It looks like Sam Wilson is going to see some pretty intense hand-to-hand combat in Avengers: Doomsday.
The Captain America: Brave New World star's long-time stunt double David Charles Warren III has taken to Instagram to share a brief training video showcasing some very impressive martial arts moves.
Though Wilson obviously utilizes his Wakanda tech-enhanced armor in combat, without the super soldier serum, he has also had to rely on his mastery of various different fighting techniques - which he will certainly need when he finds himself up against some very powerful foes.
Captain America is expected to head-up his own team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, while Yelena Belova will lead her New Avengers (formerly the Thunderbolts). They may butt heads initially, but will almost certainly join forces to take on Doctor Doom at some point.
During an interview with IGN from back when filming was just getting underway, Mackie spoke about reprising his role and promised that Doomsday would give fans that "old Marvel feeling."
“We’re supposed to go out this week, and we’ll be out there doing it. Everybody’s excited. I feel with the script and having the Russo brothers back, it’s going to be great. I’m really excited for what this project is going to be. It’s going to give the audience that old Marvel feeling that they always had.”
Though Joe and Anthony Russo have delivered what many fans would consider some of the best movies the MCU has to offer with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, their projects outside the Marvel Studios system have not been anywhere near as successful.
The Russos' most recent movie, Netflix's The Electric State, was panned by critics (it's sitting at an abysmal 15% on Rotten Tomatoes) and debuted to pretty low viewership numbers on the streamer.
According to a recent rumor, The Electric State's reception has led to Marvel higher-ups questioning the decision to hire the Russo Brothers to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Some dismissed the report - after all, the studio will already have been well aware that the filmmakers didn't have the best non-MCU track record - but another source later claimed that Kevin Feige does intend to be much more "hands on" for the upcoming event films.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America