Avengers: Doomsday Trailer And Other MCU Bits

Every once in a while I do cover Marvel related stuff on this blog and over the last few weeks, there's been one thing in particular that's been looming. Of course I'm talking about Avengers: Doomsday. 

In the last few weeks, the Russos have been teasing about their choice in charactera being spotlighted in a series of trailers. The characters have included some of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Black Panther (Letitia Wright). For a movie that's not due out for another eleven months, it's pretty early.

The trailers themselves have been decent enough. Not revealing anything too major but raising enough curiosity as to why these characters are drawn into whatever chaos that will be caused by Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). When the first proper trailer gets released in a few months, it'll undoubtedly break the internet.

However there's still eleven months to go and closer to time we've got a few things on Disney+ to watch first. There's the imminent arrival of Wonder Man, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the title role. All eight episodes of that will drop from January 27th. Also on Disney+ through the year will be the second seasons of both Daredevil: Born Again and X-Men '97, a special presentation for The Punisher and the upcoming Vision Quest. Oh and on July 31st in theatres there's also Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Overall, a pretty solid year for Marvel fans.

Avengers: Doomsday will be in theatres from December 18th 2026.

My Review of Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

 

Written by Rob Edwards And Malcolm Spellman And Dalan Musson And Julius Onah And Peter Glanz

Directed by Julius Noah

President Ross: "You may be Captain America, but you're not Steve Rogers."

Sam: "You're right. I'm not."

I waited a week to watch this movie as I wanted to get the initial reactions out of the way and judge it for myself. First and foremost, I like Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as a character and I'm a firm believer that Sam going from Falcon to Captain America actually made sense. Sadly though, this was a disastrous first solo outing for him.

Where The Falcon And The Winter Soldier in my opinion did an excellent job of making the transition smooth for both the character and the audience to accept Sam as Captain America, this movie almost undid all the good work from four years ago.

First of all, it's less of a Captain America movie and more of an unauthorized sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk and also sadly, not a very good one at that either. Our main villain was actually Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), who looked terrible, was actively manipulating everything behind the scenes and just so he could get revenge on the now President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford).

The marketing might have pushed Ross's Red Hulk big time but he barely got enough screen time. Granted the fight scenes between Captain America and Red Hulk were decent but we've honestly seen better and it felt like it took very little to turn both Sam and Thaddeus against one another. On the other hand, at least Ross took accountability, which means he has some character progression throughout the movie.

Speaking of characters, there's a nice support system for Sam's Captain America here but a lot of them are not utilised to their best. Personally, I enjoyed the return of Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who's now assumed the Falcon mantle and was just lovable from start to finish. Sam and Joaquin get the best scenes in the whole movie.

Then there's the former Black Widow/Not Sabra here, Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas). Look, I know this character has her haters online but aside from the character overhaul she's given, I didn't have too much of an issue with her. Saying that, the movie clearly didn't need her at all. Ruth added little to proceedings here.

As for poor Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly). He was by far the most wasted character in the entire movie. A pawn in Sterns's hate campaign against President Ross and in prison for most of his scenes. I mean there's a few decent moments between Isaiah and Sam but not enough to salvage this movie.

- Fans of Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) should be happy that she made a brief appearance to reunite with her incarcerated father.

- Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) also popped up to comfort Sam when Joaquin got injured. We'll see him in Thunderbolts* next.

- Other characters to pop up included Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), Copperhead (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) and Leila Taylor (Xosha Roquemore).

- This film did lay the groundwork for Sam to set up a new Avengers group. He's got another 15 months. 

- The post credits had Sterns giving Sam a cryptic warning about a coming attack from other worlds.

- Chronology: Current day Washington DC, as well as some scenes in Tokyo.

I wanted to give Captain America: Brave New World the benefit of the doubt because the campaign against this movie had gotten out of hand. Sadly, despite it's best efforts, the movie's an absolute mess and a very disappointing first outing for Sam Wilson's Captain America. Anthony Mackie did his best but it just didn't come together at all.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: Civil War (2016)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Anthony And Joe Russo

Captain America (re Bucky): "He's my friend."

Iron Man: "So was I."

Or as I'd like to call this movie, Avengers 2.5. Despite some absences, this often felt more like an Avengers movie than the third part of a Captain America. It also pretty did a similar thing to Batman V. Superman, coming out two months after that movie. Did it do it better?

Honestly, not really. Overall,this movie felt like a culmination of the events from both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age Of Ultron but for me, this one doesn't quite hit the same height as the former and would be a tiny bit behind the latter as well.

The opening scene was rather good. There was something delightful in seeing Captain America (Chris Evans), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) going up against Crossbones (Frank Grillo). However he didn't make it out of this one alive but did manage to tip Steve off about The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) still being alive.

Bucky of course being the whole crux of this movie's conflict. You had Captain America, Falcon, Wanda as well as Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) on one side. However on the other, there was Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), a reluctant Black Widow, War Machine (Don Cheadle) as well as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). The latter side weren't exactly in Bucky's favour.

It probably didn't help that as the Winter Soldier, Bucky was responsible for the death of Howard Stark (John Slattery), while also being blamed for the death of T'Chaka (John Kani). The latter definitely wasn't on him and that alone would change the Bucky/T'Challa relationship by the end of the movie.

The actual "Civil War" really was watching your favourite Marvel heroes fight each other with both sides not really helping their respective causes. On the villain end of the scale, there was the introduction of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) who proved to be a rather effective baddie before being inevitably captured by the good guys. He's another character who successfully managed to break through in an otherwise very busy movie.

As for Tony and Steve, this movie really was a tester of their friendship and it felt like both could've tried harder to have seen the other's perspective. I did find myself siding with Steve a bit more but at least Tony seemed to show some remorse for what transpired between both sides. 

- The film featured Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), had the return of Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and a funeral for Peggy Carter. The credit scenes were good for Black Panther and Spider-Man fans.

- Alfre Woodard popped up here in a civilian role but would go on to play Mariah Dillard in Luke Cage shortly after this movie's release.

- There was definitely hints of Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) becoming a couple, even if they were on different sides within the second half of the movie.

- Both Thor and Hulk are off world, setting up Thor: Ragnarok.

- Joe Russo popped up as a murder victim of Zemo's and Stan Lee as a FedEx deliveryman.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Flashbacks to 1991 and a few different locations in 2016.

While not my favourite of the Steve Rogers trilogy, there's still enough to like with Captain America: Civil War if I'm being honest. Some characters are introduced and immediately grab your attention and the fight scenes do look great, I can't deny that.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Anthony Russo And Joe Russo

Steve: "I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend!"

The Winter Soldier: "You're my mission! YOU ARE MY MISSION!"

Steve: "Then finish it. 'Cause I'm with you 'til the end of the line."

There's a certain trilogy from another comic book franchise in which in the middle part happened to be the most highly regarded part of it. This franchise should also have that acclaim because out of the Steve Rogers trilogy, this would be my favourite of the bunch.

Shortky after the events of The Avengers, you've got Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) working together, albeit on separate missions. That's on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who still had Steve on a need to know basis with certain things.

Of course proving to be as much of a problem in the present day as they were back in the 1940s, Hydra have new acolytes doing their bidding. This was where Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) came into the forefront, working Hydra front within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, including attempting to take Fury off the table. Did anyone really believe he was dead? I definitely didn't.

Anyways with Steve and Natasha having to deal with the next generation of Hydra in their midst, at least there was some allies in their corner. There was pararescueman Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), who's easily the break out character of the entire movie. His rapport with everyone was fantastic but especially with Steve himself.

There's also Fury's right hand woman, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Agent 3 herself, Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp). There's a hint of a love story here that most fans hated at the time (and still do). Aside from that, both characters are used pretty well within a rather stacked movie.

Getting back to the villains of the piece, The Winter Soldier himself, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). One of the best and sympathetic MCU villains, considering he's a victim of Hydra's brainwashing while Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo) was a bit weaker as a baddie. 

Of course this movie certainly ended things on a complicated note between Steve and Bucky while also laying the groundwork for Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Let's just say, an icon made her debut here.

- The credit scenes introduced both Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) while Bucky looked at himself in the Smithsonian.

- Stan Lee popped up as a security guard that wasn't pleased when a certain costume was stolen.

- Steve caught up with a much older Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) in hospital while Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) also re-emerged through AI.

- This movie had Steve get closure on his relationship with Peggy, hinted at attractions to both Sharon and Natasha and asked a lot about his love life in the 21st century.

- More great casting with the likes of Jenny Agutter, Danny Pudi, Alan Dale, Bernard White and Chin Han all popping up in good supporting/cameo roles.

- Chronology: The movie came out during 2014, so around the same time.

Without a doubt, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best movie from the Steve Rogers trilogy. Everything just works (minus the Steve/Sharon subplot) but especially the complicated relationship between Steve and Bucky. I loved this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Joe Johnston

Bucky: "What happened to you?"

Steve: "I joined the Army."

With a new Captain America movie about to hit theatres next month, it was past time to go back and watch the first trilogy. If this was anything to go by, this will be a fun rewatch. I forgot how good this first movie was.

It's World War II and our hero, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) isn't exactly the most powerful guy in his squad. If he's not getting bullied by fellow soldiers, he's looked upon with disdain by Colonel Chester Philips (Tommy Lee Jones). To be fair, looking at Steve, you'd have to wonder why the hell he's in the US army, even during this specific time period.

Of course, it's war time and everyone had a role to play and Steve wasn't endearing himself to Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), he also got selected for Abraham Erskine's (Stanley Tucci) Super Soldier Serum. Let's just say that Steve Rogers went from a weedy looking fella to Captain America in no time.

However for Steve, this initially being used as a corporate mascot for enlisting talks with pretty girls but the moment his only friend James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan) went missing, Steve soon became a squadron leader that he was destined to be, saved his friend and won the respect of fellow soldiers. Those included the likes of Timothy "Dum Dum" Duggan (Neal McDonough) and so on.

As for the bad guys, well it was all about Hydra. Smaller scale threats like Heinz Kruger (Richard Armitage) took themselves off the table. That left more room for Hydra commander Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) and his scientist lackey Arnim Zola (Toby Jones). Both are fairly well realised baddies for the movie.

By the time the movie got to it's conclusion, Bucky was seemingly dead, both Zola and Red Skull were defeated, Vibranium was discovered and Steve went from being in 1941 to 2011, missing a vital date he had with Peggy. On the other hand, at least Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was there to bring him up to speed.

- Yes, prior to appearing in Doctor Who, Jenna Coleman briefly appeared as Bucky's date.

- Dominic Cooper had a strong supporting role as Howard Stark. 

- We did get a brief look at a more comic book version of Steve's suit before they settled for the more practical one.

- Other noteworthy actors who appeared in this movie included Laura Haddock, Natalie Dormer, David Bradley, Kenneth Choi and JJ Feild.

- A mid credit scene had Steve being approached by Fury for a worldwide mission and then that trailer for The Avengers.

- Chronology: 1945 and 2011, taking in the Arctic, New York City and most of the USA.

Captain America has certainly aged well as a movie. It's a great first entry for Steve Rogers with the WW2 setting and respective villains working very much in its favour. It's not hard to see how Chris Evans was cast in the part as he's perfect with his debut outing as Steve Rogers.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

SDCC 2024: The MCU Goes Doom!!

I think that's punny enough but yes, with Deadpool & Wolverine dominating the box office, the MCU thought they might as well extend that to SDCC as well.

Let's start with the biggest news drop of the night. Not only did we get Robert Downey Jr back in the MCU movies for the next two Avengers movies but there was a twist. Nope, we didn't get him back as a variant of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Instead we got him for Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom and Downey Jr certainly dressed for the occasion. 

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings on the casting. I get why some are viewing it as a desperate move on the MCU's part and I definitely feel they could've bagged a hot high profile actor for the role. Perhaps it might work though as it's certainly gotten people paying very close attention now that these upcoming movies are pivoting away from Kang (Jonathan Majors).

Speaking of the movies, they're titled Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars with the Russo brothers returning to direct them. Both movies will also be written by Steve McFeely and will be released May 1st 2026 and May 7th 2027 respectively.

The second biggest buzz from the MCU panel was of course about a certain family. Now titled The Fantastic Four: First Steps and keeping it's July 25th 2025 release, the main cast showed up to Hall H and exclusive footage was unveiled. 

The footage showed the foursome - Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) in space suits, Reed teaching a science class and a futuristic setting, in spite of the movie being set in the 1960s. 

Over the last few months, the cast was rounded out to include Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Gardner), Galactus (Ralph Ineson) as well as Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich in undisclosed roles. Matt Shakman is directing the movie, written by Josh Friedman (having done rewrites from a script by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer).

Last but not least, there was panels for both Captain America: Brave New World (February 14th 2025) and Thunderbolts* (May 2nd 2025). Neither hit quite as big as the other panels did but there was something delightful in watching Harrison Ford embrace playing Red Hulk in Hall H while Giancarlo Esposito's character was revealed to be Seth Voelker/Sidewinder. Those first two panels were definitely modest with both movies nearer to release. Of course with D23 around the corner, expect some bigger news for the MCU to be released.

I'll cover the D23 news next month but overall, a good level of news came out last night at SDCC for the MCU. What was your favourite reveal?