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The end of the world is nigh for the Marvel Universe—not just the mainline world of Earth-616, but all possible realities within it. Now it will take all of the Earths’ Mightiest Heroes to stop Doomsday.
The first trailer for the long-awaited Avengers: Doomsday is finally here, giving us not only our first chance to hear Robert Downey Jr.’s accented voice as villain Doctor Doom, but also a vision of a franchise world in crisis, as only Thor still remains from the primary lineup who stopped Thanos seven years ago in Avengers: Endgame. But that doesn’t mean the Marvel Universe lacks heroes, so let’s breakdown the trailer to see who can answer the call.
Doctor Doom’s Accent
Of course, the biggest draw to the Doomsday trailer is our first taste of Robert Downey Jr.’s as Victor Von Doom. Downey’s casting as the greatest villain in comic book history has long been the biggest head-scratcher in this entire project and as much as directors Joe and Anthony Russo insist that there’s a very good reason indeed for bringing back the guy who started the MCU as Tony Stark, most of us have been skeptical. Here, we hear him warn about “something” coming, something that will force them to make “an unthinkable decision,” intoning in a vaguely Eastern European accent that stands for his home country, the fictional nation of Latveria.
These opening lines suggest that the heroes face a threat other than Doom himself. Yet, later we see Thor attacking Doom, who casually deflects any attempt to go for the head by reflecting Stormbreaker with just a couple of fingers. Anyone who knows Doctor Doom stories from the comics can easily decipher what’s going on here. Clearly, Doom will rally the heroes behind him to deal with the reality-destroying Incursions that have been teased in the MCU since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, as soon as an advantage presents itself, Doom will make his move to take power, forcing the Avengers to assemble against him.
Avengers Disassembled
About that assembling… As we’ve known since Thunderbolts*, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes aren’t as mighty as they used to be. Not only did they lose Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow—leaving Thor and Hulk as the sole heavy hitters and also Hawkeye is there (subscribe to the Den of Geek comics newsletter for more uncharitable thoughts about Clint Barton!)—but the team is currently split into two. Bucky leads the New Avengers, consisting of fellow Thunderbolts such as Red Guardian and White Widow, while Sam Wilson takes the role of Captain America to lead a ragtag group of heroes, which includes, uh… just Ant-Man?
With no disrespect to Scott Lang, who did kick Kang the Conqueror out of Phase Six, that’s not enough to deal with Doctor Doom. Fortunately, there are a host of non-Avengers on hand, including Shuri as Black Panther, along with fellow Wakandan M’Baku, and her arch-enemy Namor, as well as the Fantastic Four, who have made their way into the mainline 616. If that’s not enough, the X-Men are also around—but whose side are they on?
Avengers vs. X-Men
Outside of Spider-Man, the X-Men have long been the most popular Marvel property. Yet, even after Disney bought 20th Century Fox and acquired adaptation rights to the Fantastic Four and to X-Men, the MCU has been slow to integrate mutants into their universe. Judging by the trailer, Avengers: Doomsday plans to make up for lost time, as many of the scenes take place inside of Xavier’s School for Gifted Children, complete with an aged Professor X sitting alongside his archenemy and the love of his life Magneto, once again played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. They’ve brought with them other actors from the Fox X-Men series, including James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and Channing Tatum as Gambit.
However, where those actors famously chose black leather over yellow spandex in the original films, they’re now outfitted in costumes from the Jim Lee era of the comics, the same looks they have in X-Men: The Animated Series. Even more importantly, the X-Men seem to be fighting against the Avengers, as we see Gambit go toe-to-toe with Shang-Chi and Mystique shape shift into Florence Pugh to fight White Widow (I guess Scarlett Johansson‘s still too mad about residuals for Mystique to become Black Widow). Is this the usual prerequisite fight that heroes need to have before joining forces? Or are the Avengers and X-Men forced to fight to save their realities?
What Is the Fantastic Four Up To?
Did we mention that the Fantastic Four are here? Because they are, but they’re very much in the background of the trailer. We’ve long known that Marvel’s first family would leave their universe of a retro-futuristic 1960s and join the 616, and we saw in the previous teasers that Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, would spend some time with the Wakandans. But outside of some shots of them standing around with the Avengers and Johnny sharing a hug with his sister Sue, the FF don’t get much to do.
And that’s a huge problem because this movie is called Doomsday and is all about Doctor Doom. In the comics, Doom’s primary motivation for anything is his burning hatred for Reed Richards. Doom’s mask, his return to Latveria, his mastery of magic, all stem from the fact that Richards understood a math equation better than him back when they were in college together. To see Pedro Pascal’s Reed just standing around while Doom fights Thor has us very worried that Doomsday will forget this key element of the character.
The Miracle of Cap’s Return
If Reed doesn’t really matter to Doomsday, then Thor nails it when he says the Marvel heroes will need a miracle. Fortunately, he gets that miracle when Steve Rogers makes his prophesied return. Thor responds as any right-thinking person would when faced with bearded Cap, extending his hammer for Rogers to grasp. More than a call-back to the crowd-pleasing moment from Avengers: Endgame, when Rogers takes Thor’s hammer firmly in his hand, he dispels some of the theories surrounding Cap’s return.
The first teaser for Avengers: Doomsday told us not that Captain America would return, but that Steve Rogers would return. Together with the multiversal shenanigans baked into Doomsday, including the Leader’s warning of heroes from other realities in the post-credit scene of Captain America: Brave New World, some had wondered if we would get an evil Cap fighting alongside Doom. However, as Avengers: Age of Ultron taught us long ago, anyone who wields Mjolner is worthy of our trust, meaning that Thor can fully give himself over to his comrade again.
Cameos No More!
Perhaps the most important part of the Doomsday trailer are the things we don’t see. With the exception of folks like Kelsey Grammer’s Beast or Lewis Pullman’s Sentry, everyone promised to appear in merchandising leaks and press events shows up. But as a multiversal story set to reboot the MCU as we know it, Doomsday seemed poised to include a ton of cameos and surprises, none of which show up in the trailer. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the Netflix heroes seem destined to once again miss out on Avengers action. No Spider-Man shows up—not Tom Holland, not Tobey Maguire, not Andrew Garfield, not even Nicholas Hammond. We don’t see Nicolas Cage or Gabriel Luna as Ghost Rider, Michael Chiklis as the Thing, and neither Dolph Lundgren nor Jon Bernthal nor Thomas Jane appear as Punisher.
Most notably of all, we don’t see Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool or Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. But we do see Loki holding his TVA card, which deserves attention. Deadpool & Wolverine already did a deep dive into the history of Marvel adaptations, even convincing Wesley Snipes to once again share the screen as Blade with Reynolds. The TVA played a central role in that story, and while no one other than Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15 crossed over from Loki to that movie, a connection did exist. Will Loki be the connective tissue to bring back these favorites for one last appearance? Or will he be too busy as the God of Stories to bother with such petty fan service?
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18, 2026.
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