Marvel Studios stunned audiences at CinemaCon this week with the first extended footage from Avengers: Doomsday, the next mega-crossover event that arrives in theaters later this year. The trailer, shown exclusively to exhibitors in Las Vegas, climaxed with a shot of Chris Evans's Steve Rogers lifting Thor's hammer Mjolnir mid-battle — a moment first teased in Avengers: Endgame and now returned to as a full-blown set piece against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
Downey, making his Marvel return as the armored sorcerer-scientist rather than Tony Stark, dominates the footage. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have positioned Doom as the most imposing Marvel villain since Thanos, with a multiversal scheme that pulls the Fantastic Four, the new Avengers lineup and the X-Men into a single fight. Thor, played again by Chris Hemsworth, squares off against Doom in what appears to be a ruined Asgardian throne room.
The footage, according to attendees, runs roughly four minutes and closes with a "Doomsday Protocol" title card. It confirms the return of several characters long thought retired, including Evans's Captain America, and teases the arrival of variants from across the multiverse. Marvel has not announced when — or whether — the trailer will reach the public, though exhibitor pressure to release it in the coming weeks has been intense.
The stakes for Marvel are considerable. After a mixed stretch that included underperforming Phase Five titles and a streaming glut that diluted the brand, Doomsday is being positioned as a reset capable of restoring the event-film aura that defined the Infinity Saga. The studio's parent Disney has trimmed its release slate and narrowed creative oversight under Kevin Feige, with Doomsday and next year's Secret Wars treated as the make-or-break finale.
The Russos, who directed the one-two punch of Infinity War and Endgame, reportedly used artificial intelligence and advanced stunt-capture systems for several Doomsday sequences, including the Mjolnir shot. Evans is said to have trained extensively to pull off the moment practically, without stunt doubles. Box office forecasters already expect Doomsday to open north of $250 million domestically.
Our take
Marvel knows exactly which button to press. Evans lifting the hammer is fan-service engineering at its purest — but it works because the moment was earned six years ago. The real test is whether Downey's Doom can shoulder the weight of being the new Thanos. On the evidence of this trailer, he already is.
