Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four assemble for a new threat

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Marvel unveils the first full Avengers: Doomsday trailer, teasing returning heroes, iconic X-Men and the debut of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom

Notwithstanding the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day next week, Marvel Studios has released the first full trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, the studio’s true blockbuster tentpole for 2026

Though the trailer still lacks any new details on what the film will be, it does preview action shots of various characters from different Marvel films and universes over the past two decades.

New and old heroes assemble

Returning faces from the old Avengers roster are Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America and Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, while from the New Avengers Florence Pugh shows her face as Yelena Belova.

The wider cast previewed features all four of the new Fantastic Four team, the X-Men’s Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Gambit (Channing Tatum), Mystique (Rebecca Romijin), Letitia Wright as Shuri and Tenoch Huerta as Namor from the Black Panther films and Simu Liu as Shang-Chi.

As the titular character of the film and as the foreboding “Something is coming, something we may not be able to deter” opening words in the trailer imply, the brief footage also heralds the arrival of Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr who previously played Iron Man in the franchise.

Marvel’s biggest test yet

The film will arrive at a difficult time for Marvel. Once the champion of back-to-back box office wins, the studio and the state of its cinematic universe now have decent films and TV shows once in a blue moon, spaced out by a string of misfires and projects falling apart.

Doomsday co-director Joe Russo recently said that the film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe going “back to phase zero” and “starting over from scratch”.

Whether this attempt to redo the Marvel Cinematic Universe works or fails remains to be seen after Avengers: Doomsday is released worldwide later this year on Dec 18.

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