Warning: This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.The Leader’s ominous prediction at the end of Captain America: Brave New World may be deliberately wrong, and it may connect Scarlet Witch’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness story to Samuel Sterns’ MCU future. Avengers: Doomsday is just over a year away from Phase 5’s Captain America: Brave New World. While Sam Wilson’s battle of wits against Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns a.k.a. the Leader has no connection to the multiverse, Captain America: Brave New World drops a hint at what Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, will be about.

In Captain America: Brave New World‘s post-credits scene, the Leader tells Captain America that his calculations have confirmed the existence of “others”. Sterns’ wording makes it sound like he’s talking about other worlds and other versions of the MCU’s heroes, which suggests that the Leader is aware of the idea of the multiverse and the imminent Multiverse War that may take place in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, in an interview with The Wrap, director Julius Onah indirectly suggested that the Leader refers to the Illuminati instead of other Avengers variants.

The Leader May Have Correctly Deduced The Existence Of The Multiversal Illuminati, But Not Their Deaths

Samuel Sterns May Actually Have Mentioned Earth-838’s Illuminati

The possibility that the Leader has discovered the existence of the multiversal Illuminati seems a little bit far-fetched, as the Illuminati have nothing to do with Captain America: Brave New World‘s plot. At first, the Leader’s prediction may also sound absurd because Scarlet Witch killed the MCU’s Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, the Leader may have actually found proof of the Illuminati’s existence, possibly because the Illuminati’s Doctor Strange variant toyed with the multiverse when he used the Darkhold, and Earth-838’s Mister Fantastic developed technology that doesn’t exist yet in the MCU’s Earth-616.

While the Leader could be referring to a new Illuminati team from another universe, nothing prevents Earth-838’s Illuminati from being the ones Samuel Sterns pinpointed. Any multiversal beacon the Leader may have identified might have come from Earth-838 before the team died. If this theory is true, Samuel Sterns’ ominous prediction may be accurate, but he may not have yet discovered that Earth-838’s Illuminati have already died.

Why The Leader’s Unfortunate Illuminati Prediction Would Fit Samuel Sterns So Well

The Leader’s Near-Perfect Illuminati Prediction Would Be Accurately Humiliating For The Hulk Villain

Samuel Sterns may have correctly guessed that the Illuminati created a highly-advanced and peaceful society on Earth-838, but not realizing that the Illuminati have since died would render his prediction useless. While the Leader’s failed deduction would seem like a mistake by Marvel, it would actually suit Samuel Sterns perfectly. In the Leader’s comic book, animated show, and video game appearances, Samuel Sterns’ genius-level intellect usually allows him to hold complete control over almost every possible scenario. Yet, the Leader usually ends up failing because he doesn’t account for unlikely scenarios where his enemies don’t follow his exact predictions.

Just to name a few examples, the Leader successfully launched his plan to turn a whole city’s inhabitants into Gamma monsters, yet he was defeated because he didn’t think the Absorbing Man would betray him in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In Marvel’s 1990s animated series universe, Samuel Sterns successfully stole Hulk’s body, but he didn’t account for Hulk’s loss of control. In fact, the MCU’s Samuel Sterns himself was intelligent enough to deduce Black Widow’s exact birthplace as soon as he got his powers, but Samuel Sterns didn’t deduce that Natasha Romanoff wouldn’t let him manipulate her, and she sH๏τ him and captured him immediately.

Captain America: Brave New World’s Post-Credits Scene May Have Other Meanings

The Leader’s Threat May Be More Simple Than It Sounds

Although it would be an inspired choice to make Captain America: Brave New World‘s post-credits scene a nod to the Leader’s typical self-sabotaging personality, Samuel Sterns’ multiverse threat seems likely to be a more straightforward tease of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars‘ multiversal plot. Before Captain America: Brave New World‘s ending and post-credits tease, тιтles such as Loki seasons 1 and 2, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and What If…?‘s three seasons had already set up a multiversal war that will culminate in an epic two-parter at the end of Phase 6. The Leader may simply have realized this conflict is coming soon, in general terms.

The Leader’s mention of “others” in Captain America: Brave New World‘s post-credits scene might be referencing other Illuminati variants different to Earth-838 Illuminati team, or simply other timelines that house alternate variants of Avengers who will fight the MCU’s Earth-616 to protect their own existence. Still, these scenarios would also mean that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will introduce brand-new versions of established and previously unseen heroes. Illuminati teams featuring new Iron Man and Mister Fantastic variants and Dark Avengers teams that include wild variants of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are possible options.

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