This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 and also maybe Avengers: Doomsday?In the penultimate episode of Stranger Things, we finally learn the truth about Vecna and the Upside Down. The Upside Down, it turns out, is not a hellish alternate reality. Rather, it is a conduit to such a world, a wormhole that connects our world to a place of suffering that Dustin and his fellow Dungeons & Dragons players dub “The Abyss.” Sent to the Abyss after attacking Eleven, Henry Creel transformed into Vecna, and now plans to meld his world with ours. But Vecna can only do that by amplifying his powers, which he plans to do by kidnapping children around Hawkins.If you’ve been paying attention to the many, many leaks and speculation about the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday, that plot sounds quite familiar. Between the teaser trailers focusing on children, hints dropped in previous movies, and Doom’s actions in the Marvel Comics Secret Wars storyline, it sure seems like Avengers: Doomsday plans to travel a plot path that Stranger Things is covering now.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Here’s what we know so far about what’s coming in the Marvel Universe. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Strange meets the Illuminati of Earth-838, who tell him about incursions, events where two Earths from different realities collide. If they meet, the two destroy one another, which has led some to save their world by destroying the other. The post-credits scene in Multiverse of Madness sees the sorceress Clea arriving to recruit Strange in a battle against incursions. Later, in the post-credits scene of Captain America: Brave New World, Sterns warns Sam Wilson that these other realities have their own heroes, who will do anything to save their world, implying that some will try to stop an incursion by destroying Earth 616.Thus far, we’ve only had one shot of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, and even that was only from behind. But it’s what he was doing that matters, as we see him standing next to young Franklin Richards in a post-credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Turns out, that scene comes directly from Avengers: Doomsday, and the two teasers for Doomsday released thus far also feature children, first the son of Steve Rogers and then Thor’s adopted daughter Love. Thus, whatever Doom is doing in Doomsday, it will involve children.Finally, we can look at the comics for hints about what might be happening in Doomsday. The concept of Incursions comes from Time Runs Out, the lead-up to the 2015 Secret Wars storyline. Time Runs Out saw the various heroes and villains growing more desperate and compromised as they tried to prevent an incursion from destroying their Earth, finally ending when Doom stole enough power from various sources to recreate an Earth made up of fragments from different realities. Also, he also happens to rule as God Emperor.Using those comic book hints to fill in the gaps, Avengers: Doomsday seems to be about Doom dealing with incursions by stealing power from kidnapped children and using it to meld realities into one in which he can control. Which also seems to be Vecna’s plan in Stranger Things.If that’s true, then the final season of Stranger Things could be something of a bellwether for the MCU’s Phase Six closer. Both properties won fans by creating likable characters and letting them bounce of one another in high stakes situations. But both have been criticized for putting sloppy emotional moments over proper characterizations, for nonsensical plotting, and for treating ugly CGI gloop as compelling spectacle. If Stranger Things ends its last season on a down note, that could spell trouble for Avengers: Doomsday… especially if the two have the same story.Stranger Things season 5 episodes one through seven are now streaming on Netflix. Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, 2026.The post Did Stranger Things Just Do Avengers: Doomsday Before Marvel? appeared first on Den of Geek.