The first of what is believed to be four trailers for Avengers: Doomsday that are set to debut in theaters with Avatar: Fire and Ash leaked online earlier today, and the character-centric teaser confirmed the return of a long-rumored OG member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
If you've managed to avoid seeing the footage or reading any details so far, beware of spoilers from this point on.
Though this probably didn't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that's been following coverage of the various rumors that have been doing the rounds over the past few months, Chris Evans will indeed make his return to the MCU as Steve Rogers in Marvel Studios' next big event movie - and will reportedly be one of the film's leads.
A lot of fans are pleased to see Rogers again, but there are some that feel bringing the original Captain America back for a prominent role is a slap in the face to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, who inherited the shield from Rogers in Avengers: Endgame. Wilson will also be a part of Doomsday, of course, and is expected to get a decent amount of screen time as the leader of a new team of Avengers. Still, it's at least somewhat understandable that fans of the character would have their noses out of joint by this development.
Should it be something we all saw coming, though?
Following in Rogers' footsteps was always going to be tough for any character, and while Wilson's journey to officially accepting the mantle in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was mostly well-received, the same can not be said for Sam's first big-screen outing as the new Sentinel of Liberty in this year's Captain America: Brave New World.
We obviously won't know if (or to what extent) Steve's return will overshadow Sam's Doomsday role until we actually see the movie, but that hasn't stopped fans from taking to social media to vent.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, 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.