Marvel Studios recently announced the main cast for Avengers: Doomsday in a live stream that lasted more than 5 hours, and while I was initially perturbed by the decidedly sluggish strategy, I now believe it was far superior to the start-of-production announcement for Avengers: Infinity War. The main cast for Avengers: Doomsday amounted to a whopping 27 actors by the time Marvel’s surprise announcement finally drew to a close. Among those announced were an expected smattering of new and returning characters, though it was a host of actors returning from Fox’s X-Men franchise that spurred most of the online fervor.
The announcement came eight months after Marvel Studios shocked the fandom by revealing that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the MCU as the arch-villain of Avengers: Doomsday, Doctor Doom. That announcement was met with some controversy as fans couldn’t help but wonder if Marvel Studios had started to run out of ideas, but the closer Avengers: Doomsday gets, the more I’m beginning to love the idea. The Avengers: Doomsday start-of-production video has only helped to stoke this enthusiasm, especially when comparing it to the comparatively run-of-the-mill sequence for Avengers: Doomsday‘s predecessor.
How Marvel’s “Action…Avengers: Infinity War” Video Was Different
Avengers: Infinity War Was Preceded By A Behind-The-Scenes Look
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Infinity War are inherently similar insofar as they are the beginning of the end of their respective MCU Sagas. Just as Avengers: Infinity War was designed to deliver the first half of a payoff to a decade-old throughline that joined all the Infinity Saga’s composite movies, Avengers: Doomsday will do the same for the Multiverse Saga. Despite their similarities, the announcement for the start of production for Avengers: Infinity War looked wildly different from Marvel Studios’ strategy for Avengers: Doomsday.
I’ll admit that this video represents what makes the Infinity Saga so great.
The Avengers: Infinity War video, enтιтled “Action…Avengers: Infinity War” and posted to YouTube, comprises a series of clips taken from the Infinity Saga’s movies. It addresses the main MacGuffin for the Infinity Saga, the Infinity Stones, and their history as it depicts scenes in which the stones were featured up until 2017. It also features some behind-the-scenes snippets and images from Avengers: Infinity War and preceding movies as leading figures like Kevin Feige, the Russo Brothers, and Robert Downey Jr speak about their thoughts and feelings about Avengers: Infinity War.
I’ll admit that this video represents what makes the Infinity Saga so great. The video encapsulates movies from as far back as MCU Phase 1, illustrating that Avengers: Infinity War is a culmination of everything in the MCU until that point. It is a great video, and watching it reignites my excitement for the Infinity Saga’s climax. Meanwhile, criticisms leveled at the Multiverse Saga center on its comparative lack of cohesion. Yet, somehow, Marvel Studios pulled off a stunt that captured what felt like the entire world’s attention for an entire day.
The Avengers: Doomsday Live Stream Was A Mᴀssive Online Event
People Were Glued To The Live Stream For The Entire Day
Somehow, the start-of-production announcement for Avengers: Infinity War feels more subdued than the one for Avengers: Doomsday. This feels baffling, considering one was crammed with nostalgic content and interviews with the biggest names in Marvel, while the other was a five-hour-long sequence of cast chairs being slowly lined up. Nevertheless, Marvel Studios turned the announcement into the most talked-about subject on the internet for the entire day.
According to ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, the live stream earned 3.1 million social media mentions throughout the day. Additionally, #AvengersDoomsday was the number one trending hashtag for seven hours. Despite the content comprising nothing but a series of chairs being laid out in a line, the stream earned 275 million views, according to Marvel Studios on X, and was the focus of “50+” trending topics. It’s hard to ignore the success of the slow burner if that success is measured by engagement – which, considering the general downturn in enthusiasm for the Multiverse Saga, it should be.
Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday Live Stream Was Better At Building Hype
The Lack Of Information Sparked Plenty Of Speculation
I am blown away by how Marvel turned the tables on a saga that has earned enough detractors for it to be called out in the MCU’s billion-dollar-grossing movie, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine. As Captain America: Brave New World continues to follow a disproportionate number of Multiverse Saga movies to rank among the MCU’s lowest-grossing, the live stream has reignited the conversation surrounding the Multiverse Saga through these simple-yet-effective means. It even followed the “Action…Avengers: Infinity War” video’s lead by including callbacks, but this time using the cast’s names instead of scenes from yesteryear.
Namely, why didn’t Teyonah Parris’s name appear on the cast chairs?
This, I think, made it the superior hype-builder. By refusing to include interviews and simply showing the names of the cast, the Avengers: Doomdsay live stream has ignited a firestorm of speculation. Among the subjects being discussed by MCU fans is whether the Thunderbolts members many expected to die in May’s Thunderbolts* will survive the movie, or whether the likes of Sebastian Stan will be portraying variants of Earth-616’s doomed Thunderbolts. After all, it would be odd for Marvel to spoil the events of Thunderbolts* by confirming that all (but Taskmaster) survived the insurmountable odds conveyed in the Thunderbolts* trailers.
At the same time, another big question about the cast reveal is how the cast of Fox’s X-Men movies will be incorporated and, if so, from which universe. For instance, while Kelsey Grammer’s Beast was teased in the post-credits scene of The Marvels and even spoke about a “Charles” we can ᴀssume is Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, a distinct lack of Teyonah Parris in the Avengers: Doomsday confirmed cast raises a significant question. Namely, why didn’t Teyonah Parris’s name appear on the cast chairs?
Marvel Still Has More To Announce Since Avengers: Doomsday’s Cast Isn’t Complete
There Are Too Many Characters That Need To Be Involved
The absence of many other expected names was almost as surprising as Ian McKellen’s name appearing in Avengers: Doomsday‘s confirmed cast. For example, despite Bruce Banner and Hulk almost solely appearing in Avengers movies, Mark Ruffalo’s name did not appear alongside fellow Avengers founder Chris Hemsworth’s. Meanwhile, Kelsey Grammer’s appearance on the cast list suggests that his appearance will follow up on his appearance in The Marvels. Yet, it’s hard to see how Avengers: Doomsday will achieve this without also picking up on the fact that Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau was trapped in his universe.
Benedict Cumberbatch also walked back recent comments that he wouldn’t be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday, despite his name not appearing on the cast chairs of the live stream.
All this suggests that some of the Avengers: Doomsday cast are to be revealed. Thankfully, this notion is borne out by reports that the 27 cast members announced in Marvel Studios’ recent live stream are just the beginning, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Robert Downey Jr. himself has additionally stoked such notions alongside Marvel Studios in a very suspect interaction on Instagram, posted to X by Culture Crave:
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It is highly unlikely for Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios to share such an interaction without it bearing some kind of fruit down the line. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is expressly designed to herald an additional 20-something as-yet-unannounced characters for Avengers: Doomsday.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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MCU Spider-Man 4
- Release Date
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July 24, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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Source: Marvel Studios/YouTube/Marvel Studios/X/ᴅᴇᴀᴅline/The Hollywood Reporter/Culture Crave/X
