The primary trailer for Avengers: Doomsday obtained followers excited for the following chapter within the MCU however was additionally rapidly picked aside for feeling like an costly sport of “let’s keep in mind some individuals.” One of many main critiques was that it felt like Marvel was pushing one other Infinity Struggle-style showdown with out having completed any of the work to construct up the stakes. Some followers argued that Thanos was allowed house and time to develop into a significant villain whereas the pivot to Robert Downey, Jr.’s Physician Doom feels rushed. The top of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, thinks these followers are misremembering the introduction of Thanos. “I’m by no means assured about something, I simply work arduous to attempt to ship,” Feige mentioned throughout a short interview with Brandon Davis on the ground of San Diego Comedian-Con 2026. “However I’ll say I do suppose–I used to be simply saying to someone else–that the Thanos buildup has constructed up in individuals’s heads over time. He sat on a chair on the finish. He pulled a gauntlet out and mentioned, ‘I’ll do it myself.’ And he yelled at Ronin on a video display briefly and that was sort of it.” Fiege continued, “And I keep in mind the memes making enjoyable of Thanos for simply sitting in a chair, and all he does is sit on a chair, and there was a Twitter feed on the time about him updating every single day, updating. I’m nonetheless sitting in my chair. I’m nonetheless it–was extra intelligent than that, nevertheless it was humorous–and once we obtained to Infinity Struggle, we mentioned that is actually the introduction of Thanos to individuals. That’s actually what we’re doing. That’s how that film was constructed. That’s what we’re doing with Doom. Doomsday is a introduction and the story of Doom. You peel the onion, you study issues about him as you go. And it is rather a lot meant for audiences that know and love him from the comics and audiences who don’t have any clue who he’s.” Feige is correct that Thanos had no actual display time previous to Avengers: Infinity Struggle. However the MCU had additionally been pointing to his eventual arrival and motivation for years. The mid-credits scene on the finish of the primary Avengers again in 2012 was the primary cryptic trace about Thanos and the Infinity Stones. Marvel continued peeling again the curtain in 2014’s The Guardians of the Galaxy (speaking to Ronin on a display) and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (“I’ll do it myself”). That was six years of letting the character gestate within the minds of audiences earlier than Avengers: Infinity Struggle in 2018.
By comparability, the primary point out of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doom got here at Comedian-Con 2024. He then appeared in a mid-credits sequence for 2025’s Unbelievable 4. And if it hadn’t been delayed, Doomsday would have already been out in theaters this previous Might. Whilst you actually don’t must have practically a decade of multi-franchise build-up for a villain to have them ship, there’s no method round the truth that the MCU rapidly pivoted from a set of films oriented round Jonathan Majors’ Krang being the large dangerous to one thing completely different. Going from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to Doomsday in simply three years may be very completely different from the plan for Thanos, even when followers on the time mocked that build-up for taking too lengthy. On the one hand, that’s advantageous. A film ought to be capable of stand by itself 90-150 minute storytelling, whatever the breadcrumbs scattered throughout half a dozen different Disney merchandise. However the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer we obtained was not for that sort of film. So we’ll see the way it all finally ends up this December with Avengers: Secret Wars following only a yr later.
