The first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday is finally here!
The first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday is more than a mere sneak peek at the next Marvel movie. It’s a test of whether the MCU can reclaim the magic and cultural impact it has lost.
Six years on from Avengers: Endgame, Marvel had been hoping to spark another pop-culture sensation, similar to the one it created with the first Infinity War trailer, still considered one of the greatest trailer moments in cinema history. Instead, one setback followed another – a villain written out of the script, a change in directors and several delays.
Now, just in time for Comic-Con in San Diego, the first real trailer for Avengers: Doomsday is out – finally. No one even cares that it almost seems like a desperate attempt to recapture just that former relevance. Will the trailer pull it off? The answer is more complex than I, a longtime fan, would like it to be.
What the trailer reveals
All in all, we get two and a half minutes of footage, narrated almost entirely by Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. He warns his fellow heroes of a threat greater than Thanos. In between, we see brief glimpses of the X-Men at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, a visibly upset Reed Richards, Mystique in the midst of a transformation – and right at the very end, the comeback teased months ago: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, grabbing Thor’s hammer.
The trailer’s tone is set when Thor urges his old and new friends to put their differences aside and assures them that, should they survive the battle, they’ll return as brothers and sisters. It’s the kind of pathos that Marvel brings to every major Avengers movie. Only this time, it’s with a touch of desperation that, given the studio’s setbacks in recent years, is almost expected.
Source: Marvel Studios/Disney
And then, of course, there’s Doctor Doom himself. We hear Robert Downey Jr speak for the first time, with a distinct Eastern European accent. Doom warns of an unthinkable decision the heroes will soon face. Anyone familiar with Jonathan Hickman’s comic book run will immediately recognise this as a reference to the so-called Incursions – the idea that, when two universes collide, only one can survive. The other is destroyed.
That’ll most likely be the core plot, but more on that in a moment.
Dr Doom and that accent
No sooner had the trailer gone live than a single question dominated the reactions: what the heck is that accent? Downey gives Doom a heavy Eastern European accent, a far cry from that iconic Tony Stark sarcasm. Reactions across social media are mixed, ranging from fascination to uncertainty.
«Sounds like people forgot that Downey is a real, versatile character actor – and not just Tony Stark», one fan so eloquently points out.
Source: Marvel Studios/Disney
After all, Downey’s new accent is very much intentional. In the comics, Doctor Doom hails from the fictional Balkan nation of Latveria; his accent has been a defining feature of the character for decades. Still, it’s an obvious risk. After 15 years with Downey inextricably linked to Iron Man’s New York swagger, Marvel’s asking its audience to take a huge leap of faith.
Especially during times when everything produced by Marvel and its parent company, Disney, is heavily scrutinised. Sometimes for the better. But it can also get out of hand sometimes. Either way, there’s a lot at stake for Marvel.
Why this is more than just a trailer
Why the high stakes? Let’s look back. Avengers: Doomsday was originally going to be The Kang Dynasty, intended to establish Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the new main villain. Then Majors was convicted of domestic violence and Marvel removed him from all future plans. Suddenly, the company found itself without a central antagonist for its entire Multiverse Saga, which had already begun.
The solution the studio presented at Comic-Con 2024 was as simple as it was risky: Downey himself taking on the role of the new big baddie. Not a new face, but arguably the most famous Marvel star of all time, making a comeback – only this time as a villain instead of a hero. Kevin Feige used that appearance to announce both upcoming films at once. Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
That’s the real challenge behind this trailer. Marvel has bet everything on its biggest remaining asset: Downey’s popularity and collective Endgame nostalgia. If the Doom twist works out, the studio will have pulled off its biggest fresh start since Endgame. If it fails, any attempt to salvage the Multiverse Saga – following Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and several further disappointing series launches – was likely doomed from the start.
Reset, don’t reboot? What the comic books tell us
But now let’s turn to the term Incursion, which Doom mentions in the trailer. It’s the central theme of Jonathan Hickman’s comic book run, which began in 2013 and culminated in the 2015 crossover event Secret Wars. The basic idea there: the multiverse is dying because parallel universes are destroying each other. In the end, only two remain – the regular Marvel timeline and the so-called Ultimate Universe. Then, they collide as well.
It is precisely this pattern that has been fuelling speculation for months that 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars will not only conclude the Multiverse Saga, but also reset the entire MCU timeline. This speculation is only stirred up more by the fact that Marvel hasn’t yet officially announced a single project following Secret Wars – unusual for the studio.
Source: Marvel Studios/Disney
Important to note: Kevin Feige himself has never spoken of a complete reboot following Secret Wars, deliberately referring to it as a reset. «Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about beginnings», he said.
The difference is more than just semantics: a reboot would erase the story so far and start from scratch. A reset, on the other hand, preserves what has already happened but opens the door to new casts, new team dynamics and the integration of the X-Men as well as the Fantastic Four into the new MCU, without invalidating the last 17 years.
At this point, no one outside of Marvel’s executive ranks knows whether this distinction will ultimately hold up in terms of content. There has been no official confirmation of any theories circulating around dead or recast characters so far.
Why Marvel is bringing back old faces in the first place
This speculation surrounding a reboot comes at a time when the studio has failed to do something crucial in recent years: establish new heroes who can carry the franchise the way Downey, Evans and Hemsworth once did.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange was supposed to take on this role after Endgame. But despite solid box office numbers, he never became the shiny new draw. Fantastic Four: First Steps, starring Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, also got off to a good start in 2025. But with a worldwide box office draw around 520 million dollars, it fell well short of 26 other MCU films. Not a result on which an entire universe can be rebuilt.
The fact that Marvel is once again relying on Downey, Evans and Hemsworth for its biggest comeback since Endgame is, accordingly, a tacit admission: the Multiverse Saga has failed to establish its own new stars. What remains is a reliance on familiar faces – if necessary, in new roles, as with Downey’s Doom. And instead of replacing Iron Man, Captain America or Thor with new characters after the reset, Marvel will likely try to keep these very characters around – only younger, recast versions. For a new audience – and a new cycle.
What this all means in practice
For audiences, this means that 18 December 2026 will serve as a litmus test for the entire franchise. It’s not just a question of whether Doomsday will do well at the box office. Does Marvel still possess the cultural clout it built up until Endgame and has since almost completely squandered? Even IMAX has turned its back on the former giant in favour of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 3.
So for Marvel as a whole, this trailer is one thing above all else: a promise that won’t be fulfilled for another five months. Until then, one question in particular remains unanswered – one that no marketing campaign can answer. Will the boldest recasting in MCU history actually turn out to be its finest chapter – or its biggest misstep?
What do you think: can Avengers: Doomsday restore Marvel to its former glory – or has the MCU already passed its peak? Let me know in the comments.
I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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