Moviepedia

Recently, we've done several changes to help out this wiki, from deleting empty pages, improving the navigation, adding a rules page, as well as merging film infoboxes.

You can check out the latest overhauls that we have done on this wiki so far, as well as upcoming updates in our announcement post here.

READ MORE

Moviepedia
Moviepedia
Fandom's centric resource about film knowledge
42,269
pages
in: 2026 films, Upcoming films, Avengers films,
and 41 more

Avengers: Doomsday

Sign in to edit


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 film in the Avengers film series following Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the 39th 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.

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' 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 commenced in March 2025 in London and is due to run until August, with a large cast consisting mostly of actors from previous MCU media and other Marvel films. Alan Silvestri returns to provide the score after doing so for every prior Avengers film except for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 1, 2026, as part of Phase Six of the MCU. Secret Wars is scheduled to follow on May 7, 2027.

Cast[]

Development[]

Announcement as The Kang Dynasty[]

In May 2018, The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said Marvel Studios was focusing on new characters and franchises for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) following Avengers: Endgame (2019), but another Avengers film could happen eventually given the popularity of the previous films. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reiterated this in January 2021, saying another Avengers film would happen "at some point". Discussing the future of the MCU for Variety in May 2022, Adam B. Vary said there was no sense yet of where the franchise was heading after Endgame but several of the MCU's Phase Four projects had featured the multiverse and some potential "Big Bads" such as Kang the Conqueror. Jonathan Majors had been cast as Kang in September 2020 for the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). He was introduced as an alternate universe "variant" of Kang named He Who Remains in the first season of the Disney+ television series Loki (2021), which introduced the multiverse to the MCU. Kang was described by Michael Waldron, the creator of Loki and writer of the film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), as a "time-traveling, multiversal adversary" and the MCU's "next big cross-movie villain", while Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness called him a "top-tier, A-list Avengers villain".

At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in July 2022, 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 Phase Six of the MCU and complete "The Multiverse Saga", which covers Phases Four, Five, and Six. The films were respectively inspired by "Kang Dynasty", a 2001–02 comic book storyline written by Kurt Busiek in which Kang the Conqueror travels through time to enslave humanity, and Secret Wars, the name of a 1984–85 comic written by Jim Shooterand a 2015–16 comic written by Jonathan Hickman that both follow various Marvel characters who converge on the planet Battleworld. Feige compared the films to Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame, which concluded "The Infinity Saga" and Phases One, Two, and Three. He said a lot of the Phase Four projects had been building to the larger story of The Kang Dynasty and "The Multiverse Saga", and this would continue throughout Phases Five and Six. Feige added that Majors' role as multiple variants of Kang made him a different type of villain from the Infinity Saga's main antagonist, Thanos, and said there was "nobody's shoulders I'd rather be putting the Multiverse Saga on" than Majors'. It was later reported that Marvel Studios was not initially planning to have the next MCU saga revolve around Kang, but they decided to do so after seeing Majors' performance in the first season of Loki and in early footage from Quantumania.

Feige said Anthony and Joe Russo would not be returning as directors from Infinity War and Endgame, despite them previously expressing interest in making a Secret Wars film. Destin Daniel Cretton was revealed to be directing The Kang Dynasty shortly after the Comic-Con announcement. He had directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) for Marvel Studios, and signed an overall deal with them in December 2021 that included directing a sequel to that film and developing the Disney+ series Wonder Man (2025). Cretton was only hired to direct The Kang Dynasty, unlike how the Russo brothers directed both Infinity War and Endgame.

Loveness was hired to write the screenplay in September 2022, and began work two weeks later. He was surprised to be considered for the film, thinking he would be "one and done" with Quantumania, and believed that Marvel Studios asked him to pitch for The Kang Dynasty because they enjoyed his take on Kang as well as elements he included in Quantumania that he felt would be good setup for an Avengers film. A scene with more details about Kang's backstory and future was cut from Quantumania and Loveness thought those details were better suited to be revealed in the next Avengers film. Majors confirmed in October that he had discussed the film with Cretton. The next month, Simu Liu expressed enthusiasm for reprising his role as Xu Shang-Chi from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and potentially working with Cretton again on the film. Loveness said in January 2023 that he wanted The Kang Dynasty to feel like a "generational struggle" that would take the MCU's new characters from Phase Four and "throw them into the fire". Shang-Chi was set to be one of the lead characters of the film at that time. In March, Loveness said the Fantastic Four and the X-Men would not appear in the film due to their MCU introductions being "pretty far away".

Jonathan Majors' firing and creative shifts[]

Following Majors' arrest in March 2023 and subsequent assault allegations, Marvel Studios had not yet discussed removing the actor from the MCU by the following month. He was still attached to star in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, and was set to receive $20 million with back-end compensation for the former. Disney was reported to be monitoring the situation. Joanna Robinson of The Ringer described the allegations against Majors as a "huge problem" for Marvel Studios that put them in an unusual position, since it was unprecedented for the studio to plan so much of the franchise on one character and actor; she argued that Majors had become a much more integral part of the Multiverse Saga than Robert Downey Jr. or Josh Brolin had respectively been for the Infinity Saga as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Thanos. Robinson also noted that there were conflicting reports on how the studio would proceed with the matter. By then, The Kang Dynasty was scheduled to begin filming in early 2024. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported in May that Loveness was no longer involved in the film and had exited before the start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike earlier that month. In June, the film's release date was pushed back to May 1, 2026, in part due to the script not being ready before the strike.

Tatiana Siegel at Variety reported in November 2023 that Marvel Studios executives had discussed potentially bringing back the original Avengers cast, including Downey as Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, which Feige later denied. Siegel also reported that Marvel Studios executives had started discussing alternative plans for the Multiverse Saga due to Majors' legal issues, including pivoting to focus on another comic book antagonist such as Doctor Doom; that character was already expected to be a major antagonist, if not the primary antagonist, in Secret Wars. The studio started considering changes to the Multiverse Saga, including minimizing the role of Kang, following the disappointing box office performance of Quantumania. Siegel felt recasting Majors was another option given Marvel Studios had previously recast major roles in the MCU due to offscreen issues, and she reported that the final episode of Loki's second season (2023) would set-up the future role for Kang and his variants in a way that would be difficult for Marvel to change. However, when the episode was released soon after, several commentators opined that it actually downplayed Kang's future role and provided several possible solutions for Marvel, including having the Kang variants be handled by Loki's Time Variance Authority (TVA) offscreen and potentially replacing them with Loki variants. In mid-November, Robinson reported that Loveness departed the film because he was closely associated with the Kang storyline and Marvel was "moving away" from that. Aaron Couch and Borys Kit, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, said Loveness completed a draft of the script before he left. They were unsure whether another writer would be hired. At the same time, Cretton stepped down as director to focus on other MCU projects. His exit was said to be amicable as he was still working on other projects with the studio, and it was partially attributed to the film's schedule delays. Sneider reported that Marvel now wanted a writer and a director who could develop both The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars as a two-part finale to the Multiverse Saga. He suggested that Marvel drop the Kang Dynasty title and instead retitle the films as a two-part Secret Wars adaptation, believing this to be a convenient way to generate excitement for the films while avoiding further questions about Majors' involvement.

At the end of November 2023, Marvel Studios hired Waldron, who was already writing Secret Wars, to rewrite the screenplay for The Kang Dynasty. In December, Majors was fired by Disney and Marvel Studios after he was found guilty of harassment and reckless assault in the third degree. It was unknown if Marvel would recast Kang or refocus their plans on a new villain, but the studio had started referring to the film internally as Avengers 5. Sneider soon reported that, like his earlier suggestion, Marvel Studios was now developing Secret Wars as a "giant five-hour movie" split into two parts, with a year between their releases, and they were searching for a director who had not previously directed a Marvel film. Filming was delayed to late 2024 due to Majors's firing. In February 2024, Couch and Kit said Marvel was "cleaning up the creative mess" caused by Majors' firing and Quantumania's performance, with both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars being rewritten to minimize Kang's role or remove him entirely. They confirmed that Avengers 5 was being retitled to no longer reference Kang.

New Work and Re-Announcement as Doomsday[]

While completing his work as director of the film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) for Marvel Studios, Shawn Levy was quietly asked to direct Avengers 5 in mid-March 2024. He turned down the offer due to scheduling concerns with his role as a director and executive producer on the fifth season of Stranger Things (2025) that would keep him busy until the following year. In April, filming was reported to be beginning in early 2025, after Marvel Studios delayed the film's production schedule by several months. By early May, the studio had approached Downey about returning to the MCU to take on the new character of Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom. The actor had auditioned for that role in 20th Century Fox's film Fantastic Four (2005) before he was cast as Iron Man in the MCU. Feige, who conceived of casting Downey as Doctor Doom for the MCU, had wanted Downey to return to the franchise and had discussed this with Downey around a year prior. The studio made repeated offers to the actor, but Downey turned these down and said he would only return if the Russo brothers also returned as directors. Waldron turned in a new draft of the script by late May which was given to Levy, who was still considered to be the studio's top choice to direct the film. Levy was in contention again following the production delay and began early discussions with the studio by the start of June. Other directors were still being considered and Levy had yet to commit to the film due to his work on Stranger Things and a planned Star Wars film.

Deadline Hollywood described Avengers 5 as more of an ensemble than the prior Avengers films, which mostly focused on a core group of Avengers. There was potential for more than 60 actors to reprise their MCU roles in the film, including established characters from the Infinity Saga alongside newer ones from the Multiverse Saga, though Feige cautioned that not all of the new Multiverse Saga characters would be able to appear in Avengers 5 and Secret Wars. Benedict Cumberbatch said he would reprise his MCU role as Dr. Stephen Strange in the next Avengers film and would begin filming in 2025. Feige and Downey pitched the idea of the latter portraying Doctor Doom to the Russo brothers several times, but they were initially reluctant to return until their Infinity War and Endgame co-writer Stephen McFeely approached them with an idea for the films' story. The Russo brothers were in early talks to direct both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars by mid-July, after it became clear that Levy was not interested in returning to the MCU so soon after Deadpool & Wolverine. Matthew Belloni of Puck reported that talent agency Creative Artists Agency had suggested Greg Berlanti and Noah Hawley to Marvel Studios as potential directors for both films, but they were turned down by Feige. Downey signed a deal to star as Doctor Doom by late July. Sneider reported that he would be introduced in the film The Fantastic Four: First Steps(2025) before starring in the next Avengers films, and that Jeremy Renner would reprise his MCU role as Clint Barton / Hawkeye in Avengers 5.

At SDCC at the end of July 2024, the Russo brothers were confirmed to be directing the next two Avengers films. They said the story for Secret Wars had convinced them to return after being "creatively spent" by their previous MCU films, and described the two films as a "new beginning" for the MCU. The directors revealed that Avengers 5 was now titled Avengers: Doomsday and would feature Doctor Doom, who they felt was required to do justice to the Secret Wars story. Downey's casting as Doom for both films was also announced. Discussing the change from playing Iron Man to being cast as Doctor Doom, Downey said he enjoyed portraying complex characters and described the role as "new mask, same task". Different storylines within Marvel Comics have seen Stark and Doom swap bodies, and Doom takes on the Iron Man mantle in the 2016–17 Infamous Iron Man comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. The Russo brothers were producing Doomsday and Secret Wars through their production company AGBO, McFeely had taken over as writer for both films from Waldron, and filming was set to begin in the second quarter of 2025 in London. The reunion of Marvel Studios, Downey, and the Russo brothers was considered by industry insiders to be a return to what had worked in the past and a "perfect combination of timing and everyone being on the same page". The Russo brothers and Downey were reported to be earning $40 million and $50 million, respectively, for each film. They were expected to receive bonuses based on the films' box office performances, with potential for Downey's salary to double. Downey also negotiated private jet travel, dedicated personal security, and multiple trailers on the film sets in his deal. Also at the convention, cast members from the MCU films Thunderbolts* (2025) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were said to be reprising their roles in the next two Avengers films, including the main Fantastic Four actors: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing. Responding to the convention's announcements, Majors said he was "heartbroken" over the decision to move forward on the films without him and said he was open to return to the MCU as Kang if Marvel Studios ever wanted to explore the character further.

Pre-production[]

In October 2024, the Russo brothers 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 the earlier two films were. Also similar to Infinity War and Endgame, they were using magnetic baseball cards to keep track of which characters and actors were available for the films. Tom Holland, who was expected to reprise his MCU role as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the film, said he knew about Downey's casting as Doctor Doom before the Comic-Con announcement. In December, Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie and Hayley Atwell were set to appear in the film, with Mackie and Atwell reprising their MCU roles as Sam Wilson / Captain America and Peggy Carter. It was unclear at the time which role Evans would be portraying after he played Steve Rogers / Captain America in the Infinity Saga and a variant of Johnny Storm / Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine, reprising the latter role from Fox's Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Sneider reported that Evans may be playing a version of Nomad, a mantle taken on by Rogers and other characters in the comic books. Evans and Atwell were included in the film after Marvel Studios attempted to develop a separate film with the actors and realized Doomsday would be a better film to revisit them. Evans denied that he would be in the film, saying he was "happily retired".

In January 2025, filming was reported to be taking place from that March to August. Sneider reported that Marvel Studios was looking for an actor to play an alternate universe variant of T'Challa / Black Panther in multiple MCU projects starting with Doomsday. The original version of the character was portrayed in the MCU by Chadwick Boseman until his death in August 2020. Sneider said the studio offered the role to an actor in late 2024, but they declined. Also in January, Cumberbatch said he would no longer appear in Doomsday following changes to the story made after Majors' firing, but he soon said he had been mistaken and would appear in the film. He added that he would also have a central role in Secret Wars. In February, Joe Russo said the two films were being made "fairly back-to-back" in London. At the end of March, Marvel officially announced 26 cast members for the film: Chris Hemsworth, Kirby, Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Moss-Bachrach, Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Pascal. Many of those actors return from previous MCU media. Grammer, Stewart, McKellen, Cumming, Romijn, and Marsden reprise their roles from the X-Men film series; Stewart and Grammer previously did so in the MCU films Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels (2023), respectively. Couch and Kit reported that Marvel Studios had yet to reveal the entire cast for the film.

Filming[]

Principal photography began on March 26, 2025, in London, under the working title Apple Pie 1, and will last until August. Filming was originally expected to begin in early 2024, but this was delayed due to Majors' firing and the film's creative shifts. Mackie said he would be splitting his time between filming Doomsday in London and filming the television series 12 12 12 in Budapest. The Russo brothers said filming would primarily occur on soundstages and specifically chosen locations to avoid set photos from leaking.

Post-production[]

Jeffrey Ford will serve as the film's editor, after working on previous MCU media, including all prior Avengers films and every Captain America film excluding Captain America: Brave New World (2025).

Marketing[]

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. 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 poor performance of some recent MCU projects. 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". Other commentators also discussed the casting and mixed responses to it, including Collider's Collier Jennings who criticized the casting of a non-Romani actor considering the character's comic book heritage. 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.

Coinciding with the start of filming on March 26, 2025, Marvel released a five-hour-long livestream on social media showing a line of director's chairs with the names of cast members on them. A new chair was revealed approximately every 12 minutes, accompanied by music from a previous Marvel project that the actor had appeared in. The livestream ended with an appearance by Downey and a rendition of Silvestri's Avengers theme. The livestream saw around 100,000 concurrent viewers, and became the top trending topic on X (formerly Twitter) while also generating numerous Internet memes with each cast announcement. Variety's Jordan Moreau and Brent Lang called the livestream a "slow-burn" and likened it to the reveal for the release date of Game of Thrones' seventh season in 2017, which saw a block of ice melt to reveal the date; both stunts were "mocked for their pace".

Release[]

Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 1, 2026. It was previously scheduled for release on May 2, 2025, but was delayed in part due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike and the subsequent creative overhaul following Majors' firing. It will be part of Phase Six of the MCU.

Sequel[]

A sequel, titled Avengers: Secret Wars, is scheduled to be released on May 7, 2027. It is also being written by McFeely and directed by the Russo brothers. The film will conclude Phase Six of the MCU and the Multiverse Saga.

Videos[]

Add Here

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms