Avengers: Doomsday will be Marvel’s biggest movie since Avengers: Endgame, and the pressure is very much on to get it right. The MCU is in a very different place now to where it was when Endgame released (and briefly became the highest-grossing movie of all time). Whereas that was the end of the Infinity Saga and a conclusion to 11 years of storytelling and character arcs, Doomsday is coming after a much more mixed period.
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Most of the MCU’s lowest-grossing movies at the box office, and its worst-rated on Rotten Tomatoes, have happened post-Endgame. But perhaps the biggest difference is how directionless it’s all felt, which was already true of the Multiverse Saga even when Kang the Conqueror was the planned Big Bad, and even more so now that it’s Doctor Doom. There’s been a lack of cohesion and hype, which is why it’s no surprise Marvel is going back to the past to help fix its future.
Alongside over 20 other returning stars (and many more expected to be announced), there’s Robert Downey Jr. coming back to the MCU, this time as Doctor Doom. There are also persistent rumors of Chris Evans appearing in some capacity too. And together, they paint a worrying sense of Marvel being willing to sacrifice some of what made Endgame so special to help service the new Avengers movie.
RDJ’s Return Risks Hurting Iron Man’s Death
Downey Jr. is not, as it stands, reprising his role as Iron Man, and it seems like Earth-616’s Tony Stark will remain dead. Nonetheless, the character’s legacy is still at stake with the actor taking on the part of Avengers: Doomsday’s main villain.
Endgame wasn’t just the perfect send off to Iron Man, but a fitting goodbye to Downey, the actor who had started it all. He got to go out with the ultimate sacrifice play, the greatest hero moment, that served as a beautiful culmination of everything he’d done. But now that won’t be the case. That moment will no longer be his last stand in the MCU, which immediately colors it slightly differently, and coming back risks diminishing returns. What if Doomsday and/or Secret Wars is a disappointment? Even if it’s good, can it give RDJ a better goodbye than Endgame?
There’s also a persistent, nagging feeling in me that it won’t just be Doctor Doom, or at least it may not be that simple. There are theories that Doom will be a Stark variant, or that it’ll retcon Tony’s origins to have been adopted and actually have been Doom in this universe as well.
Even if it’s neither of those, will they resist the temptation to have him cameo as Iron Man from another universe? Nothing appears to be sacred, and I worry that we’ll get something like that which risks tarnishing the legacy of Tony Stark and our lasting memory of him, and Downey, on the big screen.
Doomsday May Undo Captain America’s Happy Ending
As well as Downey Jr, it’s also possible Evans will be back as Captain America in Avengers: Doomsday. I’ve long felt this was inevitable, and even more so when Downey’s return was announced, so this won’t be a surprise, but it would be disappointing. Steve Rogers got the rare happy ending in the MCU, with the ability to go out of the hero business on his own terms. Bringing him back clearly means that didn’t stick.
One of the bigger rumors about Doomsday is that Doom will target Steve, because his going back in time to be with Peggy Carter caused an incursion that destroyed his universe. This wouldn’t just then break Cap’s happy ending by forcing him back into the fray, it’s irrevocably change how we see it: it’s not something to celebrate, but responsible for a massive threat to the entire multiverse, one who will presumably even kill an Avenger or two.
Again, while it’s not confirmed, I think there’s a good chance something like this happens. Evans facing off with Downey Jr. is surely too colossal a moment for Marvel to pass up, even if both those characters (and their actors) already received fates that most likely cannot be topped.
Maybe (and hopefully) I’ll be wrong and all this doomsaying around Doomsday is for naught. That they’ll resist the temptation to go too hard on fan-service and nostalgia, and do something that manages to be interesting, feel earned, and doesn’t impact Endgame’s conclusion, it’s just hard to see what that will be.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on December 18th, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on December 17th, 2027.
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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
