Los Angeles: Marvel Studios unveiled the first full-length trailer for Avengers: Doomsday at CinemaCon to a rapturous response from theatre owners, with the footage delivering several crowd-pleasing moments, chief among them the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr’s first unmasked appearance as Doctor Doom.
Downey Jr, who spent a decade playing Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the MCU before his character’s death in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” took the stage to the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”, according to Variety.
“I couldn’t have imagined reuniting with this amazing team – let alone as a new character,” he said.
The trailer offered the first proper look at his green-hooded, metal-faced Doom preparing to invade the multiverse.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said Doomsday will pick up where Avengers: Endgame left off.
He also expressed excitement at finally bringing the Avengers and the X-Men into the same film.
The trailer packs in a flurry of crossovers: Gambit (Channing Tatum) and Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) in combat; Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) shapeshifting into Yelena Belova for a Florence Pugh vs Florence Pugh showdown; and a striking moment where Doom catches Thor’s hammer Mjolnir with his bare hands.
The biggest reaction, however, came when Evans’ Steve Rogers, who had retired to the past in “Endgame”, reappeared alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, picking up Mjolnir once again.
Evans took the stage after the screening and said of Doom: “This guy – I don’t like it.”
Director Joe Russo described Doom as “not simply a villain – one of the most complex Marvel characters. He’s always three moves ahead.”
The film unites the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts, with a cast including Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Letitia Wright as Shuri, among many others.
The Russo brothers are directing from a script by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely. Doomsday opens December 18 alongside Dune: Part III, with sequel Avengers: Secret Wars set for December 17, 2027.
