u/dallas-multipass

I'm guessing Doom will use the incursion as a smokescreen to hide his real intentions from The F4. He doesn't cause it, but is familiar with them, and has an understanding of traversal. He may even have a few methods on his radar. The ten rings, America Chavez, Reed Richards ship. My guess is the ship still needs to find a tear to go through. Since America Chavez can easily hop around, he convinces Reed to come to 616. He then tries to take the rings from Shang Chi. I'm guessing he does but the end, or he takes Americas powers

Like an animated show modeled on Clone Wars structure: 20+ episode seasons, long arcs and mini arcs woven together, tonal variety, breather episodes. Time jumps between seasons. The run spans from just after ROTJ to sometime after the fall of Luke's academy, ending at the doorstep of Episode 7. First Order and Resistance groundwork is laid from the beginning, not introduced late. The leads and their roles (mapped loosely to Clone Wars): Luke is the spine of the series. The show bridges the gap between Mandalorian-era Luke (Zen, confident) and Last Jedi Luke (jaded hermit) by actually earning the transition. He starts as a less reckless Anakin (earnest, attachment-driven, overconfident in redemption because it worked on Vader) and grows into an Obi-Wan (measured, principled, tempered by failure). He runs the academy, hunts relics, and supports the New Republic.

Ahsoka mentors Luke. She starts in the Obi-Wan role and matures into a Qui-Gon (following the living Force over doctrine). She eventually leaves for the other galaxy (Peridea), and Ezra returns around the same time and joins the cast.

Leia takes the Padme role but with more edge and less damsel. She handles the political and diplomatic stories, fighting senate inertia from the inside. Her dual parentage (Organa and Vader) shapes how the galaxy sees her. Some see her as Organas

Han and Chewie are a blend of Rex and Hondo: ground-level veterans who do the actual fighting, with outlaw flavor and a profit motive that never fully dies. Han is the guy the New Republic can't officially send but always calls. They fight remnants, smuggle, run embargoes, and may travel with a regular crew of smuggler-untrustworthy (not Empire-untrustworthy) regulars.

R2-D2 and C-3PO serve the same function they did in Clone Wars.

Ben Solo joins the academy as a boy. The Luke/Ben relationship intentionally mirrors Obi-Wan/Anakin, including the ending. His fascination with Vader's legacy grows over the years, running subtle at first (curiosity and a sense of inheritance denied him by his family's silence) before it deepens into something darker. His corruption plays out through the villain arcs rather than as a sudden turn, so that by the time the academy falls, the fall feels built rather than abrupt.

Grogu arrives at the academy before Luke's growth is complete and stays roughly 6 months to a year. It doesn't work out, on shared fault: Grogu's attachment to Din and Luke's inexperience as a teacher. This prefigures the later failure with Ben. Lor San Tekka is Luke's relic-hunting companion and knows Ben as a boy, planting the Episode 7 opening decades early.

Villains:

Snoke, Palpatine's some how return, and Moff Gideon. Gideon's cloning and Force-blood projects feed the Palpatine resurrection machinery without his knowledge. Snoke's origin is open to development. The long game is making "somehow, Palpatine returned" feel earned, with the pieces assembled across seasons by people who mostly don't know what they're building. New villains carry the weight; legacy villains are texture.

The entire era's population is fair game (surviving clones, Clone Force 99, Rebels and Ahsoka show characters, the Mandalorian cast, Force ghosts, etc.)The goal is balancing fan-favorite payoff against building the show's own original cast. Otherwise, it's a reunion tour.

Like an animated show modeled on Clone Wars structure: 20+ episode seasons, long arcs and mini arcs woven together, tonal variety, breather episodes. Time jumps between seasons. The run spans from just after ROTJ to sometime after the fall of Luke's academy, ending at the doorstep of Episode 7. First Order and Resistance groundwork is laid from the beginning, not introduced late. The leads and their roles (mapped loosely to Clone Wars): Luke is the spine of the series. The show bridges the gap between Mandalorian-era Luke (Zen, confident) and Last Jedi Luke (jaded hermit) by actually earning the transition. He starts as a less reckless Anakin (earnest, attachment-driven, overconfident in redemption because it worked on Vader) and grows into an Obi-Wan (measured, principled, tempered by failure). He runs the academy, hunts relics, and supports the New Republic.

Ahsoka mentors Luke. She starts in the Obi-Wan role and matures into a Qui-Gon (following the living Force over doctrine). She eventually leaves for the other galaxy (Peridea), and Ezra returns around the same time and joins the cast.

Leia takes the Padme role but with more edge and less damsel. She handles the political and diplomatic stories, fighting senate inertia from the inside. Her dual parentage (Organa and Vader) shapes how the galaxy sees her. Some see her as Organas

Han and Chewie are a blend of Rex and Hondo: ground-level veterans who do the actual fighting, with outlaw flavor and a profit motive that never fully dies. Han is the guy the New Republic can't officially send but always calls. They fight remnants, smuggle, run embargoes, and may travel with a regular crew of smuggler-untrustworthy (not Empire-untrustworthy) regulars.

R2-D2 and C-3PO serve the same function they did in Clone Wars.

Ben Solo joins the academy as a boy. The Luke/Ben relationship intentionally mirrors Obi-Wan/Anakin, including the ending. His fascination with Vader's legacy grows over the years, running subtle at first (curiosity and a sense of inheritance denied him by his family's silence) before it deepens into something darker. His corruption plays out through the villain arcs rather than as a sudden turn, so that by the time the academy falls, the fall feels built rather than abrupt.

Grogu arrives at the academy before Luke's growth is complete and stays roughly 6 months to a year. It doesn't work out, on shared fault: Grogu's attachment to Din and Luke's inexperience as a teacher. This prefigures the later failure with Ben. Lor San Tekka is Luke's relic-hunting companion and knows Ben as a boy, planting the Episode 7 opening decades early.

Villains:

Snoke, Palpatine's some how return, and Moff Gideon. Gideon's cloning and Force-blood projects feed the Palpatine resurrection machinery without his knowledge. Snoke's origin is open to development. The long game is making "somehow, Palpatine returned" feel earned, with the pieces assembled across seasons by people who mostly don't know what they're building. New villains carry the weight; legacy villains are texture.

The entire era's population is fair game (surviving clones, Clone Force 99, Rebels and Ahsoka show characters, the Mandalorian cast, Force ghosts, etc.)The goal is balancing fan-favorite payoff against building the show's own original cast. Otherwise, it's a reunion tour.

Been sitting on these for a while and I wanted to share them before December. It all connects, bare with me.

Doom is running the Infamous Iron Man playbook

The MCU has never been 1:1 with comics, so here's my translation. Tony's death as an anchor being on the main timeline is what started causing incursions. Doom, after losing his own family, sees the multiverse collapsing and decides to stitch the dying ones together and make himself godlike as the new anchor being of whatever survives.

Doomsday vilifies him because everyone assumes he's the one causing the incursions.

Secret wars humanizes and deifies him. We are the reasons he does everything but we still see he's chasing godhood the whole time.

The "stolen lives" line in the trailer is Doom rejecting the legitimacy of the multiverse itself, or maybe rejecting that the snap got reversed, or something something something ...the heroes with kids. I'm not sure. Everyone else got to edit reality and take their lives back. His family's still dead.

The Iron Man connection is basically stolen valor. In the comics he takes over the Iron Man "brand" because it comes with glory and goodwill. In the MCU he takes over as Tony Stark because the universe literally collapses without Tony in it. He's not honoring him or trying to do good. Doom craves godhood, and seizes an opportunity to become one

The grizzled looking Steve Rogers summoning Thors hammer is a lie

They did time travel last movie. I think they'll stay away from it here. This one seems to be closing the multiverse for the next phase, so bringing in young dad Steve needs way too much explanation for a movie that has to work for MCU fans as well as people who checked out after Endgame.

There are two versions of Cap in the promos. Clean cut classic Steve in the past with his newborn, and a grizzled version that summons Mjolnir. The second looks like Chris Evans showed up for a reading, skipped wardrobe and makeup, and someone just happened to record.

My take is the real Steve is old man Rogers, and he's been living on the SABER station since Endgame. The public thinks he's dead. Never made it back from the fight with Thanos, or from dropping off the stones, whatever story they gave the masses. The "Steve's on the moon" joke in Falcon and Winter Soldier was not a joke, but foreshadowing. The reason Thor is surprised is not that he thought Cap was dead, but that he hasn't seen Steve as an old man.

With Hill dead and Fury fading, old Steve will pick up the Fury mantle. Fury operated through SHIELD by keeping his own people in the dark and "holding a gun at everyone". Steve's SABER wouldn't work like that. Fury recognizes that Steve is a great leader and a true protector. While Shield collapsed on Furys watch, Steve rooted out Hydra. Fury knows Steve can bring the change the agency's need

Could be an actual farewell to Steve, if they want to kill him of, or could be a redefining of the role Fury had done since Iron Man. Maybe both.

The real purpose of these movies is weeding out dead weight(duh)

It's no secret Doomsday/Secret Wars exists to cull the franchises that have been dead weight since Endgame. After the dust settles the main players will rebuild. X-Men, F4, Avengers, Spider-Man, Deadpool/Wolverine.

Doom survives it and becomes an F4 level threat, and a puppet master behind the scenes of other movies. RDJ sticks around for cameos and the occasional F4 appearance. Doom keeps his little stable of villains that answer to him

They flip how new characters get introduced

For 20 years the MCU has just given new characters their own movies or shows. They had to. There was no stories to spin off from. In the comics it was the opposite. Wolverine debuted in The Hulk. Punisher and Venom came out of Spider-Man. Half the cosmic stuff came out of Fantastic Four. The solo title was the reward for a good character arc.

After Secret Wars, with a smaller stable of healthy franchises, they go guest first. New characters appear inside other franchise's movies, prove they work, then get solo projects. Puppet master Doom feeds the villain side the same way. His lieutenants show up in one franchise and graduate to headlining someone else's problem later. That's how you get natural comic book feeling crossovers instead of every team-up being a massive MCU party. Brand New Day already showed the model with Frank.

They will not negate Endgame. No retcons, no undoing the bench scene, no copouts to the fans. That ending stays intact and everything above happens after it

I don't think we are seeing a variant of RDJ's Iron Man. I think Doom, either in his universe or through magical means, saw the void that was left after Iron Mans death, and had to step in by becoming Iron Man. We saw in NWH how magic isn't point in click. I think the fact that he looks like RDJ is a side affect of magic used to become Iron Man.