Bob is still reluctant to use Sentry’s powers because he fears the Void could return. The Avengers have gained someone capable of saving countless lives, but asking him to use that power could endanger the very people they’re trying to protect.

That creates a particularly difficult problem for the New Avengers. Their victory in Thunderbolts depends on their willingness to stand beside Bob when he cannot face his darkness alone. But what happens when standing beside him means asking him to use the same powers that nearly destroyed New York? How do they protect the people who need Sentry without exposing those people to another catastrophe?

Those questions give Doom something to exploit without requiring him to control Bob, possess a secret weapon capable of activating the Void, or discover a new weakness in Sentry’s powers.

Can Sentry Use His Powers Without Unleashing the Void?

Yes. Thunderbolts demonstrates that Bob can use Sentry’s powers while the Void remains dormant. During his confrontation with the team at Avengers Tower, Sentry overwhelms the Thunderbolts without immediately transforming into the Void. The full emergence follows Valentina’s activation of the kill switch, while the climax establishes that Bob can regain control through his connection with Yelena and the others.

What the movie does not establish is whether Bob can use those powers without risking another manifestation. We don’t know if prolonged use makes the Void more likely to emerge, whether a particular emotional event could trigger another transformation, or whether Bob might eventually learn to use Sentry without that danger. His reluctance in the post-credits scene tells us that he still considers the risk serious enough to avoid using his abilities.

That uncertainty is the foundation of our theory. The Avengers have evidence that Sentry can help them, but they also have evidence that the consequences of another Void emergence could be catastrophic. Any responsible plan to deploy Bob would have to account for both possibilities, especially if the team is operating in a populated area during an already dangerous emergency.

Imagine Bucky insisting that civilians be evacuated before Bob transforms, while Yelena agrees to remain nearby because her connection with him helped during the previous crisis. Other Avengers might be assigned to respond if the Void begins spreading again. Each precaution would be understandable, but each would also commit time and personnel that could be needed somewhere else.

Now imagine those decisions occurring while the Avengers are attempting to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. Suddenly, their responsibility to protect Bob and the people around him could come into conflict with their responsibility to defend the larger world.

And that brings us to Secret Wars.

Could the Avengers Lose in Doomsday and Set Up Secret Wars?

In Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars comics, the final incursion destroys the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe. Doctor Doom subsequently rules over Battleworld, a patchwork reality assembled from the surviving remnants of the destroyed multiverse. The heroes have failed to preserve their original worlds, and the next stage of the story takes place under the authority of someone who has established his own order from what remains.

The MCU has not confirmed that Doomsday will reproduce that exact storyline, but it provides a fascinating structural model for the relationship between the two upcoming Avengers films. If Doomsday ends with the multiverse collapsing and Doom establishing Battleworld, the Avengers could win individual battles while still failing to prevent the larger catastrophe. Their immediate victories would matter, but those victories would not necessarily resolve the conflict determining the survival of their universes.

That distinction is particularly important for Bob. His personal character arc can reach a meaningful turning point even if the Avengers lose their larger mission. He could overcome his fear of participating, become Sentry, and save people without unleashing the Void. Yet the multiverse could still collapse because the Avengers have misunderstood Doom’s actual objective.

For that to work dramatically, Doom needs a concrete goal beyond simply wanting the Avengers to fail. The heroes must have something specific to protect, and Doom must have a reason to interfere with their attempt to protect it. The audience also needs to understand how his success would create the conditions for Battleworld, rather than discovering an entirely new set of cosmic rules during the final reveal.

So let’s build a possible version of the final act and see how the false objective could connect Bob’s character problem to the Avengers’ larger defeat.

How Doom Could Use Sentry to Win Without Ever Unleashing the Void

Imagine Reed Richards discovers that an approaching incursion cannot be prevented with the resources available to the Avengers. He develops an emergency evacuation system capable of transferring a threatened population into another reality before the collision destroys their world. For this hypothetical scenario, we’ll call it the evacuation corridor.

The film would establish the corridor’s destination, the technology required to operate it, and the limited amount of time available before the incursion makes evacuation impossible. Reed and the Avengers would have a specific objective: protect the corridor until the threatened population has reached safety.

Now give Doom an equally specific objective. He needs control of the corridor’s routing system because it provides access to the surviving reality he intends to establish as Battleworld. If Doom can redirect the evacuation, he can determine where the remaining population emerges after the collapse. His control of that destination could become part of the foundation for his authority in Secret Wars.

These mechanics would need to be established by the movie rather than assumed from the comics. But once the rules are in place, the dramatic conflict becomes clear. Reed needs the corridor to remain protected, Doom needs access to its controls, and the Avengers are responsible for keeping the evacuation running while the incursion approaches.

Sam coordinates the larger Avengers response while Reed operates the corridor and the New Avengers help protect the surrounding evacuation routes. Bob is available as an emergency resource, but the team has agreed that Sentry should be deployed only when his extraordinary abilities are necessary.

Then Doom creates a catastrophe that forces the Avengers to reconsider that decision.

The First Turn: A Rescue That Only Sentry Can Complete

Imagine the evacuation is underway when a crowded elevated train becomes trapped on a collapsing section of track. The damaged structure threatens the surrounding streets, emergency crews cannot reach the passengers in time, and the approaching incursion has already stretched the Avengers’ available resources across several locations.

The New Avengers arrive and attempt a conventional rescue. Ghost reaches the passengers through the damaged train, while Red Guardian and John Walker help stabilize the surrounding structure. Bucky coordinates the evacuation of the streets below, but the supporting track continues to fail faster than the team can remove everyone.

Bob realizes that Sentry could catch the train and carry it to safety. The movie has already established his extraordinary strength and flight, so the audience understands why he might be capable of accomplishing something the other heroes cannot. But another Void emergence in the middle of a populated evacuation zone could turn a successful rescue into an even greater catastrophe.

Bucky wants the surrounding area cleared before Bob transforms. Yelena understands the danger, but she also recognizes what the discussion could mean to someone who already believes his attempts to help make everything worse. She wants Bob to participate in the decision rather than stand beside the team while everyone else determines whether his powers are too dangerous to use.

And the train is still falling.

That is the impossible choice Thunderbolts has been preparing Bob to face. Remaining Bob protects the civilians from the immediate possibility of another Void manifestation, but it also means allowing the trapped passengers to die if the other Avengers cannot complete the rescue. Becoming Sentry gives him the ability to save those passengers while exposing everyone to a danger the team cannot confidently contain.

Both decisions carry a cost, and the approaching collapse prevents Bob from postponing the choice indefinitely.

The Second Turn: The Avengers Make the Right Decision for the Wrong Battle

Suppose Bob agrees to attempt the rescue, and the team begins preparing for the possibility of another Void emergence. Bucky redirects additional personnel toward the damaged train, Sam sends available heroes to reinforce the evacuation perimeter, and Yelena remains close to Bob in case he needs help regaining control.

Those precautions make sense because the Avengers are trying to protect both the passengers and the surrounding city. But the screenplay should make the consequences of their decisions visible. A security officer at Reed’s corridor receives orders to send personnel toward the train. A defensive position near the routing system is left with fewer guards, and Reed reminds Sam that the final evacuation cycle must remain operational until the last civilians have passed through.

The audience now has the information needed to understand the larger danger, but the train remains our immediate focus. People are trapped, the structure is collapsing, and Bob is approaching a decision that attacks the belief he has carried since childhood.

Meanwhile, Doom’s operatives exploit the weakened defensive position and move toward the corridor’s control system.

This is where the false objective becomes more powerful than an ordinary diversion. Doom has created an emergency that demands a genuine heroic response, and the precautions surrounding Sentry have made that response more complicated. The Avengers are making understandable decisions about the people they are responsible for protecting, but those decisions are changing their ability to defend the larger mission.

The conflict is progressing through cause and effect. The damaged train creates an immediate rescue problem, the possibility of the Void requires additional precautions, and those precautions leave the evacuation corridor vulnerable. Every choice creates the conditions for the next complication.

The Third Turn: Bob Becomes Sentry and Finally Gets His Victory

Now imagine the train begins to fall before the evacuation perimeter is completely secure. Bucky realizes that waiting any longer will cost the passengers their lives, and Yelena turns to Bob. She cannot guarantee that the Void will remain contained, but she can promise that the team will help him face whatever happens next.

That would bring Bob back to the question established in Valentina’s vault. His old instinct tells him to remain behind because his attempts to help might make everything worse. But the people aboard the train need him, and his experience with the New Avengers has taught him that he does not have to confront every consequence alone.

Bob chooses to become Sentry. He catches the train, stabilizes the collapsing structure, and carries the passengers toward the evacuation corridor. The other Avengers complete the rescue while maintaining their precautions, and the civilians reach safety without another manifestation of the Void.

For Bob, that would be a genuine character victory. He has made a difficult decision, used his extraordinary power to help people, and trusted his friends enough to accept their support. The thing he feared would happen has not occurred, and the people he rescued are alive because he chose to act.

The movie has delivered the apparent resolution of Bob’s impossible choice. The Avengers have successfully managed the danger of Sentry, and the audience has every reason to believe that the team has accomplished something important.

Then Reed discovers that the evacuation corridor is no longer connected to its original destination.

The Final Turn: Doom Wins While the Avengers Are Saving Everyone

Imagine Reed discovering that Doom’s operatives entered the weakened control center during the train rescue and redirected the corridor. The evacuation is still functioning, and the surviving civilians are passing through it, but the Avengers have lost control of where those people will emerge.

Suddenly, the purpose of the emergency becomes clear. Doom wanted the Avengers to commit their available resources to the rescue and the precautions surrounding Sentry. The damaged train gave the heroes a legitimate reason to move away from the corridor, while the fear of another Void manifestation increased the number of people required to respond.

Doom never needed to control Sentry or unleash the Void. He needed the Avengers to become so focused on what Bob might do that they failed to protect the one thing determining where the surviving population would go.

The film could now give the Avengers one final opportunity to reverse the situation. Reed attempts to restore the original destination while Sam’s team races back to the control center, but the approaching incursion is closing the corridor’s operating window. Doom’s forces prevent the heroes from regaining control, and the evacuation route begins shutting down as the surrounding reality collapses.

Bob is still helping the final passengers reach the corridor. He gets them through before the evacuation closes, preserving the lives he has just saved. The remaining Avengers follow the survivors into the redirected destination as the world they were attempting to protect disappears behind them.

In this proposed Battleworld version of the story, the survivors emerge in the reality Doom intends to rule. The Avengers have successfully evacuated people from the catastrophe, but they have failed to preserve their universe or prevent Doom from establishing control over what remains.

The people Bob rescued are alive. The Void never returned. And the larger conflict has ended in defeat.

Bob saved everyone in front of him. Doom still won.

Why This Subversion Would Have to Be Earned

There is a significant difference between Doom exploiting the Avengers’ choices and the Avengers losing because the screenplay suddenly requires them to make foolish decisions. For this version to work, the film needs to establish the corridor’s importance, its vulnerability, and the consequences of redirecting it before the final rescue begins. The audience should understand why the Avengers need to protect it and why Doom would benefit from taking control.

The movie would also have to demonstrate why the team cannot simply send another hero to rescue the passengers while keeping the corridor fully protected. Perhaps the incursion has already divided the Avengers among several evacuation sites, and the New Avengers are the only available team capable of responding quickly enough. We need to see those limitations through the action so the decision to redirect personnel feels necessary rather than artificially convenient.

This is where Robert McKee’s principle of progressive complications becomes especially useful. The Avengers begin with a clear objective: protect the evacuation corridor until everyone reaches safety. The train collapse introduces a second responsibility, the danger of the Void complicates their response, and the movement of personnel weakens the original defensive position. Each decision changes the circumstances until the heroes face a crisis in which every available response carries a meaningful cost.

The value turn is equally important. Bob’s successful rescue initially moves the story toward safety, confidence, and the possibility that the New Avengers can use his abilities responsibly. Doom’s subsequent victory reverses the larger situation into catastrophe, but the passengers’ survival preserves the value of Bob’s original choice.

And that distinction is essential. If the people Bob rescues immediately disappear during the multiversal collapse, his victory risks becoming emotionally meaningless. The story needs those survivors to carry the consequences of his decision forward, giving the audience a concrete reason to understand that Bob’s heroism mattered even though the Avengers failed to prevent the larger disaster.

That would make the reveal more than an elaborate trick. Just as Zemo’s dead Winter Soldiers expose the actual purpose of his plan in Civil War, the successful containment of the Void could expose the opening Doom has created in Doomsday. Both revelations would change our understanding of the preceding events while forcing the heroes to confront the consequences of decisions they believed were necessary.

Three Other Ways Doom Could Exploit the Avengers’ Fear of Sentry

The evacuation corridor is one possible version of the larger argument, but the same subversion could work through several different story mechanisms. Each would need a concrete objective for Doom, an immediate crisis that forces the Avengers to make difficult decisions about Bob, and a consequence that carries the conflict into Secret Wars.

Option One: Sentry Saves the City While Reed Loses the Final Incursion

Imagine Reed and Doctor Strange develop a system capable of temporarily stabilizing the boundary between two universes. The Avengers must protect the equipment long enough for the operation to finish, but Doom creates a simultaneous catastrophe that forces the heroes to choose between defending the system and sending Sentry to rescue civilians. Bob becomes Sentry, saves the people in danger, and returns to discover that Doom has destroyed the equipment before the operation could be completed.

This version makes the Avengers’ failure directly responsible for the final incursion, provided the movie establishes how Doom’s interference allows him to shape the surviving reality. The immediate rescue and the multiversal objective would be competing for the same limited resources, giving the heroes a crisis in which protecting one group of people leaves another part of their mission exposed.

Option Two: The Void Returns, but Doom Has Already Accomplished His Goal

A darker possibility would allow the Void to emerge during the final rescue. The movie would need to establish a specific cause for the transformation rather than assume that Bob’s fear or anger automatically activates it. Yelena and the New Avengers would then have to help Bob regain control while the larger Avengers force attempts to protect the surrounding population.

Once the Void has been contained, the heroes discover that Doom exploited their emergency response to complete his actual objective elsewhere. This version would preserve the false objective and produce a larger physical confrontation, but it would need to develop Bob’s relationship with the Void beyond the resolution of Thunderbolts. Otherwise, the movie would risk repeating a climax we have already seen.

Option Three: Bob Recognizes Doom’s Trap and Still Chooses to Save the People

The most difficult version could give Bob a clearer understanding of the danger before he becomes Sentry. Imagine he realizes that the emergency is drawing the Avengers away from Reed’s operation, but he can also see the people who will die if he refuses to intervene. The film would need to establish that the team has no available way to preserve both objectives, forcing Bob to make the decision with a full understanding of the potential consequences.

Bob could warn the Avengers about the trap and still choose to save the civilians, accepting that his decision may leave the larger operation vulnerable. That would make his eventual defeat even more complicated because he would have acted responsibly while recognizing the possibility that Doom could benefit. The people he rescues would remain alive, giving Secret Wars a tangible consequence of his decision alongside the catastrophe he could not prevent.

What Would Losing the World Mean for Bob Reynolds?

This is where the proposed ending becomes especially painful for Bob. His childhood memories establish that he believes his attempts to help make everything worse, and Thunderbolts gives him a new way to confront that belief through his relationship with Yelena and the New Avengers. A version of Doomsday in which he becomes Sentry, saves people, and witnesses the collapse of his world would put that development under extraordinary pressure.

Imagine Bob standing among the survivors on Battleworld. The people he rescued are alive, but the Avengers diverted resources to support his rescue, and Doom used the opportunity to take control of the evacuation corridor. From Bob’s perspective, it would be painfully easy to interpret the catastrophe as further evidence that his participation makes everything worse.

And that is precisely where Doom could become a meaningful opponent to Bob without ever needing to control his powers. If Doom presents himself as the person who preserved the surviving population after the Avengers failed, he could argue that individual acts of heroism cannot adequately protect a multiverse facing destruction. He might claim that the Avengers’ inability to coordinate their competing responsibilities demonstrates why the surviving world needs a single authority capable of making decisions for everyone.

Bob has personally experienced the consequences Doom would use to support that argument. He knows the Avengers failed to save their world, but he also knows that the people he rescued survived because he chose to help them. Doom’s account would encourage Bob to interpret the catastrophe as proof that individual choices are dangerous, while the surviving passengers would demonstrate that those choices can still preserve something valuable.

That would create a meaningful character problem for Secret Wars. Bob would have to decide whether the failure in Doomsday justifies returning to the belief that everyone is safer without him. His development would depend on recognizing that he can act responsibly, preserve lives, and still encounter consequences he cannot entirely control.

Yelena could help him confront that distinction, but the final decision should belong to Bob. She helped him discover that he does not have to face the Void alone, and their relationship could give him the support he needs to continue participating after the Avengers’ defeat. Yet Bob would still have to decide whether he is willing to become Sentry again, knowing that extraordinary power cannot guarantee he will save everyone.

That would give Bob a character arc stretching naturally across both films. Doomsday could force him to overcome his reluctance to use Sentry, allow him to achieve a genuine victory, and then confront him with a larger defeat that threatens to undermine everything he has learned. Secret Wars could explore whether he can continue helping others after discovering that becoming a hero does not guarantee a perfect outcome.

How Bob’s Story Could Connect to Loki and Doom

There is also an opportunity to connect Bob’s character problem to the larger multiverse argument established in Loki. At the end of the second season, Loki chooses to preserve the branching timelines, accepting an enormous personal burden so that the people living within those realities can continue making their own choices.

A hypothetical Doom who witnesses the destruction of multiple realities could reach a very different conclusion. He might believe that allowing individual people and universes to pursue their own interests creates the conditions for further catastrophe. If he establishes Battleworld under his authority, he could present centralized control as the necessary response to the Avengers’ inability to prevent the collapse.

Bob’s experience in Doomsday could become an emotionally concrete expression of that disagreement. He makes an individual choice to save people, while Doom exploits the Avengers’ response to gain control of the surviving world. Doom could point to the outcome as evidence that individual decisions produce vulnerabilities that a single authority must eliminate.

But the people Bob rescued would remain living evidence of what his decision accomplished. Their survival would give him a reason to continue believing that helping people matters, even when the larger consequences of his actions are beyond his control. That would allow Secret Wars to explore the conflict between preserving individual choice and imposing order through a character whose personal history makes the question painfully relevant.

Bob would not need to solve the entire philosophical disagreement between Loki and Doom. His role could be much simpler: he would have to decide whether he still believes in helping people after experiencing a catastrophe that makes his own heroic decision feel inadequate.

The Real Craft Opportunity: Let Bob Win While the Avengers Lose

The proposed subversion ultimately depends on three connected outcomes. Bob must achieve a genuine personal victory by choosing to become Sentry and saving people who would otherwise die. The Avengers must suffer a larger defeat through a cause-and-effect sequence the audience can understand. And Doom must obtain an objective that changes the conditions of the story and carries the conflict into Secret Wars.

Those outcomes have to work together without cancelling one another out. Bob’s rescue needs a lasting consequence, the Avengers’ defeat must emerge from the choices they make under pressure, and Doom’s actual objective must be established early enough for the revelation to feel earned. The audience should be able to look back at the opening rescue problem and recognize how every decision contributed to the final crisis.

Most importantly, Bob has to remain an active participant in the story. His desire to help, fear of causing harm, and willingness to trust his friends should drive his eventual decision to become Sentry. If the larger defeat arrives afterward, the audience should understand that Bob made a meaningful choice even though the Avengers failed to prevent Doom from achieving his objective.

That is what would make this version of the story so much more emotionally complicated than another confrontation over which character possesses the greatest power. Bob could finally overcome the fear that has defined his life, demonstrate that he can help people without unleashing the Void, and discover that his greatest victory was not enough to prevent a much larger catastrophe.

His next challenge would be understanding that the people he saved still matter, even when the world around them has fallen.

The Takeaway: Sentry Can Save the Day and Still Lose the World

We started with Bob facing a terrifying question: what happens when becoming Sentry might save people, but refusing to use his powers could leave those same people to die? The more interesting possibility is that Doomsday allows him to make that choice successfully while the Avengers fail to recognize the larger danger developing around them. The false objective would turn their fear of the Void into the opening Doom exploits, allowing Bob’s personal victory and the team’s catastrophic defeat to emerge from the same sequence of decisions.

That would carry Bob from the vault in Thunderbolts, where he believes everyone is safer without him, to a final crisis in which he becomes Sentry, saves lives, and discovers that the world is falling anyway. Just as the dead Winter Soldiers reveal the personal conflict Zemo has been constructing throughout Civil War, the successful containment of the Void could reveal that Doom has already achieved his actual objective.

A powerful subversion changes our understanding of the conflict while preserving the consequences of the character’s choices. Bob’s victory would remain meaningful because the people he saved would still be alive, even as the Avengers confront the much larger catastrophe they failed to prevent.

Bob can save the day. That doesn’t mean he can save the world.