Those of you reading this will know that I’ve been doing this job for a long time now. My hope is that most of you appreciate the fact that I always do my best to bring you and this website the biggest news and updates as quickly and concisely as possible.
However, for any of you who perhaps don’t appreciate my takes on certain subjects, you can take great pleasure in the fact that, today, like millions of others, I spent five and a half hours watching Marvel Studios slowly reveal names on the back of 27 chairs. It was a long, arduous process which saw a new Avengers: Doomsday star revealed roughly every 13 minutes or so.
On the plus side, I’m grateful to you all for making that likely one of the biggest stories we’ll publish this month (perhaps even this year).
Was it worth tuning in? It was certainly an...experience...and one that’s left many of you scratching your heads and wondering why heavy hitters like Spider-Man, The Hulk, Star-Lord, and even Daredevil were nowhere to be found; the full cast list can be seen here if you missed it.
It seems likely that what we got today was a partial cast list or just the actors who will be credited with lead roles. Benedict Cumberbatch has confirmed he will return in Avengers: Doomsday as Doctor Strange, while several reliable outlets have pointed to Tom Holland playing a key role as Spider-Man. Neither got a chair.
There was also no sign of Chris Evans, though The Hollywood Reporter maintains that he will appear in "at least one of the two-part movies" (with the other being Avengers: Secret Wars).
However, for those of you fretting about your favourite superheroes not getting a mention, the trade writes, "Sources say that even with 26 actors announced, Marvel wasn’t done with revealing the entire cast, although when and how another unveiling would occur was unclear."
In other words, we may be looking at another five-and-a-half-hour reveal video in the not-too-distant future. Oh, the humanity (as you can see below, Marvel Studios' Instagram account replied to Robert Downey Jr. and strongly hinted that there's more to come).
Ultimately, today was a success for Marvel Studios. They got tens of millions of people to tune into several hours of chairs, and it is a mighty impressive cast.
There are some glaring omissions - we’ll have more on that for you tomorrow - and the odd character who generates only muted excitement. Beyond that, we’re just over a year away from likely seeing Mister Fantastic share the screen with Professor X and The Sentry.
That’s not something we could have fathomed when Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019.
There will be surprises and cameos no one knows about, and if this report is accurate, another lengthy list of actors who have yet to be named. And let us not forget that Avengers: Secret Wars will begin shooting mere weeks after Doomsday wraps production. There's another movie guaranteed to offer more than its own fair share of surprises.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.