Official plot details for Avengers: Doomsday are still under wraps, but we do have some idea of what to expect thanks to a series of character-focused teasers, a trailer breakdown from CinemaCon, and the various leaks and rumours that have been doing the rounds over the past few months.
Or do we?
During a new video interview shared on the duo's AGBO YouTube page, directors Joe and Anthony Russo describe Doomsday as a "complete reinvention," while indicating that fans are not prepared for what awaits them this December.
"What Marvel's done better than anybody in history is that serialized storytelling, at scale. And Doomsday is a complete reinvention, it's another swing," said Joe. "I don't think the audience is expecting it at all, what happens in the movie, and its tone and its subject matter. But I'm hoping it feels like another profound shift for them in that serialized story."
Reinvention does not mean reboot, but we wouldn't be surprised if the MCU did seem like a very different place following the events of Doomsday and Secret Wars.
When it was first announced that Robert Downey Jr. was set to return as Doctor Doom, most of us assumed that he'd be playing a villainous variant of Tony Stark. The Russos insist that they are bringing the audience a "new character" in Victor Von Doom, but did Anthony reveal more than he intended to when discussing the evolving dynamic between Stark and Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War?
“Tony Stark and Steve Rogers remain very empathetic and rootable and you’ll see to this day people are divided over who was more relatable in [Civil War]. It’s very much this sort of unresolved aspirations of those characters and flaws of those characters. It continues to unfold as we move into Doomsday,” said the director.
Russo could mean that the Rogers/Doom dynamic will mirror what we saw in Civil War, but something tells us there will turn out to be more to Doctor Doom just so happening to resemble Iron Man.
In a separate interview with Case Western Reserve University Magazine, the brothers confirmed that they are currently preparing to begin production on Secret Wars.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.