Every Incursion That's Happened In The MCU Before Avengers: Doomsday

Published Sep 28, 2026, 12:45 PM EDT

Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.

He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.

In the lead-up to Avengers: Doomsday, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building the multiverse only to tear it all down. The upcoming Phase 6 movie will see heroes from three separate universes collide as their worlds come under threat. This is due to a multiversal event known as an incursion, which is when multiple Earths begin colliding, leading to the destruction of one or both universes.

For Avengers: Doomsday, the main plot will revolve around the MCU's main universe, Earth-616/the Sacred Timeline, nearing an incursion with Earth-838, where the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom hail from, and an unspecified Earth that a nostalgic X-Men team calls home. The story will force these heroes to work together to try and save all three universes from being destroyed, but they are a small part of a larger multiversal collapse.

The MCU has methodically been prepping audiences for an incursion-heavy story by seeding these multiverse events into different projects. Even though the Multiverse Saga's plans shifted away from Kang the Conqueror to Doctor Doom, the comic inspiration for Avengers: Doomsday (and Avengers: Secret Wars) signaled that universes would be pitted against each other for the two-part finale.

While we still have a few months until Avengers: Doomsday, several projects have confirmed the instability of the multiverse before it even begins. Multiple incursions are already known to have taken place across the MCU multiverse, with more to come in December.

5 Kang's Multiversal War Started Many Incursions

The first known incursions in the MCU Multiverse Saga timeline come from Kang the Conqueror. In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the multiversal villain confirms that he was responsible for starting the Multiversal War by pitting the Council of Kangs against themselves. The result was "endless" incursions as the many Kang variants tried to save their own realities, while Kang the Conqueror sought to destroy them.

It was only after these incursions that He Who Remains stepped in to bring some semblance of peace to the multiverse. This was possible by using Alioth to destroy the more evil Kang variants and universes, creating the Sacred Timeline, and founding the Time Variance Authority to preserve his work.

This work was upended when Sylvie killed He Who Remains in Loki season 1, allowing Kang variants to start spreading throughout the growing multiverse. That is what led Kang the Conqueror to be banished to the Quantum Realm, as he wanted to continue destroying other universes and versions of himself.

4 838 Doctor Strange's Initial Incursion

The first proper mention of incursions in the MCU came in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The movie reveals that Earth-838's Doctor Strange was responsible for starting an incursion that destroyed another universe. This came from him using the Darkhold to dreamwalk as he tried to find a way to stop Thanos.

Notably, 838 Strange kept specific details about how the incursion was created to himself. It is not known what universe was destroyed as a result of his actions. It's also unclear if the incursion was between 838 and the destroyed universe or two different realities, one of which could have survived.

The secrecy surrounding his Darkhold activities and part in destroying a universe ultimately led the Illuminati to believe he was a threat to their reality and the larger multiverse. Black Bolt killed 838 Strange to prevent him from causing any more harm to the multiverse.

3 Sinister Strange's Incursion

Doctor Strange was responsible for another incursion in the multiverse. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw 616's Strange and 838's Christine Palmer travel to another universe that had been partially destroyed by an incursion. They wound up finding the sole survivor of this reality to be another version of Strange, but one who had been fully corrupted by the Darkhold.

This variant, known as Sinister Strange, revealed that his universe was part of an incursion due to his own actions. He had used the Darkhold to dreamwalk through different universes and kill alternate versions of himself. The ripple effect these moments had across the multiverse led to the incursion, which Sinister Strange was not able to stop.

As before, it is unknown what universe Sinister Strange's world collided with, and thus which other reality has been destroyed.

2 616 Doctor Strange's Incursion

616's Doctor Strange doesn't escape his second solo movie unscathed in terms of harming the multiverse. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' post-credits scene shows him being visited by Clea. She confirms that he has triggered an incursion and recruits him to "fix it," leading them both to go to the Dark Dimension.

Clea doesn't outright confirm what Strange did that caused an incursion, but the action seems mostly clear. Multiverse of Madness links dreamwalking with the Darkhold as an act that typically leads to triggering an incursion. 616 Strange did just that in the finale, making this the most likely reason.

The other lingering question associated with this incursion is which worlds are colliding. Strange traveled to multiple universes, which could put any of them in danger. He could also be the one who set the incursion for Earth-616 and the threat of Avengers: Doomsday into motion.

1 Incursions Confirmed For Avengers: Doomsday

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Avengers Endgame: Encore!

For all the incursions teased in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it will be Avengers: Doomsday that really shows what it is like when they are happening. The movie is primarily going to focus on the incursion between Earth-616, Earth-828, and the X-Men's Earth, giving audiences a chance to experience the countdown to the worlds colliding.

But that three-Earth incursion is just the start of what Avengers: Doomsday has planned. The trailers have shown Professor X watching an incursion take place in the X-Men universe, with the other universe exploding. Marvel even used Avengers Endgame: Encore's new Doomsday footage to confirm many other worlds being destroyed and more in danger.

The TVA will monitor the entire multiverse collapsing in the movie, watching as at least 3,000 universes enter incursions. The first that they detect is between Earth-10005 and Earth-1127, which are firing missiles at each other. The latter is not one already established in the MCU multiverse, but the former is the designation for Fox's X-Men franchise, which is where Deadpool, Wolverine, and others call home. That puts them all at risk.

The Avengers Endgame: Encore post-credits scene also confirms Earth-7355 and Earth-0557 engage in an incursion. Those are not universes previously labeled by Marvel, which could be for the best. The scene confirms that both universes are destroyed by the incursion, so anyone who originates from them is now dead.

Question 1 of 3

Ultimately, Avengers: Doomsday could feature many more incursions than the ones we already know about. When it is all said and done, the list of universes destroyed across the MCU multiverse will quite clearly be larger than where things stand right now.

• 

  Victor von Doom

• 

  Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic

• 

  Thor

• 

  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman