Source material
What comics is Avengers: Doomsday based on?
What comics is Avengers: Doomsday based on? The Marvel stories behind the film - Hickman's incursions, the 2015 Secret Wars and Doctor Doom's mythology - explained simply.
You don’t need a comics degree to enjoy Avengers: Doomsday, but knowing its source material makes the film’s biggest ideas click. Here’s the short version of what it’s drawing from.
The main source: Hickman’s Avengers and Secret Wars
The clearest blueprint is writer Jonathan Hickman’s epic run on Avengers and New Avengers (2012-2015), which built toward the 2015 event Secret Wars. That run introduced the concept the whole saga now leans on: incursions, where two universes collide and one must die. Pile up enough of them and the multiverse ends.
- Incursions explained - the doomsday mechanic in the film’s very title.
- Secret Wars (2015) explained - where Doom seizes godlike power.
- Time Runs Out explained - the countdown that leads into it.
The villain’s mythology: Doctor Doom
Everything orbits Doctor Doom, Marvel’s definitive villain since 1962. His rivalry with Reed Richards, his rule of Latveria, and his 2015 turn as God Emperor Doom are all relevant. Start with who is Doctor Doom in the comics and his greatest stories.
The families involved: FF and X-Men
Because the films fold in the Fantastic Four and X-Men, decades of their comics matter too - especially the FF’s connection to Doom and the multiverse. The confirmed cast reflects this (see the cast guide).
How faithful will the films be?
Films always adapt loosely - simplifying plots, swapping characters, and translating comic spectacle to screen. Expect the ideas (incursions, Doom’s godhood, Battleworld) more than a page-by-page retelling.
Start here
New to all this? Read our Secret Wars (2015) explainer first - it’s the single most important comic behind this two-film climax.