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Marvel Studios needs to create an evil Avengers for RDJ's Doctor Doom to match all those heroes of Doomsday (and he has a gameplan already in comics with the Cabal) [Marvel Matters]

MCU fans have spent all this time speculating on the next Avengers, but we need to think about the villains creating their own Avengers.

Features by Chris Arrant, Editor-in-Chief

Published on Tue Sep 22 2026

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This weekend is the release of Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* - or what many will consider the next episode in the serialized story of the MCU. As this movie draws near and rumors flow (and some turn into idle speculation by people who should know better), we are at a liminal point where we have a lot of hopes and ideas for what the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be going forward - with none of that pesky reality to tell us what's actually happening yet. Here in this liminal phase, I am throwing out some idle speculation - the kind you'd share among friends - that may or may not prove to be true, but if it were would make a lot of sense.

There's no spoilers here - I have chosen not to attend an early press screening of Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*, instead opting to see it later this week when it opens to the public.

What the Thunderbolts* source material tells us about the future of the MCU

In comics, the Thunderbolts that most directly inspired Marvel's Thunderbolts* movie was in fact born in the 'Dark Reign' era of Marvel Comics, as businessman and former Green Goblin Norman Osborn surprised the world at the end of a Skrull invasion by saving everyone - and using it to usher in an era where he was head of a government organization much like S.H.I.E.L.D. In the wave of good tidings (and nervous feelings from superheroes), Osborn created his own version of the Avengers (in a series titled Dark Avengers), recruiting from a recent Thunderbolts team. But at the same time, Osborn and a wholly other set of villains were cooking up something bigger and badder.

In this 'Dark Reign' era of Marvel Comics, where the Thunderbolts, as you're soon to know it from their movie, were born, Osborn was also part of another larger group that came to identify this era called the Cabal - and it included Doctor Doom. If you haven't heard, Doctor Doom is kind of going to be a big deal in the MCU going forward - with Robert Downey Jr. playing him as the next 'big bad' of the MCU after Thanos in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars, and perhaps other things around that time frame Marvel is going to surprise us with.

Why the hell do you think the Cabal are going to be in the MCU?

We aren't one of those sites who'll run stories on speculation and couch them as rumors from unidentified sources. This is pure speculation.

Just as the last few years of the MCU have been about the gap left from the dissolution of the Avengers and attempts by others to fill that void (no pun intended) such as the Thunderbolts*, you could easily imagine villains wanting to fill that same Avengers-less space with their own team-up. And just as the Thunderbolts we see in the MCU aren't exactly the Thunderbolts we saw in the comics (in any iteration), the MCU's Cabal could also be comprised of some different parts.

And with the MCU's Thunderbolts* directly pulling from the early 00s Avengers era before with 2016's Captain America: Civil War (pulling from 2006's Civil War comic), 2020's Secret Invasion TV series (pulling from the 2008 comic of the same name), and others, this 'Dark Reign' phase that Kevin Feige and co. are seemingly soaking in could fit nicely with Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom - especially with him needing some allies to go against the combined forces of all of the MCU's heroes.

Who are Marvel's Cabal?

In Marvel Comics lore, the Cabal was a group of supervillains (and former supervillains...?) who intended to work in the shadows to fulfill their goals. I wouldn't call them a superteam in the traditional sense - they aren't the type who intend to have battles like Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants or whatnot; instead, they aim to be the power players. Originally created to be the villainous antecedent to a heroic group called the Illuminati, comprised of Marvel heroes from the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men to achieve their own goals, the Cabal came to power as Norman Osborn became a senior figure in the U.S. government - and during the Cabal era, Marvel Comics was under what was marketed as the 'Dark Reign' era.

In comics, the Cabal comprised Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Doctor Doom, Loki, the Hood, Namor, and Emma Frost (the White Queen). The latter two at the time were heroes (and members of the X-Men, no less), with Namor also being a member of the Illuminati. Still, villains gonna villain. A shadowy other member was the Void, the Sentry's dark other half.

Who could the MCU's Cabal be?

Just as the Thunderbolts we see in the MCU aren't exactly the Thunderbolts we saw in the comics, the MCU's Cabal could also be comprised of some different parts. But it all seems to coalesce around Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, slated to appear in the 2026 MCU tentpole Avengers: Doomsday and then again in 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars. Just as the last few years of the MCU have been about the gap left from the dissolution of the Avengers and attempts by others to fill that void, you could easily imagine villains wanting to fill that same Avengers-less space with their own team-up... and there's some key players who could really work, such as:

Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom: As I mentioned before, Doom will need a team of some sort to stand up to the combined forces of the MCU heroes - and I don't think Doom-bots will do it. Just as RDJ's Iron Man assembled the Avengers, imagine the iconography of RDJ's Doctor Doom assembling his own team like the Cabal.
Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin: The revived Wilson Fisk was arguably the best part of Daredevil: Born Again season 1, and as filming is underway for a second season and the desire by Marvel Studios to have its TV and movie sides more connected, this could be just the thing. It doesn't hurt that D'Onofrio and Downey are close friends in real life.
Harrison Ford's Red Hulk: Last seen imprisoned in the Raft at the end of Captain America: Brave New World, every superteam needs a Hulk, and it's tough to imagine Harrison Ford doing just a one-off in the MCU.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine: It's already known she bought the Avengers Tower and repurposed it for the Thunderbolts* use, but depending on where the Thunderbolts* movie goes (again, no spoilers) you could see her as U.S. current CIA director playing a key role in something like the Cabal.
Paul Bettany's The Vision: As last seen in 2021's WandaVision, the Vision is now an all-white version with a sometimes sinister intent - the perfect kind of thing for something like the Cabal. While he is set to star in his own Disney+ series in 2026 called Vision Quest, you could see how this could fit in after the introduction for the Cabal in Avengers; Doomsday to be about the Vision's warring sides inside himself, including his 'father' Ultron (with a returning James Spader already confirmed).
Anthony Ramos' The Hood: Twisters' Anthony Ramos will make his MCU debut as the villainous Hood in this summer's Ironheart TV series. Just as he was a key part (and a cool-looking part, I might add) in the comics iteration of the Cabal I could see him fitting in here as the young upstart of the group.

And I'll leave this here: with Spider-Man: Brand New Day acting as a subtle quick follow-up to 2026's Avengers: Doomsday by being released only three months later (and with Tom Holland's Spider-Man not among the announced cast of that Avengers movie), boy would it be a surprise if the 'Brand New Day' of it all referred to a debuting Norman Osborn - played perhaps by Colman Domingo, who debuted in the role earlier this year in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

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Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant was editor-in-chief and Popverse co-founder. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)