Seven years on from Avengers Endgame and the MCU has been really hit and miss. With Kang star Jonathan Majors dropped from the franchise, Marvel boss Kevin Feige gave the future movie slate a shake up by doing the most bankable and obvious thing for Disney: Bring back not only Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame directors The Russo Brothers, but also Iron Man and Captain America stars Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans for Avengers 5 & 6 aka Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars.

Only, Tony Stark is dead, so Downey is now playing Doctor Doom, a scientific genius and sorcerer – the biggest bad of Marvel Comics. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers gave his shield to Sam Wilson, making him the new Cap, but the original Super Soldier is somehow young again (we’ll get to that). Following a string of mini teaser trailers last Christmas, the first proper Avengers Doomsday trailer concluded Disney’s studio presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, which I was attending as Daily Express Film Editor and was very much blown away by… twice!

Downey Jr, dressed in Doctor Doom green, swaggered through the audience of The Dolby Colosseum at Caesars Palace to join Evans, Feige and the Russos on stage before they all turned to the screen above to debut the world premiere of the Avengers Doomsday trailer. And boy was it worth the wait.

The first thing to say is that Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is once again a MVP superhero, as he was in Avengers Infinity War. And unlike how comical and overtly silly he became in Endgame and Thor Love and Thunder, we’re back to serious short-haired God of Thunder here, which makes sense given the Aussie star felt the latter film went too far with his character’s japes.

Thor’s solemn voice booms over the footage: “I fought with many warriors in my time. They were far stronger than all of us put together, they died. They died facing enemies and threats that scared me far less than this one. Everything they sacrificed for will be for nothing if we do not stand together… If you return, you will return as brothers and sisters.”

As teased by Feige, this is a proper Avengers and X-Men crossover. We witness Patrick Stewart’s Professor X observing an incursion (this is a multiverse movie after all), James Marsden’s Cyclops unleashing his laser eyeballs, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique turning into Florence Pugh’s Yelena and Shang-Chi battling Channing Tatum’s Gambit. We also saw shots of the Fantastic Four joining the Avengers (including the Thunderbolts) in their new tower, alongside old favourites like Ant-Man. And then there’s Doctor Doom.

Downey’s Doom is masked the entire time in this trailer, bending over a battle scene before Thor strikes him with Stormbreaker, only for the Marvel villain to stop the God of Thunder’s weapon with a single finger. We’re well beyond Thanos now. We also get the debut of Downey’s voice, which sounds a bit Eastern European, tying in with the country he rules, Latveria. He warns of an “impossible decision” that needs to be made. The Russos and Feige teased prior to the trailer drop: “He’s virtually unbeatable”. And finally, Thor says “it’s not possible”, before Mjolnir flies out of his hand into the worthy mitt of Steve Rogers; a young Steve Rogers. How? Well, Evans teased this.

Before showing the trailer, Evans confessed he had said he would only return as his character if there was a real reason for Steve Rogers to come back. And he’s confident there is now, very much. So it sounds like he, alongside Thor, is another MVP in Avengers Doomsday – which is something the Russos have also been saying. After all, Feige teased this film is very much a direct sequel to Avengers Endgame. Now we’ve got a big theory on this, so look out for that article in the coming days. But for now, what I can safely say as a Marvel fan is, I’m finally getting excited about this franchise again. And you know why? Hearing fellow Marvel fans shout with joy together in the cinema once again.

Avengers Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, 2026.