RJ Writing Ink Reacts to Avengers: Doomsday Teasers
Doomsday is coming, and I don’t think the world is ready for it.
For 18 years now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has defined Hollywood as we know it. It made superhero movies box office juggernauts. It took heroes who weren’t well-known and made them household names. Going to see the Avengers movies in theaters with my dad ranks as one of my favorite memories of young adulthood! But with the release of Avengers: Doomsday creeping ever further, it’s looking like the MCU is headed for a big reset. With Marvel having the rights to most of its characters back, many are convinced that Doomsday will merge all the movies, MCU or not, into a single universe. While I hope that that might happen, that’s not what we’re here to talk about today. Today we need to talk about the teasers that Marvel has finished putting out for Doomsday, and what they say about the movie.
I can tell you what they mean: they mean that when they said they’re bringing all hands on deck, they meant it.
For once, AI was good for something
An interesting thing about this quartet of teasers is that they all managed to be leaked online before Marvel had the chance to share them. That’s not new at this point. Thanks to social media, it’s become fairly easy for things to get leaked, no matter how much companies try. However, with the rise of AI-generated content, many people were questioning whether or not the leaks were authentic. It just goes to show you how much AI has affected the landscape of entertainment.
Now, each teaser is only about a minute to 90 seconds long, but each of them has something to tell us, and I will do my best to cover everything.
Steve Rogers is Back!
In the first teaser, we get the return of a character whose story we thought to be over: Steve Rogers, AKA the original Captain America. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Steve traveled to the past to return the Infinity Stones to their places in time to keep history in order. Instead of returning to the present, though, he opted to stay in the past and live the life he was robbed of with Peggy. We all thought that Steve’s story was at an end, with him living his golden years in peace; he earned it. As it turns out, we were wrong, with the first teaser confirming that Steve would return for Doomsday.
This can mean one of two things: either Steve will be pulled from the past back to the present day, or he will somehow be de-aged back into his prime. Given the chaos that will ensue, I wouldn’t leave either out of the realm of possibility. What’s most surprising, though, is seeing him holding a baby in his arms, presumably his and Peggy’s. Any kids he may have will likely have the Super-Soldier serum baked into their DNA, which would make them a target for villains. More importantly, though, that gives Steve an incentive to rejoin the fight.
And speaking of which…
Thor is Scared Now
In the second teaser, we have the return of the God of Thunder, Thor, who we last saw in Thor: Love and Thunder becoming the adoptive father of Love, the daughter of Gorr the God Butcher. It looked like he had gotten used to being a parent, but it seems that by the time of the teaser, he’s starting to see how much of a responsibility it is. Whereas he once never feared death, now he fears it. Not for his sake, but for the sake of not leaving Love alone once more. And with Doomsday bringing back everyone for what will likely be their greatest battle ever, is it any wonder why he’s praying to his father for guidance?
While it’s known that Doomsday and Secret Wars are meant to reboot the MCU, an important rumor is what this means for the casts of the films. Some think that this reset will allow Marvel to recast existing characters and let new actors take the roles. And while I’m fond of all the actors thus far, there will be a point where they can’t play the characters anymore. And I would rather the next generation take up the reins than the characters die with them. What I’m trying to say is that if this is the last hurrah of characters as we know, like Thor, I want it to be a good one.
Which brings us to the third teaser, featuring the third of Marvel’s trinity of superhero teams.
X-Men, Welcome Home
Before the Avengers hit it big, my favorite Marvel team was the X-Men. I loved reading their comics in my teens, often preferring reading the collected volumes over chatting with people at school. Ironically, I missed the boat on the original X-Men films due to being too young to watch them. If you can guess by my review for Deadpool and Wolverine, though, I thought it was about time the X-Men join the MCU proper, and while that film was a good start, we wanted more. And it looks like we’re getting more in Doomsday.
In the third teaser trailer, we get the very somber sight of the Xavier Institute at night, apparently in ruins. We have no idea what has happened or if this is even the same timeline as the X-Men movies, but something bad must have happened to the X-Men. The direness of everything is only reinforced by the sight of Xavier and Magneto playing chess in ruins, seemingly alone. And as much as I love Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart, just hearing the latter’s voice tells me that it’s time for them to pass the baton on, so to speak. With most of the original cast set to reunite for these films, this will be their final hurrah before whatever comes next, and it’s clear Marvel wants them to go out with a bang. And judging by what we see of Cyclops in the final seconds, we’re getting a bang.
When the teasers for Deadpool and Wolverine showed that Hugh Jackman would be wearing the character’s costume from the comics, fans cheered. When we saw Logan completed the look during the film’s climax by putting on the mask, people in my theater cheered. It looks like we’re getting the same treatment with the original X-Man, Cyclops. Those final seconds of the teaser show James Marsden reprising his role of Scott Summers, clad in his costume from the comics, and looking utterly pissed as he unleashes the full scale of his optic blasts. Whatever it is that Cyclops is fighting, it looks to be serious.
They’re not the only ones who are serious.
The Fantastic Four Come to the Sacred Timeline
In our final teaser thus far, we return to the land of Wakanda. And yes, even though it’s been almost six years since Chadwick Boseman’s passing, it still feels bittersweet returning to Wakanda. This is best exemplified in Shuri, who, despite starting to heal from the loss of her family, is still not entirely over it. That hasn’t stopped her from serving as the new Black Panther while M’baku now acts as King, especially since Wakanda still faces the threat of Namor and the people of Talokan. All of that seems to be put on the backburner, though, as we get to see the Thing greeting M’Baku as the teaser ends.
Even though it was already well-established that the Fantastic Four would find their way to the Sacred Timeline, this is still a big moment. If First Steps was the Fantastic Four’s homecoming to the MCU, then Doomsday and Secret Wars will undoubtedly solidify their place in it. What makes this even more significant, though, is the connections that Namor and the Black Panther have to Marvel’s first family. T’challa was first introduced in the Fantastic Four comics back in the 60s and he’s been one of their greatest allies over the decades. In addition, Namor is a notorious frenemy of the team, especially due to his infatuation with Susan. It would be interesting to see that play out in the films. In addition, Shuri might appreciate having Reed Richards around, given how smart the two of them are. Given the odds of Doomsday ending on a downer like Infinity War, seeing them nerd out would add some brevity.
And with that, we have everything we know so far about Avengers: Doomsday. There’s currently a clock counting down live to the day it premieres on YouTube, and as the year progresses, we’ll no doubt get more info on what will happen. The MCU may not as popular as it once was, but the franchise still has teeth. And if things end the way I think they will, then these next two movies could be the last time we see these actors play the characters. Or I could be wrong.
