Is Avengers: Doomsday Adapting Marvel's Most Infamous Magneto Story?

When it comes to Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel’s curtain of secrecy is arsenic beardown arsenic ever. But, arsenic always, we tin usually number connected the actors to fto gaffe immoderate intriguing caller details. Ian McKellen is the latest to perpetrate a Tom Holland-style faux pas. McKellen precocious teased a large acceptable portion successful the caller movie erstwhile helium spoke to the YouTube transmission Jake’s Takes.

"Two constabulary cars successful beforehand of maine were raised up by cranes," McKellen reminisced astir a series successful 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. "These were not peculiar effects. Nowadays, I deliberation things volition go a small spot easier — though I did destruct New Jersey the different day. Oooh, I possibly shouldn't person said that..."

This tells america that McKellen’s Magneto volition beryllium a precise unsafe adversary successful Doomsday, connected a level we ne'er saw successful the older X-Men movies. But wherefore would Magneto destruct New Jersey? And does this mean Marvel Studios is adapting possibly the astir infamous Magneto storyline of each time? Let’s interruption it down.

Beware of imaginable spoilers for Avengers: Doomsday ahead!

Will Avengers: Doomsday Adapt Ultimatum?

McKellen’s comments instantly bring to caput 2009’s Ultimatum, a bid that pits the Ultimate Universe versions of the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four against a precise aggravated Magneto. As the communicative opens, Magneto has gone disconnected the heavy extremity aft being confronted with the deaths of his children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. In retaliation, helium attempts to destruct quality civilization by reversing Earth’s magnetic poles and causing a bid of planetary disasters.

One of those disasters includes a monolithic tidal question that hits Manhattan and drowns thousands. Even a large galore superheroes similar Daredevil, Beast, and Nightcrawler are killed successful the deluge. It’s not New Jersey – though it is conscionable connected the different broadside of the Hudson River – but this communicative remains the astir notable illustration of 1 wherever Magneto destroys a large American metropolis.

Art by David Finch. (Image Credit: Marvel)

How does Magneto execute an enactment arsenic unspeakable arsenic this? It’s each acknowledgment to Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Magneto captures the hammer successful the prelude story, 2008’s The Ultimates 3. Using his magnetic powers, Magneto is efficaciously capable to cancel retired Mjolnir’s enchantment and manipulate the hammer to his will.

Drowning Manhattan is conscionable the opening salvo successful Magneto’s warfare of destruction. By the extremity of Ultimatum, galore heroes are dead, including Wolverine and the bulk of the X-Men. Even Cyclops is assassinated, but not earlier helium vaporizes Magneto’s head. Ultimatum adjacent ends with Doctor Doom himself getting his caput crushed by The Thing, proving that nary 1 was wearing crippled armor successful the Ultimate Universe anymore.

Ultimatum is not a well-regarded comic, to enactment it mildly. It’s not conscionable the shoddy characterization and the fig of large deaths featured successful this story, but the bizarre, faux-edgy code successful which those deaths are presented. One peculiarly reviled country shows Magneto’s henchman, the Blob, devouring the corpse of the Wasp similar a ravenous zombie. Though Marvel’s Ultimate enactment continued for respective years after, immoderate would reason Ultimatum marked the opening of the extremity for this universe.

In short, Ultimatum is not the archetypal X-Men/Avengers crossover communicative we’d deliberation of for Marvel to accommodate successful Doomsday. But is determination a kernel of a bully thought here? Certainly, the basal conception of Magneto singlehandedly annihilating a large metropolis has immoderate merit to it. Could it beryllium reworked to acceptable the MCU? Let’s instrumentality a person look astatine however Doomsday could loosely accommodate Ultimatum for its ain benefit.

Magneto’s Role successful Doomsday

For a portion now, we’ve been speculating that Avengers: Doomsday is fundamentally an Avengers vs. X-Men movie. The casting announcements made successful 2025 and the caller X-Men-themed Doomsday teaser some look to carnivore retired that theory. We cognize that the bulk of the archetypal Fox X-Men formed are turning to reprise their roles (though, oddly, Hugh Jackman’s sanction isn’t among them). Doomsday is simply a multiverse story, and it’s going to bring unneurotic the MCU’s Earth-616 and the X-Men universe’s Earth-10005 (and The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Earth-828).

It appears that Doomsday is going to get a just magnitude from Avengers: Time Runs Out and the archetypal contented of 2015’s Secret Wars. Time Runs Out deals with the mounting situation that arises arsenic much and much universes are destroyed by the improvement known arsenic Incursions. By the clip Secret Wars opens, lone the halfway Marvel Universe (Earth-616) and the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610) are left. The heroes of some worlds are drawn into a hopeless last conflict that yet proves pointless.

Doomsday volition apt travel a akin premise, but that the last 2 universes successful the Marvel movie multiverse volition beryllium the MCU and Fox’s X-Men universe. The Avengers are warring the X-Men. And based connected McKellen’s comments, we fishy that Magneto is truly going to bring his A-game for this fight.

This is wherever Doomsday whitethorn get a leafage from Ultimatum. What if, during the people of the fight, Magneto intercepts Mjolnir and turns its magic against the Avengers? Just similar successful the comic, helium could usage its powerfulness to reverse Earth’s polarity and origin a devastating tidal wave. He wouldn’t beryllium attacking his ain Earth, but alternatively the satellite threatening the endurance of the full mutant race.

McKellen and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto is simply a quality of perpetually evolving morals and loyalties. But if there’s 1 accordant information astir the character, it’s that he’d bash thing to guarantee the salvation of mutantkind. And based connected the X-Men-centric Doomsday teaser, we cognize the Sentinels are successful play for immoderate reason. Perhaps Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom is utilizing them to stoke struggle betwixt the Avengers and X-Men? In immoderate case, drowning 1 world’s New Jersey nether a tsunami seems similar the benignant of happening Magneto would bash erstwhile propulsion comes to shove.

The question is whether the fallout of that enactment volition beryllium akin to the comic. Will we spot Magneto really termination iconic MCU heroes erstwhile helium destroys New Jersey? It’s possible. When Doomsday is dealing with the literal destiny of existence, we can’t presume immoderate quality is genuinely safe. That’s particularly existent since the premise of Avengers: Secret Wars makes it casual capable for Doom to resurrect immoderate characters helium chooses arsenic portion of his caller Battleworld.

The satellite volition yet beryllium restored to immoderate semblance of normality astatine the extremity of Secret Wars, but that doesn’t mean things won’t get beauteous hairy on the way. Just don’t expect Doomsday to accommodate that grotesque Blob/Wasp scene. Some things are amended near to the comics.

For much connected Avengers: Doomsday, find retired wherefore the Steve Rogers teaser has america truthful disappointed, and larn wherefore the Thor teaser is simply a large reminder that Thor tin and should beryllium serious.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.