In 2026, the Avengers will return to the big screen with Avengers: Doomsday, reuniting the original MCU superhero team for the first time since Avengers: Endgame. While concrete story details are limited so far, the Russo Brothers’ return to the MCU with Avengers: Doomsday promises to be a crossover event of unprecedented magnitude, with potentially hundreds of extremely powerful villains facing off against the biggest hero line-up ever united in the MCU timeline within one project. There can be no doubt that blood will be spilled.
However, complications for Avengers: Doomsday arose based on Jonathan Majors’ legal matters, as Majors was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault on December 18, 2023. Shortly after, reports came in that the MCU had cut ties with the actor going forward, and that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty would henceforth be Avengers 5 for the time being, with its new title of Avengers: Doomsday being announced months later.
Avengers: Doomsday Latest News
Familiar Faces Return To Doomsday
Several major castings were recently announced for Avengers: Doomsday. The first is Chris Evans, who will be playing a currently unknown role in the upcoming film. Evans follows Robert Downey Jr. as an actor returning to the MCU despite having their original characters end their story in Avengers: Endgame. It’s possible that Evans could be playing a variant of Captain America in the film, but given the return of another character, that might not be the case.
Alongside Chris Evans returning to the MCU, Hayley Atwell will be reprising her role as Peggy Carter in the fifth Avengers film. The Deadline report confirming the news mentioned she will be playing Agent Carter, which could be an interesting turn of events for her character rather than reprising her Captain Carter mantle that she has been for the last couple of MCU projects she has been in.
Anthony Mackie was also recently confirmed to be reprising his role as Captain America in Avengers: Doomsday. It felt obvious that Sam Wilson would be coming back for the fifth Avengers film after taking up the mantle of Captain America at the end of Avengers: Doomsday. It will be interesting to see how the events of Captain America: Brave New World set up his character for his next appearance.
In an interview with Nerdbunker, Anthony Mackie jokingly talked about Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom and what that meant for whoever might be joining that film from previous MCU movies, sharing the following:
Robert Downey Jr. has had his ass-kick coming for a long time, and I’m very proud to say he [is] going to get it!
Additionally, the Russo brothers were confirmed as the directors for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which came shortly after reports that they were in talks about coming in for the next two Avengers installments. With the director duo having helmed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, this is a seriously exciting update, as this movie roster demonstrates a clear ability to create critically and financially acclaimed MCU releases. Given the collective box office of these movies is over $5 billion, this definitely puts Avengers 5 in a promising position.
Avengers: Doomsday Release Date
Getting Closer Every Year
While it was originally set for release on May 2, 2025, Marvel shifted the Avengers: Doomsday release date to May 1, 2026. Based on the story focusing on that of iconic Fantastic Four nemesis Doctor Doom, it seems the film will follow on directly from The Fantastic Four‘s debut at the start of the MCU’s Phase 6, though it’s possible that another film could fill in the gap in late 2025, given that Blade was removed from Marvel Studios’ release schedule.
Avengers: Doomsday Cast Info
Promised To Be A Massive Cast
So far, Avengers: Doomsday has a major confirmed figure in the form of Doctor Doom, who at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con was announced to be part of the upcoming movie, hence its title. Doctor Doom’s casting was also announced, with the iconic MCU Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. set to return to the cinematic universe in this new role. Bringing in Doctor Doom is seemingly a great lead-in to the Secret Wars storyline, as he’s also been an antagonist in one of the comic iterations of this narrative.
The 2024 San Diego Comic-Con also saw announcements that The Fantastic Four will appear in the Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast and The Fantastic Four: First Steps appears to be the film where Doctor Doom will also debut. The Marvel panel also saw confirmation that the Thunderbolts* cast will be part of Avengers: Doomsday, adding Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, David Harbour’s Red Guardian, and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes to the MCU movie roster, among others.
Related
15 Avengers Who Can Return For Kang Dynasty & Secret Wars
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are expected to boast an impressive cast, which may see the return of many of the MCU’s Avengers.
Alongside the two superhero teams and Downey Jr. as Doomsday, a handful of characters from the MCU are set to return so far, including Chris Evans, in an unknown role, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.
Of course, given the scale of what to expect from Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, there are most likely going to be a large number of MCU characters returning. Though nothing has been officially confirmed, characters like Thor, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Shang-Chi, and Ant-Man could, and most likely will, return. Given the multiversal scale of the upcoming films, it’s possible that any former MCU character could return for Avengers: Doomsday, even if they haven’t been seen in a while or only appear in a project or two.
Confirmed Characters For Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday Character | Actor | |
|---|---|---|
Doctor Doom | Robert Downey Jr. | 
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Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) | Pedro Pascal | 
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Invisible Woman (Susan Storm) | Vanessa Kirby | 
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The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) | Joseph Quinn | 
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The Thing (Ben Grimm) | Ebon Moss-Bachrach | 
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Bucky Barnes | Sebastian Stan | 
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Yelena Belova | Florence Pugh | 
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US Agent | Wyatt Russell | 
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Alexei Shostakov | David Harbour | 
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Ghost | Hannah John-Kamen | 
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Taskmaster | Olga Kurylenko | 
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Doctor Strange | Benedict Cumberbatch | 
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Captain America | Anthony Mackie | 
|
Unknown Role | Chris Evans | 
|
Peggy Carter | Hayley Atwell | 
|
Avengers: Doomsday Story Details
It Will Conclude The Multiverse Saga
Strictly speaking, Avengers: Doomsday should be the culmination of the Multiverse Saga, alongside Avengers: Secret Wars, bringing the threads established in various MCU multiverse storylines together for a huge showdown with Doctor Doom that can hopefully bring several factions of the MCU together based on the confirmed cast for the upcoming film. The announcement of Secret Wars – and the original comic book arc’s connection to the multiverse and incursions – should mean that Avengers 5 actually isn’t an ending, but rather an escalation that presumably sets up the villain (or villains) of Avengers 6.
It’s been made clear that the fabric of the multiverse is easy to accidentally or intentionally harm, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home appear to show the beginnings of the main MCU world sustaining some damage. As such, it’s likely Doctor Doom’s threat will combine his own imposing presence and that of universe-ending Incursions – either setting up for Avengers: Secret Wars to fully capitalize on these concepts or using them to wreak havoc on the fabric of reality and thus force the MCU’s main heroes into conflict with Doctor Doom from there.
Similarly, with the main cast of Thunderbolts* confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, the plot of the impending installment is sure to also have its impact on the next Avengers movie.
It’s also worth noting that the main setup for Avengers: Doomsday appears to be coming shortly with some of the MCU’s upcoming releases. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the most clear of these – seemingly being the prime place to introduce Doctor Doom or at least tease more information about him, and either way, bringing in a new hero team who will no doubt prove vital to the story. Similarly, with the main cast of Thunderbolts* confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, the plot of the impending installment is sure to also have its impact on the next Avengers movie.
While Deadpool & Wolverine sets up a hopeful precedent for any universal injury by suggesting that universes can heal from certain types of threats since it’s not yet clear what type of danger Avengers: Doomsday will put the primary world in, it’s not clear what kind of risk is being posed to the roster of iconic heroes. However, what is clear is that whatever the team faces, it will pose new and truly deadly challenges for them.
How Avengers: Doomsday Fits Into The MCU
Beginning Of The End
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released just five years after the Multiverse Saga kicked off with WandaVision in 2021, which is about half the amount of time it took for the MCU’s Infinity Saga to build up to Avengers: Infinity War after releasing Iron Man in 2008. Much like Infinity War to Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Doomsday looks to be the first of a double-whammy of Avengers films, with the second part coming in 2027 with Avengers: Secret Wars.
The Multiverse Saga has seen its share of ups and downs throughout, but Doomsday and Secret Wars have the chance to close out the second major MCU Saga in spectacular fashion, really utilizing the multiverse concept to bring in the biggest cast of characters the MCU has ever seen, from decades of adaptations. While being the end of the Multiverse Saga, it’s likely that Avengers: Doomsday will help to start laying the groundwork for where the MCU goes after that.
Every MCU Release You’ll NEED To Watch Before Avengers: Doomsday
- Loki Seasons 1 and 2
- WandaVision
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness
- Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Thunderbolts*
- The Fantastic Four
Assuming you don’t want to rewatch the entire MCU before Avengers: Doomsday, the good news is that Avengers 5 has (so far) the least homework of any MCU crossover movie, at least in terms of the story. Despite multiple promises, the MCU has never actually tied the multiverse into all of its releases in any really substantial way, with contradicting starting points and questionable pull-through in the likes of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which didn’t really add anything to the overarching narrative.
That Spider-Man crossover works as a companion piece to the real Multiverse Saga (and so does Ms. Marvel), but skipping it seemingly wouldn’t change anything about the overarching story. Similarly, Robert Downey Jr’s casting as Doctor Doom may make watching the Iron Man movies again pertinent for Avengers: Doomsday given his prior casting as Tony Stark, but since this story seemingly won’t continue directly on from Iron Man’s own, this doesn’t appear to be a strictly necessary act for those wanting to be up-to-date as quickly as possibly.
On the other hand, the sheer number of potential characters in Avengers: Doomsday and the entirely new Avengers team might make you enthusiastic about watching every individual set-up release to see each Avenger’s journey to the team. That would require considerably more of an MCU rewatch, depending on what the eventual fully confirmed Avengers: Doomsday cast looks like.
Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth Avengers film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will bring together heroes, new and old, to face off against Victor von Doom – played by the returning Robert DOwney Jr.. Avengers 5 will also mark the beginning of phase 6 of the MCU.
- Release Date
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May 1, 2026
- Writers
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Michael Waldron
- Main Genre
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Superhero
Upcoming MCU Movies
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February 14, 2025
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July 25, 2025
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July 24, 2026
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