UPDATE: As you can see below, Disney has started removing the images, confirming that they are, in fact, real. With that, a several-months-long mystery has been solved.
Last year, the launch of several AI platforms coincided with an apparent leak of Avengers: Doomsday costume images. Suddenly, what looked like real photos were competing for attention with convincing fakes depicting everyone from Captain Marvel to Wolverine and Spider-Man.
Those original leaks—which were the basis for several online scoopers sharing costume descriptions—largely vanished after getting lost in the shuffle of so many fakes. However, they've now resurfaced on X.
As a reminder, these originally showed up before the four teasers that played in theaters, the various pieces of promo art featuring Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, and costume department artwork first spotted at an event in London's Pinewood Studios.
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems these photos are the real deal. Can we guarantee that? No, but there are details here that match what we saw in the trailers and what we've heard from the full sneak peek screened at CinemaCon earlier this month. Based on when these were originally posted, there are one too many accurate details for that to be a coincidence.
One of the biggest giveaways is Doctor Doom's belt buckle. At the time, we'd seen promo art that matched these photos, aside from the belt buckle. For some, that was enough to write the leaks off as fake, but as the updated artwork shown at CinemaCon now matches what we see here, these images being real is highly likely.
At least a couple of people who were at CinemaCon have said Steve Rogers' costume matches what was in the trailer, and with a new look at Avengers: Doomsday supposedly somewhere on the horizon, we'll find out one way or another soon enough.
Recently, filmmaker Joe Russo said Avengers: Endgame's upcoming re-release will include "footage that is set in the Doomsday story that we have added to Avengers: Endgame."
"It’s an opportunity to create a bridge from Endgame to Doomsday in a very unique way, and because the movie was so successful, we have an opportunity to re-release it," he continued, calling it a "critical companion story" and a "setup for what you’re gonna watch in December when you see Avengers: Doomsday."
Check out these leaked Avengers: Doomsday photos below, and let us know whether you think they're real or fake in the comments section.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Evans, 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, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, India Rose Hemsworth, and Wesley Holloway all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
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.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. The movie is produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Jonathan Schwartz, with Callum McDougall serving as executive producer.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.