Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are shaping up to me massive MCU events, and the latter, in particular, could easily wind up being the most ambitious superhero movie ever made.
Even though no characters have been officially confirmed to appear just yet, the movie is expected to feature a new roster of Earth's Mightiest Heroes (the Thunderbolts* team are rumored to form the basis of these New Avengers) along with the surviving members of the original team. We have also heard that at least some variants will be involved, as well as characters from 20th Century Fox's Marvel movies.
Of course, we do know that Robert Downey Jr. will be back - but as Doctor Doom (who may or may not turn out to be a Tony Stark variant).
Just in case Secret Wars wasn't already sounding way too jam-packed, we recently reported that Thanos may also show up, and MTTSH is now claiming to have confirmed that Josh Brolin is in talks to reprise his role as the Mad Titan.
The scooper also mentions that Peter Parker will go to college in Spider-Man 4, though this wouldn't exactly be a major revelation.
How big a part Thanos will have obviously remains to be seen, but with so many other heroes and villains fighting for screen-time, we can't imagine he will have a significant role. There's been some speculation that the powerful villain might be involved in the creation of Battleworld with (or in place of) The Beyonder(s).
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films 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.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.