Avengers: Doomsday
Upcoming Marvel Studios film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Avengers: Doomsday is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and AGBO, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the fifth installment in the Avengers film series following Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely, the film features an ensemble cast including Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and Robert Downey Jr. In the film, the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and the X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom (Downey).
| Avengers: Doomsday | |
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| Directed by | Anthony Russo Joe Russo |
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| Edited by | Jeffrey Ford |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Two new Avengers films, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, were announced in July 2022 as the conclusion of the MCU's Phase Six and "The Multiverse Saga". Destin Daniel Cretton was hired to direct The Kang Dynasty and Jonathan Majors was set to reprise his MCU role as the villain Kang the Conqueror. Jeff Loveness joined the film as writer that September. In November 2023, Cretton departed, Waldron replaced Loveness as writer, and Marvel was considering moving away from the Kang storyline, in part due to Majors's legal issues; Majors was fired the following month. The return of the Russo brothers as directors and McFeely as writer, the casting of Downey as new villain Doctor Doom, and the new subtitle Doomsday were all announced in July 2024. Filming is taking place from April to August 2025 at Pinewood Studios in England, with a large cast consisting mainly of actors from previous MCU media and other Marvel films.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 1, 2026, as part of Phase Six of the MCU. The film's sequel, Secret Wars, is set to be released on May 7, 2027.
Premise
The Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and the "original" X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom.[1]
Cast
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- Chris Hemsworth as Thor: The Asgardian god of thunder and a founding Avenger, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name[2]
- Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman: A member of the Fantastic Four who can generate force fields and turn invisible[3]
- Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America: An Avenger and former pararescueman who was trained by the military in aerial combat using a specially-designed wing pack[4]
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes: An enhanced super soldier with a cybernetic arm who is the de facto leader of the Thunderbolts[2]
- Letitia Wright as Shuri / Black Panther: The former princess of Wakanda who gained superhuman abilities by ingesting the heart-shaped herb[2]
- Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man: An Avenger and former petty criminal with a suit that allows him to shrink or grow in scale while increasing in strength[2]
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent: A member of the Thunderbolts who is an enhanced super soldier and the former Captain America[2]
- Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor: The king of Talokan, a mutant with pointed ears, wings on his ankles, and the ability to breathe both on land and underwater[2]
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing: A member of the Fantastic Four encased in a layer of orange rock that grants him superhuman strength and durability[3]
- Simu Liu as Xu Shang-Chi: A skilled martial artist and the wielder of the mystical Ten Rings who was trained to be an assassin by his father Xu Wenwu[2]
- Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova: A member of the Thunderbolts who was trained in the Red Room as a Black Widow assassin[2]
- Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy / Beast: A mutant and a member of the X-Men with animalistic physical characteristics, including blue fur, pointed ears, fangs, and claws[2]
- Lewis Pullman as Bob / Sentry / Void: A superpowered individual[2]
- Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres / Falcon: A first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force who was recruited by Wilson and uses a similar wing pack[2]
- Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch: Sue's brother and a member of the Fantastic Four who can control fire and fly[3]
- David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian: A member of the Thunderbolts who is the Russian super soldier counterpart to Captain America and a father figure to Belova[2]
- Winston Duke as M'Baku: A powerful warrior and leader of Wakanda's mountain tribe, the Jabari[2]
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost: A member of the Thunderbolts who can phase through objects[2]
- Tom Hiddleston as Loki: The Asgardian god of mischief and Thor's adopted brother, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name[2]
- Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X: A telepathic, wheelchair-bound mutant and the founder of the X-Men[2]
- Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: A powerful mutant who can generate and control magnetic fields[2]
- Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler:
A blue-skinned, demonic-looking mutant who can teleport.[2] Cumming said the make-up process for the character was reduced to an hour-and-a-half for Doomsday from the four-and-a-half to five hours it took on the 20th Century Fox film X2 (2003), in large part because the character's tattoos were no longer applied individually by hand.[5] - Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique: A blue-skinned, shapeshifting mutant[2]
- James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops: A mutant and the leader of the X-Men who can emit powerful optic energy beams, controlled by a special visor[2]
- Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau / Gambit: A mutant with the ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, causing them to explode on impact[2]
- Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic: Sue's husband, Grimm's best friend, and a highly intelligent scientist who is the leader of the Fantastic Four and can stretch any part of his body to great lengths[3]
- Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom:
Co-director Joe Russo described Doom as three-dimensional and one of the most complex comic book characters. He felt Downey, who previously starred as Tony Stark / Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was the one person who could take on the role.[6][7] Downey developed his own backstory for Doom as reference for his performance, and also contributed costume ideas.[8]
Additional actors slated to reprise their MCU roles in the film include Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye,[9][better source needed] Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange,[10] Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man,[11] Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter,[12] and Benedict Wong as Wong.[13] Chris Evans, who previously played Steve Rogers / Captain America and an alternate universe variant of Johnny Storm / Human Torch in the MCU, has been cast in an undisclosed role.[14]
Production
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After directing the films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), Anthony and Joe Russo expressed interest in directing a Secret Wars film based on the 1984–85 comic book crossover event written by Jim Shooter and the 2015–16 comic book storyline written by Jonathan Hickman. Both follow various Marvel characters who converge on the planet Battleworld.[15][16][17][18] Infinity War and Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said they would return to write such a film if the Russo brothers were directing it.[19] At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in July 2022, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced the films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, to be released on May 2, 2025, and November 7, 2025, respectively. They were set to conclude "The Multiverse Saga", which covers Phases Four, Five, and Six of the MCU.[20] The Kang Dynasty was inspired by a 2001–02 comic book storyline written by Kurt Busiek in which Kang the Conqueror travels through time to enslave humanity.[21] Jonathan Majors was cast as Kang for several Phase Four projects,[22][23] and was confirmed to be starring in both new Avengers films.[24] Destin Daniel Cretton was hired to direct The Kang Dynasty,[25] with Jeff Loveness writing the script,[26] and Michael Waldron set to write Secret Wars.[27]
Following Majors's arrest in March 2023 and subsequent assault allegations, reports and speculation emerged about his future in the MCU.[28][29] Loveness was no longer involved in the film by the start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike in May,[30] reportedly because he was closely associated with the Kang storyline and Marvel was "moving away" from that.[31][32] In June, the release dates for The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars were pushed back to May 1, 2026, and May 7, 2027, respectively,[33] in part due to the scripts not being ready before the strike.[34] Cretton stepped down as director of The Kang Dynasty in November 2023,[35] partially due to schedule delays,[36] and Waldron was set to rewrite the film.[37] The next month, Majors was fired by Disney and Marvel Studios after he was found guilty of harassment and reckless assault in the third degree. The studio had started referring to The Kang Dynasty internally as Avengers 5 by then.[38][39] By February 2024, both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars were being rewritten to minimize Kang's role or remove him entirely following Majors's firing.[40]
Shawn Levy became the studio's top choice to direct Avengers 5 by mid-March 2024, after he directed the MCU film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), but there were potential scheduling issues with his other projects.[41][42] By that May, Marvel Studios had approached Robert Downey Jr.—who starred as Tony Stark / Iron Man in "The Infinity Saga", covering the MCU's Phases One, Two, and Three—about returning to the MCU to take on the new character of Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom. Downey said he would only return if the Russo brothers also returned as directors.[43][44][45] After McFeely approached the Russos with an idea for the films that excited them,[7] they entered early talks to direct both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars by mid-July.[46] At SDCC at the end of the month, the Russos were confirmed to be directing the two films.[6] They revealed that Avengers 5 was now titled Avengers: Doomsday, and both films would feature Downey as Doctor Doom.[47] The Russos were producing the films through their production company AGBO, and McFeely had taken over as writer for both films from Waldron.[6][48] In March 2025, Marvel announced 26 cast members for the film alongside Downey. Many of those actors returned from previous MCU media, while some were reprising their roles from 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series.[2][49] Downey, Marvel Studios, and Feige teased that there were more cast members to reveal.[50][1] Feige said Doomsday would focus on the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and the "original" X-Men teaming up to face Doom.[1]
Gavin Bocquet was set as the production designer, reteaming with the Russo brothers after working on the second season of their television series Citadel (2023–present).[51][independent source needed] The Russos said Doomsday and Secret Wars were being produced together in a similar way to Infinity War and Endgame, but they would not be filmed back-to-back like those films were.[52] Principal photography for Doomsday began by April 12, 2025,[13] at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England,[53] under the working title Apple Pie 1.[54][independent source needed] Filming is expected to last for approximately six months,[55] until August 2025.[56] Jeffrey Ford is editing the film after working on previous MCU media.[57][independent source needed]
Music
In April 2024, Alan Silvestri indicated that he could be composing the music for an upcoming MCU project after previously doing so for Infinity War, Endgame, and other MCU films.[58] That July, he was confirmed to be returning as the composer for both Doomsday and Secret Wars.[59]
Marketing
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The Doomsday subtitle, the return of the Russo brothers, and the casting of Downey as Doctor Doom were all announced at Marvel Studios' SDCC panel in July 2024. The announcement involved multiple people dressed as Doom appearing on stage, including Downey, who unmasked himself to reveal his casting to the audience.[6] Kat Bailey at IGN described the casting announcement as "one of the most dramatic reveals in recent Marvel history" and reported on mixed responses from fans, with some praising Downey's return while others thought it was a desperate move from Marvel Studios following the creative reshuffling caused by Majors's firing.[60] Charles Pulliam-Moore of The Verge saw the casting as "Marvel betting that it might be able to win audiences back with another massive cinematic event built around a person whose face and voice have long since become synonymous with Iron Man".[61] Other commentators also discussed the casting and mixed responses to it,[62][63][64] including Collider's Collier Jennings who criticized the casting of a non-Romani actor considering the character's comic book heritage.[63] The announcement led to speculation about whether Downey would be playing an alternate universe variant of Tony Stark / Iron Man or if his recasting would be ignored in the film's story.[64][65]
Coinciding with the start of production in March 2025, Marvel aired a nearly five-and-a-half-hour-long livestream showing a line of director's chairs with cast member names on them. A new chair was revealed approximately every 12 minutes, accompanied by music from a relevant previous Marvel project. After revealing 26 cast members, the livestream ended with an appearance by Downey and a rendition of Silvestri's Avengers theme.[2][50] The livestream saw around 100,000 concurrent viewers on YouTube,[66] and an hour-over-hour audience growth, to become the most viewed cross-platform livestream stunt. It became the second-most trending video on YouTube with 275 million views in its first 24 hours, surpassing past livestreams for Marvel's red carpet premieres. The livestream also accumulated 3.1 million mentions across social media, which is five times higher than the "social volume" of the first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine. It garnered 55 distinct trending terms on X (formerly Twitter), with the hashtag "AvengersDoomsday" the top trending topic on the site for over seven hours.[50] Numerous Internet memes were also generated with each cast announcement.[66][50] Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood described the stunt as a "pop cultural event".[50] Variety's Jordan Moreau and Brent Lang called the livestream a "slow-burn" and likened it to the release date reveal for the seventh season of Game of Thrones in 2017, which saw a block of ice melt to reveal the date; both stunts were "mocked for their pace".[66] Austen Goslin of Polygon, who was concerned about the large cast that was announced, described the livestream as "agonizingly slow [but] exceedingly fun". He enjoyed checking the stream for each new reveal and then seeing responses on social media.[67] James Whitbrook of Gizmodo said the number of viewers the livestream had "speaks to the studio's ability to maintain much of that grip it's had on pop culture over the past almost 20 years now".[68] Based on the cast members announced in the livestream, Devin Meenan of /Film believed the film could be adapting elements from the 2012 comic book crossover event "Avengers vs. X-Men" written by Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, and Hickman. He also felt elements of the 2010 limited series Doomwar, written by Jonathan Maberry, could be included. That comic depicts Doctor Doom invading Wakanda and features the X-Men.[69]
Release
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 1, 2026.[47] It was previously scheduled for release on May 2, 2025, but was delayed in part due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.[20][34] It will be part of Phase Six of the MCU.[20]
Sequel
A sequel, titled Avengers: Secret Wars, is scheduled to be released on May 7, 2027.[33] It is also being written by McFeely and directed by the Russo brothers.[47] The film will conclude Phase Six of the MCU.[20]
References
External links
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