Doomsday Approaches: First Trailer for Latest 'Avengers' Picture Drops Amid a Tumultuous Development Process
After years of anticipation among fans and general moviegoers alike, the first full trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, the fifth entry in the popular superhero franchise, has been released but is it too little, too late?
The brand new trailer opens with a grim look at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, the main setting of the X-Men movies, as Patrick Stewart’s Professor X is blinded by some sort of incursion into his world. This is followed by our first look at Doctor Doom, the villain of this picture. We then see the Fantastic Four arriving in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, teased at the end of 2025’s Thunderbolts. As they meet the New Avengers, Thor (a returning Chris Hemsworth) monologues about his fear of the coming threat, saying that many have died facing lesser threats. This is juxtaposed to returning characters from the last phase of the MCU, mainly the cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
We then get our first action of the trailer, as a battle in the X-Mansion causes some destruction as Shang-Chi battles Channing Tatum’s Gambit, returning from Deadpool and Wolverine (Tatum was cast in an unmade solo film for the character from director Gore Verbinski). More characters meet and battle as we see more returning characters, most prominently James Marsden, Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn from the X-Men franchise. Characters battle as Thor comes face to face with Doom, who stops his attack with a single hand.
The trailer closes with a fan-pleasing reunion between Thor and Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers.
The development of not only the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also the fifth Avengers movie in general has been a highly publicized affair over the past few years. Originally slated to release under the title Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, this motion picture event was meant to follow on from the ongoing plot threads of the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the Disney+ series, Loki. Specifically, this phase of Marvel history was meant to heavily involve the multiversal antagonist Kang the Conqueror as portrayed by Jonathan Majors. However, these plans were hastily changed in March 2023 after Majors was arrested and charged with assault against his former girlfriend, dancer Grace Jabbari. Following his conviction in December of the same year, Marvel dropped the Kang plot elements and removed the subtitle from the fifth Avengers film (although they kept the name Secret Wars for the sixth). Not long after the firing of Majors, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton, who was slated to helm the film, also exited. Cretton would stay in the Marvel world, however, as he would go on to direct the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
In July of 2024, Marvel announced at San Diego Comic Con that not only would previous Avengers directing duo Anthony and Joe Russo direct the film (now titled Doomsday), but the movie would see the return of Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., this time playing the iconic Fantastic Four villain, Doctor Doom. While met with uproarious applause from those in attendance at the conference, online reactions were far more divided. An overwhelming sentiment shared online was that this casting move reeked of desperation on Marvel’s part; a move intended to boost interest in their franchise as it became plagued by not only controversy, but a string of box office and critical disappointments like the aforementioned Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. As the wider public has slowly begun to move away from superhero films as the “big thing” holding their attention, bringing back Robert Downey Jr. as a new villain or folding in the 2000s X-Men cast was criticized as a last gasp of desperation from a studio that has generated over $30 billion at the box office.
That said, the appetite for a new Avengers film is clearly there. As of writing, the official upload of the trailer on YouTube has been viewed over 34 million times in less than a day and has over 2 million likes. So while critics of the series may have valid points against Kevin Feige’s grand universe, the fans have spoken and are ready for more superhero action. But despite some positive reception, it’s hard to shake the feeling that, like the plight of the characters in the movie, this is a do-or-die scenario for not only Marvel Studios but for the film industry at large. Just as westerns and sci-fi epics were once the order of the day, superheroes have been Hollywood’s cash cow for well over a decade now. But as more and more outings flounder at the box office, it could very well be that Avengers: Doomsday is the last hurrah of this decade of popular cinema.
One cannot look into the future (or, despite what this movie may say, travel into alternate realities). The fate of this new Avengers outing and the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large cannot be determined from one two-minute trailer alone. What is certain in this situation is that Avengers: Doomsday is sure to be packed with action, drama and enough comic book shenanigans to make any Marvel fan a very happy camper.
It is directed by the Russo Brothers from a script by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Wyatt Russell, Channing Tatum, Simu Liu, Ian McKellen, Tom Hiddleston, James Marsden and Patrick Stewart.