Earlier this month, an X user who has leaked several images from Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 claimed to have seen similar shots from Avengers: Doomsday. Descriptions followed, and it appears a small group of fans have indeed been able to access those photos.
Unfortunately, those who didn't get to see them have decided to respond by creating AI versions that have fooled more fans than you might realise. In fairness, despite the odd telltale sign of artificial intelligence, they do look very real and are often exactly what fans are hoping for.
This makes it a rather frustrating time to be a fan, as it's hard to know what's real and what's fake. Plus, many will inevitably be disappointed when certain characters or costumes don't end up making it into Avengers: Doomsday, despite them being splashed across social media.
Luckily, there's an easy way to avoid being fooled. On the r/MCUTheories subreddit, one user shared a simple way to outsmart the trolls...
PSA: All these recent leaked pics are AI. Yes, all of them. Here's why.
byu/izeris_ inMCUTheories
We've tried it, and it works, even when some additional Photoshop tinkering has been done. Google runs a SynthID check on images like the ones below, and immediately identifies them as being created through its AI engine.
While this is unlikely to bring an end to the AI "leaks" for movies like Avengers: Doomsday—even The Boys Season 5 recently had a fake image of Billy Butcher battling Homelander go viral—it may discourage people from wasting their time generating them.
The details shared in the Reddit post above also explain why it's only now that social media has suddenly been inundated with shockingly realistic images. Honestly, it's hard not to be concerned about how this technology could be used, beyond faking stills from superhero movies.
Avengers: Doomsday officially stars Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman all make their Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, and Ryan Reynolds are also set to appear, according to reports from the trades. Many actors are similarly rumoured to show up, including Tobey Maguire, Hugh Jackman, Brie Larson, Elizabeth Olsen, and countless others.
The Russo Brothers direct the movie from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron is also working on the script.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.