The Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailer is about a week away from entering our lives. According to reports, the trailer for the hotly anticipated mega-film will be attached to Avatar: Fire and Ash, which opens on December 18th. The internet rumor train is currently suggesting that the trailer will only be shown in theaters, and it could take quite some time before we see it online.
If we know anything about Marvel fans, this trailer will appear online in some form or fashion. Whether someone has a high-quality version, or it’s the size of a postage stamp, the world is going to see this teaser…even if we all have to squint really hard to see it.
Marvel has been keeping us in suspense about what this film is about for nearly two years — ever since RDJ returned at San Diego Comic Con and shocked the world as Doctor Doom. Outside of the famed “chair reveal” we only have been treated to a deluge of fake AI generated photos from the set, a smorgasbord of nothing burger soundbites … and a whole bunch of vague hints from Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
This is why this teaser is so important. We don’t need to re-litigate the state of the MCU post-Endgame, but even the most optimistic MCU fan can admit things aren’t what they once were. For every Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki there’s Secret Invasion and Quantumania. We’ve had no Avengers film since 2019, and if there’s anything the collective Marvel fan base can agree on it’s that we need the Avengers back together. And if you’re promising us RDJ as the most iconic Marvel villain ever, and you’re bringing the X-Men into the MCU in full force, you have to deliver.
So, here’s five things we believe that the Avengers: Doomsday trailer needs to accomplish.
1. Give us a Clue At To What This Movie is About: Here’s what we know. Robert Downey Jr. is playing Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts*, members of the 20th Century Fox X-Men films, Thor, Loki, Shuri, M’Baku, Namor, Captain America (Sam Wilson), Falcon (Joaquin Torres), Ant-Man, and Shang-Chi are going to be in this film.
And that’s it.
The MCU audience desperately needs to have some sort of infinitesimal idea of what this film is about so we can all do think pieces and record podcasts from now until the full trailer (which would probably drop during Spider-Man: Brand New Day, right?) is released. Remember this is a teaser, that some are estimating will be under 90 seconds. We’re not going to get a full explanation here.
Yet, a clue would be helpful because there’s a few ways this film could go.
- The Ultimates Route: The film could adapt the Ultimate Comics: Doomsday storyline that Brian Michael Bendis penned in 2011. This found the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four teaming up to take on Doom, who has supplanted Kang as the ultimate bad guy. This is a sound, logical, and ultimately (see what we did there) fun plot that is easily accessible, and bleeds perfectly into the Battleworld-set Secret Wars.
- X-Men vs. Avengers: Some have postulated this could be the entire film, or a Time Heist-esque major set piece. Marvel has always had a field day heroes fighting each other before realizing they’re on the same side (see Infinity War).
- Time Wimey-Ness: So much time in the MCU has been spent on timelines, incursions, and alternate earths. So to not address this is a choice, and not a great one. Loki is in this film and is currently holding the space time continuum and all factions of reality together in the palm of his hand. Doom is in the FF timeline, how will they incur into the timeline of our Avengers?
- Or is it All of the Above?: It’s a big movie, so … you could do all of these. But that also could be a real mess.
2. The Avengers Doing Avengers Things: This is so important to the success of the film. The Avengers are the world’s greatest superheroes, and this brand has generated literal billions of dollars at the box office. The fanbase wants to see them together, so let’s not dilly dally with this teaser with vague imagery and breathy narration — show us the Avengers. We should have a clue as to who they are, and we need to see them together doing literally anything (posing, punching, eating shawarma, etc.).
3. More Doctor Doom: This is not a lock. There is some mileage to be had by not showing much of Doom. This could help build the mystery and mystique (not that one) of the film causing audiences to reach a fever pitch of curiosity. Yet, at the same time, getting a glimpse of the mask or even him sitting upon his Latverian throne, would be absolutely wild.
4. One Jaw-Dropper: This is Avengers: Doomsday, not a quiet Merchant Ivory period piece (look it up, kids). A jaw-dropper of a moment is almost guaranteed, but to paraphrase my dad “almost is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades.” This trailer needs that jaw-dropping moment to make us rabid for more Marvel. We need that flash of Doctor Doom, an explosion, a hero holding a dead body in their arms and crying in lamentation to the sky, heroes squaring off … there’s so much that could be done!
5. Hope and Vibes: Clint Barton once told Black Widow not to give him hope. Yet in this post-Endgame world, fans want, no they need the hope that this film will be the spectacle it’s purporting itself to be. There needs to be a “restoration of the feeling” that MCU fans had back pre-COVID. This is not a call for a nostalgic feeling of the vibes that we had back in the day. It’s more of a reassurance that the cinematic standards, the quality of care, and attention to detail that was a hallmark of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has returned. It’s none of the hubristic “this’ll work” vibe that kneecapped so many projects over the past six years. This needs to be a definitive statement that “Yes, we are so back.”
No pressure.
