Avengers: Doomsday is going to be a big test for Marvel Studios. The Multiverse Saga has been a mixed bag for the studio, with the once-untouchable MCU delivering several critical and commercial flops.
With that in mind, all eyes will be on whether the next Avengers movie can recapture the success of its predecessors...or whether the damage to the franchise is significant enough that even Earth's Mightiest Heroes will struggle to attract the attention of filmgoers.
Bloomberg has run a piece getting the opinions of over 700 industry experts on the current state of Hollywood and what's on the horizon in 2026.
Among the topics covered is which blockbuster is likely to be the year's highest-grossing release at the worldwide box office. Avengers: Doomsday won handily, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie behind it.
"The return of the Avengers holds off Mario," writes the site. "Avengers: Endgame grossed $2.8 billion, and the average Avengers film has grossed about $1.9 billion, but they were all released before the pandemic (and the recent downturn in Marvel performance). There is more confidence in a Christopher Nolan movie than Star Wars or Minions."
Marvel Studios has already begun marketing Avengers: Doomsday, with unique teasers revolving around specific characters. Those have dominated December, and the first officially released sneak peek did huge viewership numbers on platforms like YouTube and X. That's despite countless leaks, which, if anything, have only increased hype.
So, yes, there's clearly a great deal of interest in seeing what the Russo Brothers have planned for the next Avengers movie. When Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is finally put front and centre in marketing, we'd imagine that the excitement will only increase.
"Only speaking to the one we’re working on now, shooting now, for people who know the comics and know the word Incursions, those are universes coming together," Kevin Feige previously teased. "We will see this world that we’ve introduced [in The Fantastic Four: First Steps]. We’re shooting on all the same sets that we built for Fantastic Four, and it is very fun."
"I would say the now iconic Baxter Building living room and kitchen where we saw the Four get to know each other in this movie, let’s say there are a lot more people in that kitchen in Avengers, and it’s fun to literally see people coming into each other’s homes, which is pretty awesome."
"Unlike Endgame, which really wasn’t ended, and then we go, where do we go from here? What do we do with this level of success and this level of finality? And we used it to experiment and we used it to evolve and we used it to expand, too much," Feige added. "Secret Wars, as in the comics, is as much about bringing certain storylines to a close as it is launching a new one."
Avengers: Doomsday officially stars Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman all make their Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
Chris Evans is also officially confirmed to reprise his role as Steve Rogers, as is India Rose Hemsworth as Love. The Hollywood trades have reported that Hayley Atwell and Ryan Reynolds will appear as Peggy Carter and Deadpool, respectively.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron is also working on the script.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.