After 11 Years, Marvel Revives Its Boldest Avengers Risk for Doomsday (Will It Pay Off This Time?)

Marvel Studios is revisiting its boldest creative risk for Avengers: Doomsday, and hopefully it yields better results more than a decade later. The marketing push for the upcoming MCU crossover film continues after it started in December with a series of snippets, offering the first look at Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers and the franchise debuts of legacy X-Men characters from Fox. Since then, returning directors Joe and Anthony Russo have been doing the rounds talking about the project to boost its profile. The pair shared the very first Avengers: Doomsday trailer at CinemaCon 2026, although it has yet to be rolled out publicly.

It’s safe to say that the excitement over the film has definitely had an uptick in recent months, especially as Marvel Studios deployed some of their most beloved talents to promote the film. This allows Disney to scale back in terms of what they can reveal about the movie. Similar to how little narrative detail was revealed leading up to Avengers: Endgame, the House of Mouse no longer has to hard sell the project. One particular aspect of Avengers: Doomsday, however, that is very much still shrouded in mystery is Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, which is odd, considering how actively the actor is helping market the film.

As with MCU’s high-profile films, there are countless theories about Doctor Doom’s motivations and plans. Regardless, however, what’s clear is that he is the focal point of Avengers: Doomsday. This means that his personal story will be the driving force of the film, which makes sense, considering how massive its cast is. The Russos learned this when working on Avengers: Infinity War, as they made Thanos the nexus of all its moving parts. That said, Avengers: Doomsday takes it further by also making sure that its branding reflects the importance of Downey Jr.’s villain.

Read Next

Avengers: Doomsday Makes a 14-Year-Old Iron Man Warning Even Bigger Than Tony Stark Ever Realized

Avengers: Doomsday Is The First Villain-Centric Film Since Age Of Ultron

Looking back at the MCU’s history, this isn’t the first time that Marvel Studios has anchored an Avengers movie title on a villain. In 2015, the franchise released Avengers: Age of Ultron, with its subtitle referring to the James Spader-voiced villain, Ultron. Born out of the Ultron Program that Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were working on in the hopes of making Earth safer, its corruption led to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ fight in Sokovia. Coming from the high of 2012’s The Avengers, which solidified Kevin Feige’s vision for an interconnected universe and was bolstered by the eerie trailers teasing how menacing Ultron would be, there was so much hype around Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Unfortunately, the 2015 film fell short in terms of satisfying expectations. It was by no means a failure, as Avengers: Age of Ultron still earned $1.4 billion at the global box office against around half of that for its budget. It did deliver on some fronts, especially when it came to diving deeper into the dynamic of the original Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. However, what was lost in the shuffle was Ultron, as he ultimately failed to deliver on the promise of a worthy villain for the Avengers. Obviously, Marvel Studios survived that snafu, but the stakes are higher with Avengers: Doomsday. It’s no secret that the last several years have been tricky for the MCU. Tapping its tried and tested talents to make some changes and correct course is very important at this point if it wants to continue existing for the next decade.

How RDJ’s Casting Helps MCU’s Avengers: Doomsday Scheme

Admittedly, Downey Jr.’s casting as Doctor Doom was divisive. It seemed like a desperate move from Marvel Studios to bring back the MCU’s glory days, but since it can’t resurrect Iron Man, they had to cast him for a different role. Like the public’s response to the film, that has slowly been turning for the better, especially as Downey Jr. is front and center when it comes to marketing the project.

In terms of acting capabilities, there’s no doubt that he will bring his A-game. Throughout his time as Tony Stark, the actor was never accused of phoning it in, even in films where he was not the top-billing cast member. As the titular character of Avengers: Doomsday, it’s safe to say that he will be more committed to not just doing his new role justice, but also to offer an entirely different performance. Beyond that, Downey Jr.’s investment in the MCU as its inaugural actor will add to his motivation to ensure that Avengers: Doomsday succeeds.

Avengers: Doomsday will hit cinemas on December 18, 2026.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!