MCU, meet Doctor Doom.
Disney pulled out all the stops at its CinemaCon panel, bringing out members of the cast of “Avengers: Doomsday” including founding MCU member Robert Downey Jr. A teaser for “Doomsday” revealed Downey as Doctor Doom, an iconic Marvel (particularly “Fantastic Four”) villain created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Here’s what we saw:
We hear the words “Something’s coming. Something we may not be able to deter” over the ruins of the X-Mansion.
We see Doctor Doom kneeling and his face looks scarred. Thor remarks that he’s fought many enemies and threats that scare him less than this, saying all his heroes and friends died. Everything they sacrificed will mean nothing if they don’t stand together.
We get footage of Thor approaching Doom with Stormbreaker. The Fantastic Four meet the MCU heroes. Shang-Chi fights Gambit. Mystique turns into Yelena Belova.
Thor leaps at Doom with Stormbreaker in hand, and Doom stops it at once.
Steve Rogers approaches Thor and says, “Hey pal.” Thor says, “It’s not possible. Steve reaches for Mjolnir and it leaves Thor’s hand, coming to his.
After the footage ended, the roars inside the auditorium were so loud that they played the teaser a second time for the crowd.
“Avengers: Doomsday” is the fifth film in the MCU’s “Avengers” series, the first since “Avengers: Endgame” became the second-highest-grossing film of all time in 2019. The film will be followed by “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the second half of a two-part story similar to “Infinity War” and “Endgame” (originally simply called “Infinity War Part 1” and “Infinity War Part 2”).
This new MCU installment gets the gang back together, bringing Chris Evans back as Steve Rogers/Captain America (a character who hasn’t been seen since “Endgame”) and Robert Downey Jr. in as the new villain. This marks Downey’s first appearance in the MCU since “Endgame” — and since he won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for “Oppenheimer.” Returning with Evans and Downey are the Russo Brothers, who helmed the second and third “Captain America” films as well as the third and fourth “Avengers” movies.
The film features a sprawling cast, including the New Avengers members from “Thunderbolts*” such as Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier and Wyatt Russell’s John Walker/U.S. Agent. The Fantastic Four, who recently debuted in “First Steps,” are along for the ride, as are several members of the Fox “X-Men” films including James Marsden’s Cyclops, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X and Ian McKellen’s Magneto. Leading characters from the MCU’s Earth-616 such as Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie), Shuri/Black Panther (Letitia Wright) and Shang-Chi (Simu Liu).
“Avengers: Doomsday” releases in theaters Dec. 18 — the same day as “Dune: Part Three.”
