Marvel Studios spent the weekend at the Shanghai Expo unveiling the first official concept art for Avengers: Doomsday, giving fans their most detailed look yet at the sprawling ensemble assembled to confront Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). The mural, created by longtime Marvel visual development artist Andy Park, places Doom at the center of the frame while surrounding him with the New Avengers, the X-Men, the Wakandans, the Fantastic Four, and Sam Wilson’s Avengers team. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) stands near the front of the group, and the artwork confirms that the retired Captain America will wield Mjolnir once again. Also, in addition to being packed with heroes, the artwork features Loki (Tom Hiddleston), teasing a deeper connection between Doom and the God of Stories. Sadly, the mural that should have built up hype for the movie has been drawing heavy criticism from fans.
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Social media erupted within hours of the mural’s release, and the criticism centered overwhelmingly on the absence of beloved figures. For starters, Namor (Tenoch Huerta) is nowhere in the artwork despite Marvel already confirming his involvement in the crossover event. The mural also omits proven box office draws like Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), with some fans confessing they are disappointed not to see their favorite heroes. Finally, critics were quick to point out how male-dominated the lineup skews, with most of the MCU’s female heroes left entirely out of frame.
Are Fans Right to Complain About the Avengers: Doomsday Lineup?
Namor’s exclusion from the mural is the strangest omission of the bunch, since he’s even featured in the same teaser trailer that shows Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Leaving a confirmed character out of a lineup this comprehensive is unlikely to be accidental, and the omission raises a reasonable question about Namor’s role in Avengers: Doomsday. Some fans wonder if Namor might not join the other heroes in the battle against Doom, having a different role instead.
Beyond Namor, the concept art makes it easier to see the wider gaps in the cast list. Spider-Man and the Hulk skipping Avengers: Doomsday lines up with their commitments to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so their absence here is the easiest to explain away. That same courtesy is harder to extend to Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), both of whom spent an entire film hopping between realities in Deadpool & Wolverine and would seem tailor-made for a multiversal showdown built on colliding timelines. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an even bigger miss, given that his post-credits detour into the Dark Dimension in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is tied directly to the incursion storyline that Avengers: Doomsday is reportedly built around. Even Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), who ended The Marvels stranded inside the X-Men’s universe, has a direct multiversal connection that the current roster does not reflect.
The gender imbalance in the artwork is just as difficult to explain away. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) appears in the mural, yet there is no sign of the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), despite the character sharing equal billing with him across two solo films. The newer generation of MCU heroes fares even worse, with Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) all absent from a mural that otherwise stretches across four separate franchises. Yelena (Florence Pugh) and Shuri give the artwork some diversity beyond its heavy roster of male leads, but that alone does not offset how thoroughly the mural sidelines the women who have anchored some of Marvel’s most well-reviewed recent projects.
None of this guarantees Avengers: Doomsday will shortchange these characters on screen, since concept art has left out confirmed cast members before. However, in a period where Marvel Studios needs to regain the trust of fans, apparently ignoring major plot threads and fan-favorite characters gives fans a legitimate reason to push back.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to premiere in theaters on December 18, 2026.
Are the missing heroes in Avengers: Doomsday‘s new concept art a legitimate concern, or just an incomplete first look? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
