After delivering a critical hit with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2021, Destin Daniel Cretton was quickly tapped by Marvel Studios to helm Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
At the time, the movie was pencilled in for a May 2025 release and looked set to revolve around Earth's Mightiest Heroes assembling to battle Kang and his many Variants. Ironically, Spider-Man was reportedly eyed as that movie's lead, but the tepid response to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Jonathan Majors' legal issues saw Kevin Feige pivot to Doctor Doom.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty became Avengers: Doomsday, and the Russo Brothers are set to direct both that and Avengers: Secret Wars.
In an interview with The Wrap, Cretton confirmed that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige offered him the chance to still helm Avengers: Doomsday. However, he refused because he "couldn't find my way into it."
"When I told Kevin Feige I didn’t think I was the right fit for that, he mentioned 'Spidey' in the room, which was a huge relief to me because I thought he’d be like, 'OK, see you later,'" Cretton admitted, revealing that some time passed before he got another call.
He didn't meet with Spider-Man franchise producer Amy Pascal until "five or six months later" when she called and said, "'We still don’t have a script, but we really want you to do this movie.'"
MCU Spider-Man trilogy scribes Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers penned Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, the trade says that they moved on to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, confirming that Stephen McFeely and Michael Waldron aren't the only ones who worked on the movies.
With the duo busy, Cretton turned to Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes to hone the wall-crawler's latest adventure. He doesn't get a screenplay credit, but it sounds like his work was still invaluable.
"When Justin came in, he brought fresh eyes and a new perspective, and he’s clearly got a different perspective with the way that he writes," the filmmaker said, adding that "he was with me every day throughout the entire process to the end of the movie, and he wrote some of the most beautiful scenes in our movie."
Tom Holland's Spider-Man isn't expected to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, though it's widely rumoured that Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker will appear. However, Holland, Maguire, and Andrew Garfield could reunite in Avengers: Secret Wars.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters.