Avengers: Doomsday

Avengers: Doomsday is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and AGBO, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the 39th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely, the film features an ensemble cast led by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. In the film, the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the X-Men team up to face Doom.

Two new Avengers films, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, were announced in July 2022 as the conclusion of the MCU's Phase Six and "The Multiverse Saga". Destin Daniel Cretton was hired to direct The Kang Dynasty and Jonathan Majors was set to reprise his MCU role as the villain Kang the Conqueror. Jeff Loveness joined the film as writer that September. In November 2023, Cretton departed, Waldron replaced Loveness as writer, and Marvel was considering moving away from the Kang storyline, in part due to Majors's legal issues; Majors was fired the following month. The return of the Russo brothers as directors and McFeely as co-writer, the casting of Downey as new villain Doctor Doom, and the new subtitle Doomsday were all announced in July 2024. Filming began in April 2025 at Pinewood Studios in England, with a large cast consisting mainly of actors from previous MCU media and 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series, and wrapped in September. Location filming took place in England and Bahrain.

Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 18, 2026, as part of Phase Six of the MCU. The sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, is set to be released on December 17, 2027.

Premise

Fourteen months after the events of Thunderbolts* (2025), the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the "original" X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom.

Cast

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor: The Asgardian god of thunder and a founding Avenger, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman: A member of the Fantastic Four who can generate force fields and turn invisible
• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America: An Avenger and former pararescueman who was trained by the military in aerial combat using a specially designed wing pack
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier: An enhanced super soldier with a cybernetic arm who is the de facto leader of the New Avengers
• Letitia Wright as Shuri / Black Panther: The former princess of Wakanda who gained superhuman abilities by ingesting the heart-shaped herb
• Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man: An Avenger and former petty criminal with a suit that allows him to shrink or grow in scale while increasing in strength
• Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent: A member of the New Avengers who is an enhanced super soldier and the former Captain America
• Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor: The king of Talokan and a powerful mutant with pointed ears and wings on his ankles who is capable of breathing both on land and underwater
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing: A member of the Fantastic Four encased in a layer of orange rock that grants him superhuman strength and durability
• Simu Liu as Xu Shang-Chi:
  A highly skilled martial artist and the wielder of the mystical Ten Rings who was trained to be an assassin by his criminal father Xu Wenwu. Liu said Shang-Chi is older, more self-assured, and "a little more lived in with who he is and his responsibilities" compared to his introduction in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
• Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova: A member of the New Avengers who was trained in the Red Room as a Black Widow assassin
• Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy / Beast: A mutant and member of the X-Men with animalistic physical characteristics, including blue fur, pointed ears, fangs, and claws
• Lewis Pullman as Bob Reynolds / Sentry: A superpowered member of the New Avengers who is believed to be stronger than all of the Avengers combined
• Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres / Falcon: An Avenger and first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force who uses a wing pack similar to Wilson's
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch: Sue's younger brother and a member of the Fantastic Four who can control fire and fly
• David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian: A member of the New Avengers who is the Russian super soldier counterpart to Captain America and a father figure to Belova
• Winston Duke as M'Baku: A powerful warrior and the king of Wakanda
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost: A member of the New Avengers who can phase through objects
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki: The Asgardian god of mischief and Thor's adopted brother, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name
• Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X: A telepathic mutant and the founder of the X-Men who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair
• Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: A powerful mutant who can generate and control magnetic fields
• Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler:
  A blue-skinned, demonic-looking mutant who can teleport. Cumming said the make-up process was reduced to an hour-and-a-half for Doomsday from the four-and-a-half to five hours it took on the 20th Century Fox film X2 (2003), in large part because the character's tattoos were no longer applied individually by hand. He found working on Doomsday to be "healing" following his miserable experience working on X2.
• Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique: A blue-skinned, shapeshifting mutant
• James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops: A mutant and the leader of the X-Men who can emit powerful optic energy beams, controlled by a special visor
• Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau / Gambit:
  A mutant with the ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, causing them to explode on impact. After using a thick, unintelligible Cajun accent for the character as part of a running joke in the film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Tatum said he would not "go full Cajun" in Doomsday, with directors Anthony and Joe Russo wanting the film to have a more dramatic and serious tone.
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic: Sue's husband, Grimm's best friend, and a highly intelligent scientist who is the leader of the Fantastic Four and can stretch any part of his body to great lengths
• Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom:
  Co-director Joe Russo described Doom as three-dimensional and one of the most complex comic book characters. He felt Downey, who previously starred as Tony Stark / Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was the one person who could take on the role. Downey developed his own backstory for Doom as reference for his performance, and also contributed costume ideas.
• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers:
  The former leader of the Avengers, a World War II veteran, and the first person to carry the Captain America mantle. He returned to the 1940s at the end of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019) to live with Peggy Carter.

Additional actors slated to reprise their MCU roles in the film include Mabel Cadena as Namora, Alex Livinalli as Attuma, and India Rose Hemsworth as Thor's adopted daughter Love. Also expected to return are Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, and Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. There are conflicting reports about whether Ryan Reynolds will reprise his role as Wade Wilson / Deadpool in the film.

Production

After directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) crossover films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), Anthony and Joe Russo expressed interest in directing a Secret Wars film based on the 1984–85 comic book crossover event written by Jim Shooter and the 2015–16 comic book storyline written by Jonathan Hickman. Both follow various Marvel characters who converge on the planet Battleworld. Infinity War and Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said they would return to write such a film if the Russo brothers were directing it. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in July 2022, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced the films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, to be released on May 2, 2025, and November 7, 2025, respectively. They were set to conclude "The Multiverse Saga", which covers Phases Four, Five, and Six of the MCU. The Kang Dynasty was inspired by a 2001–02 comic book storyline written by Kurt Busiek in which Kang the Conqueror travels through time to enslave humanity. Jonathan Majors was cast as Kang for several Phase Four projects, and was confirmed to be starring in both new Avengers films. Destin Daniel Cretton was hired to direct The Kang Dynasty, with Jeff Loveness writing the script, and Michael Waldron set to write Secret Wars.