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 The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

 

Written by Josh Friedman And Eric Pearson And Jeff Kaplan And Ian Springer And Kat Wood 

Directed by Matt Shakman

Reed: "Before we went up the first time, you couldn't turn invisible. Ben wasn't a rock. And Johnny never caught fire."

Sue: "Ben has always been a rock. Johnny is... Johnny. And I am right here. Whatever life throws at us, we'll face it together, as a family."

If we're being honest, 2025 has not been a high point for the MCU as a franchise. With it's first two movies failing to hit big and their Disney+ shows becoming more divisive, does this movie herald a change in outcome?

I will say that when it comes to big screen, this first family of Marvel haven't had the easiest of times and their last big screen outing in 2015 was a monumental disaster. This film isn't short of some problems but it's definitely not a disaster in any real way. First though, let's focus on the good.

We're going for a retro vibe here as our family - Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss -Bachrach) already have their powers, are household names and two of them are about to become parents.

Taking notes from other recent comic book movies, this one skipped the origin story and honestly, I'm cool with that. I mean there's still some context given to their powers and we do see some of their domestic life. Their live in robotic assistant H.E.R.B.I.E. (Matthew Wood) was rather adorable. 

For those less interested in the domestic side of things, there's the arrival of Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). She was there to herald the imminent arrival of the planet destroying Galactus (Ralph Ineson). There's a certain "tension" between her and Johnny that I really wished the film had explored a little deeper.

Of course Galactus posed an ultimatum towards our heroic family. He'll leave the Earth unharmed but only if Reed and Sue surrendered their son, Franklin. That was never going to happen but it did put a target on the family until Sue gave a pretty impassioned speech to get everyone else on side. It's a really nice speech.

Anyways, getting back to the villains, a reluctant team up with Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) against Galactus along with a change of heart from Silver Surfer. For me, this was where the movie seriously lagged. It's a really rushed and unsatisfying climax and I do think the lack of bigger action sequences might hurt the film's rewatchability factor. 

- The credit scene of course featured Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr). Yes, they filmed that scene recently during production of Avengers: Doomsday.

- There's supporting roles from Mark Gates, Sarah Niles and Natasha Lyonne. They're fine but the latter felt a bit wasted.

- The actors from the unreleased 1994 The Fantastic Four movie had cameos in this movie.

- This movie found new ways to have both Johnny and Ben's infamous catchphrases referenced.

- Standout music: Chet Baker's Let's Get Lost, Juan García Esquivel's Guanacoa and Andrea Datzman's Let Us Be Devoured.

- Chronology: 1964 on Earth 828. Four years had passed during the credit scene.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps certainly would be the best movie that focused on this particular group and probably on a par with Thunderbolts*. It's also got strong chemistry with the leads. However it's runtime, lack of action and underdeveloped villains are where it's let down a bit.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Fantastic Four (2015)

Written by Jeremy Slater And Simon Kinberg And Josh Trank

Directed by Josh Trank 

Reed: "Victor, don't do this!"

Victor: "There is no Victor... there is only Doom!"

Oh dear. After a rather fun duology for this group in the 2000s, the 2010s were less kind to them. This one movie really felt like such a setback that even if their upcoming MCU isn't a slam dunk, it's already a step from this epic misfire.

I've seen plenty of mediocre and downright bad superhero movies but this movie managed to miscast four leads who've been generally good in other projects but here are rather devoid of chemistry and felt completely wrong for the parts. Mainly because they're all too young for the roles they've been cast in.

Anyways social outcasts Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) become fast friends due to being social outcasts and having terrible families. They also bonded over a project that allowed them to potentially teleport.

That particular project attracted the attention of the government and in particular, Dr Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and soon both Reed and Ben were working under Franklin and the latter's gifted children, Sue (Kate Mara) and Johnny (Michael B. Jordan). Oh and massively disliked genius, Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbel) for good measure.

Soon enough, you've got scientific advancements going awry and the group (and Victor) ended up with their usual power set. Only Reed decided to abandon the group and it took both Ben and Sue to get him help out with a much bigger problem. Of course that problem would be Doom.

Yes, another movie with this group and Doom as the main villain and try as he did, Toby Kebbel really failed to deliver any menace or campy fun to the iconic baddie. Of course when Doom did get defeated and the group managed to leverage their own freedom from the government, there was the issue of coming up with a decent name.

- There's no Stan Lee cameo or mid/post credit scene with this movie.

- Michael B. Jordan would later go on to play Kilmonger in the Black Panther movies for the MCU while co-writer Jeremy Slater would take on Moon Knight for Disney+.

- It seems like both Josh Trank and Jeremy Slater had very different ideas in how to handle this movie with Simon Kinberg having to rewrite the script.

- Chronology: 2007, 2014 and 2015 in New York, Central City and Central America.

There's no denying that this version of Fantastic Four might be as far from fantastic as you can get. It's an absolute mess of a movie, very much miscast with it's leads and visually unappealing from start to finish. There's nothing good I can say about this one.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007)

 

Written by Don Payne And Mark Frost And John Turman

Directed by Tim Story

The Silver Surfer: "Treasure each moment with her and tell her she's right, we do have a choice."

With the 2005 movie being a success, a sequel was to be expected and it's not one that was exactly beloved. Is it really that bad? I guess I'm going to against the grain and say not really. I don't hate it but it's certainly shorter than expected.

Anyways, you've got the wedding of Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) and needless to say, it's not an event that doesn't go without a hitch. Whether it's Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) on bachelor party duties with certain women and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis), there's also the title character making their presence known.

Yup, the Silver Surfer aka Norton Radd (Laurence Fishburne/Doug Jones) being a menace in the sky had Reed researching him behind Susan's back at the behest of General Hager (Andre Braugher) and the title character also disrupted Reed and Sue's first attempt to get married. Needless to say that didn't exactly endear the character to the title.

Speaking of characters not on the endearing, Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon) returned for seconds, seemingly wanting to help the Fantastic Four with the Silver Surfer. Of course, it was clear that he had his own agenda and Sue soon realised that the Silver Surfer wasn't the villain of the piece. Sue was the first to figure that out about the title character.

The real villain of the piece that wasn't Doom was of course, Galactus. This version was basically a planet eating cloud that Silver Surfer was a servant. Silver Surfer did get something of a heroic sacrifice when She became a casualty of Galactus while Doom also got his ass handed to him for the second movie in a row.

As for the rest of the movie, we saw Reed and Sue eventually get married and briefly consider disbanding the team. We also got a little more depth with Ben's relationship with Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington) while Johnny met his match with the less easy to impress Captain Raye (Beau Garrett). 

- Captain Raye's first name was Frankie and yeah, she was a nod to Nova. Not that you'd know, lol.

- A post credit scene confirmed that Silver Surfer actually survived the events of this movie.

- Stan Lee made an appearance as a rejected wedding guest called Stan Lee.

- Chronology: A while since the events of the first movie. New York, Shanghai and Japan.

I had a lot of fun with Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. The power swapping antics were amusing, the title character was nicely handled and our four leads were on fine form. The only flaws were the shorter run time and Doom feeling tacked on and Galactus not being used as well as they could've been.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Fantastic Four (2005)

 

Written by Mark Frost And Michael France

Directed by Tim Story

Reed: "I'm trying to figure out why we each ended up with different symptoms."

Johnny: "Oh, well that's easy: I'm hot. You're... well, you're a little limp. Sue's easy to see through. And Ben's always been a hardass."

With the imminent arrival of the MCU version of this particular group, it was time to back twenty years and watch the first successful attempt of a live action translation. I mean there's a certain hot guy here who became even hotter when he took up a shield six years after this movie's release.

Now, for the titular group themselves, we've got scientists and former couple Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), the latter's younger and reckless brother, Johnny (Chris Evans) and the former's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis). Add a space mission at the behest of their boss, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) and suddenly this group levelled up.

Yup, within the first half of the movie we had Reed discovering he could stretch, Sue becoming invisible when her emotions heightened, Johnny literally being too hot to handle and Ben having his skin harden and gaining super strength. Out of them all, Ben was the one who liked his powers the least.

It also didn't help that Johnny not only counted the Fantastic Four terms but Mr Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch and The Thing were also on him. Personally, I think Ben almost went easy on Johnny as the latter was definitely pushing his luck. On the other hand, the new powers were also instrumental in getting Reed and Susan to reconnect, much to Victor's jealousy.

Yes, there's a love triangle between Reed, Susan and Victor and the latter himself also got infected by the same accident as everyone else. Victor's transformation into Doctor Doom was done pretty well and he certainly did his best to try and kill off the Fantastic Four. Even Susan wasn't safe from his wrath but it was Doctor Doom's attack on the group that finally made them unite as a team.

After a lot of bickering and fighting between the title team, it was great to see them band together in order to defeat Doctor Doom and become a proper team. As for Doctor Doom, well, let's just say that we haven't seen the last of him.

- Stan Lee had a cameo appearance as Willie Lumpkin and a deleted scene also had Reed change into Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

- There's some nice supporting roles for Kerry Washington as blind artist, Alicia Masters and Hamish Linklater as Victor's assistant, Leonard.

- Some changes were made to the movie in order to avoid comparisons to The Incredibles.

- Chronology: 2005 New York with Doom also being transported back to Latveria.

Fantastic Four has aged pretty well as a movie. It's light, fun, breezy and doesn't overstay it's welcome. The title group and Doom are cast well and the origins for both are nicely handled. It's a really fun debut for this group.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

The Fantastic Four - Cast Officially Announced & New Release Date

After months of possibly the worst kept secret in the industry, Marvel decided that Valentine's Day was the best day to reveal the cast for The Fantastic Four.

The news will not shock you one bit.

Complete with a gorgeous poster and a release date, the following actors have been cast as the following characters. The poster alone also seemingly confirmed a long standing rumour of the movie being set in 1963.

Pedro Pascal will play Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby will play Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play Ben Grimm and Joseph Quinn will play Johnny Storm. As we've known for the last several months but at least they're finally announced and today was a good day to announce it.

As for the release date, originally it was going to early 2025 but now will be July 25th 2025 and will undoubtedly be the summer blockbuster along with Superman: Legacy and the next Jurassic Park movie. Summer 2025 will be insane with three particular movies released so closely to one another.

Filming for The Fantastic Four will begin shortly for it's July 25th 2025 release date.