This week Captain America: Brave New World, the penultimate film of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), premieres in theaters. Then on May 2, Thunderbolts*, closes out Phase Five, with Phase Six beginning a few short months later with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. From there it’s a very short trip to next year with Avengers: Doomsday, the beginning of the end for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.

For some MCU fans this conclusion comes as a relief given the checkered record with the Multiverse Saga. Unlike the celebrated Infinity Saga, which consisted of Phases One, Two and Three, the Multiverse Saga has been inconsistent in terms of quality and execution. A lot of blame has to go to the Disney executives who demanded that Marvel Studios crank out too many MCU film and TV projects before they were properly developed in a short amount of time. Naturally, this diluted Marvel Studios resources and personnel to the point that special effects studios rebelled against Marvel Studios for being overworked on their assigned projects. What was worse was that the results of the studios stretching themselves too thin became very apparent on screen. For every success like Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and WandaVision there were colossal failures like The Marvels and Secret Invasion.

But what made the Multiverse Saga so unsatisfying was that many of the projects did not add to an overall storyline. Unlike the Infinity Saga, where many films contributed to a larger storyline, this was not the case with the films and TV shows of Phases Four and Five. It was evident that a larger story was not being developed properly and some projects that were supposed to advance it did not succeed. It got to the point that Marvel Studios had to do a radical course correct and change the main villain of the Multiverse Saga from Kang the Conqueror to Doctor Doom.

The reaction to Doctor Doom being the main villain of the saga received mixed results, especially after the revelation that Robert Downey, Jr. would play the Latverian dictator. This casting raised many questions about whether or not Doctor Doom was a variant of Tony Stark, the hero that Downey played in the Infinity Saga. Some claimed this was a desperate move by Marvel Studios and Disney to generate excitement and attention. Well, it probably was, but it looks to be working.

However, given the short period of time before Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios has to get the ball going with Doom. Frankly, Marvel Studios should have taken steps by now to establish him. Looking at the release schedule for films this year there is this week’s Captain America: Brave New World, then Thunderbolts*, and finally The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is the start of Phase Six. Normally, Doctor Doom is a major Fantastic Four villain and should have been the main antagonist in The Fantastic Four: First Steps but thanks to the poor reception of the villain in previous versions of the Fantastic Four, the new FF film had to go with another villain (Galactus). After that the next MCU film is scheduled to be Avengers: Doomsday.

Unlike Thanos, who was carefully teased over years in the Infinity Saga, it seems as if we’re jumping right into Doctor Doom. Being that he is the number one villain in Marvel Comics, Doctor Doom deserves more build up. At the very least he or his country should have been name dropped in recent projects such as Deadpool & Wolverine or What If…?

We’ll soon find out if he will be teased in a post-credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps or even mentioned in Captain America: Brave New World. Hell, even an Easter egg or two will work at this point. It would be a missed opportunity of epic proportions if he is not even referenced in the Fantastic Four film because after that it would be difficult to try to set him up in the remaining MCU projects before the Avengers film. He can be referenced in Captain America: Brave New World since that film will set up the forming of a new Avengers team, and mutants for the next MCU saga. He can also be teased in Thunderbolts* but it’s anyone’s guess as to how. The same goes for the TV projects like Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart, Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies and Wonder Man. Aside from Marvel Zombies, none of the TV shows would be a good vehicle to feature Doctor Doom.

Of course, Marvel Studios could surprise all of us and announce that another film will come out after The Fantastic Four: First Steps and before Avengers: Doomsday and it must feature the armored tyrant in some capacity. What could that film be? Doctor Strange 3? On the other hand, do not be surprised if the next Avengers film gets its release date changed because we haven’t heard anything concrete about the actual production and Marvel Studios has to get started very soon to meet the May 2026 release date. It would not be the worse thing if Avengers: Doomsday is delayed by a few months or even a year since this would not only allow the hype to grow for it but to better set it up with upcoming projects.