When Marvel Studios brings Doctor Doom to life in Avengers: Doomsday, he'll prove to have several different abilities in comparison to the MCU's last major villain, Josh Brolin's Thanos. The Infinity Saga's big bad was responsible for wiping out half the universe with the infinity stones, but there were still quite a few tricks even Thanos didn't know.

Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU to become the man behind Doctor Doom's mask, and his new role will mean he'll have a whole new arsenal he never had as Iron Man. Doom is a brand new rival in the MCU, who was teased at the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but his full abilities are yet to be seen in action.

Just like Thanos was the main character in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Doctor Doom is expected to fill a similar role in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but the two characters will be different thanks to their distinct powers.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day's trailer and marketing rollout ranks among the most aggressive in Marvel Studios history, with the trailer breaking viewership records in March and a constant stream of promotional banners giving fans early looks at most of the cast. Tom Holland's fourth solo Spider-Man outing arrives in theaters on July 31, with returning stars Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, joined by Mark Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, and several new villains. Almost every major name in the movie features prominently in the campaign, with one notable exception. 

The trailer and the wider marketing push for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are working overtime to hide the true size of Sadie Sink's role in the film. Sink holds third billing in the official credits, placing her behind only Tom Holland and Zendaya. The billing order for the top cast reads: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo. Yet despite that ranking, she barely shows up in any of the promotional material released so far, with no clear face shots in the trailer, no posters featuring her, and no merchandise tied to her character. 

A scene from the fourth Avengers: Doomsday teaser featuring Black Panther's Wakanda caught fans' attention since its release, sparking widespread theories about hidden characters and digital edits in the footage. The teaser, which dropped online in early January and arrived in theaters with Avatar: Fire and Ash, focused on the Black Panther duo of Letitia Wright's Shuri and Winston Duke's M'Baku as they crossed paths with Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben Grimm, the Thing. One particular shot, where Ben shakes M'Baku's hand, became the center of debate online, with viewers convinced Marvel had quietly erased other heroes from the background.

This suspicion has now been confirmed. The original version of the Wakanda scene from Avengers: Doomsday is notably different from what audiences saw in the fourth teaser. Marvel's full trailer, which The Direct got a first-hand view of when it premiered at CinemaCon 2026, revealed that the Thing was never alone in that handshake moment with the new King of Wakanda. An interesting list of heroes stands right behind him in the unaltered footage. 

What the CinemaCon Trailer Revealed About Black Panther's Wakanda Scene 

A Disney+ Marvel series coming to an end means the speculation floodgates are open. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2's finale created a new status quo for the titular character, tossing him in jail for all of his vigilante crimes. But he's not the only character who made moves in the last episode of the sophomore outing.

Mr. Charles, who recruited Luke Cage for his shady business, couldn't leave well enough alone. After Cage returned home, he told his partner, Jessica Jones, that Charles had found someone new. 

Born Again didn't waste any time revealing that Bullseye bought Charles' sales pitch and boarded a plane with him. The partnership isn't all that surprising, given how unhinged both characters are. However, what is out of the ordinary is how similar Charles is to another shadow operative: Sharon Carter, aka The Power Broker.

Four major spoilers have surfaced online revealing key details about Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead of its July 31 theatrical debut. The highly anticipated fourth MCU outing for Tom Holland's Peter Parker serves as the direct follow-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home, though much about the film's story has remained shrouded in mystery. These recent leaks are beginning to pull back the curtain for fans eager to know what's in store.

From what Marvel Studios and Sony have officially revealed, the film picks up four years after No Way Home, with Peter Parker now living entirely alone, having erased himself from the memories of everyone he loves. Holland leads the cast once again, with Zendaya and Jacob Batalon returning as MJ and Ned, though it's unclear how large a role they will play.

Jon Bernthal's Punisher is also joining after this Special Presentation on Disney+, while Marvin Jones III is on board as the villain Tombstone, and Mark Ruffalo is set to return as Bruce Banner/Hulk. 

Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige has commented on the company's recent leadership changes. Operating under the Disney umbrella, Marvel is best known for its film and TV projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the company also produces content across other media, including comics, games, and books. A recent restructure has confirmed the appointment of two new people to oversee Marvel's comics, and one of them is a very familiar face.

Marvel confirmed on May 18 that Brad Winderbaum, the current head of Marvel Television and Animation at Marvel Studios, has been given the additional role of Head of Marvel Comics & Franchise, meaning the entirety of Marvel's publishing portfolio is now under his leadership. Winderbaum replaces Dan Buckley, who is stepping down after almost 30 years at Marvel. Winderbaum is also joined by Disney executive David Abdo, who will work as Marvel's General Manager, Comics & Franchise.

Winderbaum has worked with Feige, who is also Marvel's Chief Creative Officer on top of being Marvel Studios' President, for years, with the pair helping to orchestrate the MCU's TV slate across live-action and animation. 

Unlike Avengers: Doomsday, which has had to ramp up its marketing campaign ahead of its December 18, 2026, release date, Avengers: Secret Wars is a clean slate. Marvel Studios is keeping all of its Secret Wars cards close to the vest, especially when it comes to the movie's cast. A few actors have confirmed that they will return after Doomsday, but plenty of surprises are sure to be in the works.

One report claims that Tobey Maguire is having the red carpet rolled out for him a final time as he helps put a bow on the Multiverse Saga. But having the original movie Spider-Man return is as easy a lay-up as Marvel Studios will ever have, as it ensures major brownie points. There's another hero who's finding himself in the headlines that doesn't have as clear a path to success: Blade.

Insider DanielRPK recently reported that Kevin Feige and Co. plan to include Blade in Secret Wars (via Cosmic Marvel). And that's all the information he had, meaning his role in the movie's events is a mystery. A logical theory is that Blade will appear for a brief cameo, showing him doing his part to fight Doctor Doom or another threat to his reality.

Marvel Studios is celebrating five of the MCU's most powerful queens in a new tribute that spans Asgard, Wakanda, Westview, and beyond. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has featured plenty of strong female characters since 2008, and a small group of them hold the title of queen across both the films and Disney+ shows.

The new tribute came from Marvel Studios Canada in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption "All hail the queens who steal scenes." The accompanying poster brings together five queens from across the franchise.

The five queens featured on the poster are Death from Agatha All Along, Queen Ramonda from the Black Panther films, the Scarlet Witch from WandaVision and Marvel Zombies, Hela from Thor: Ragnarok, and Frigga from the Thor films. The lineup covers more than a decade of MCU history, with Frigga's first appearance dating back to 2011's Thor and Death's live-action debut coming as recently as 2024 through Agatha All Along.

Marvel Studios finally confirmed exactly how long fans will be waiting to see Jon Bernthal's Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Seven years on from his two-season Netflix series' conclusion, Frank Castle has been enjoying a new lease of life in the MCU through Daredevil: Born Again, The Punisher: One Last Kill, and now, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. That said, as the July blockbuster has a stacked cast of heroes and villains, many have pondered how much time Spider-Man 4 will have for its violent, foul-mouthed anti-hero star.

Sony Pictures released a new "Practical Production" featurette for Spider-Man: Brand New Day to highlight how much of the movie's action was crafted in-camera, without VFX. Citing one example of that shift from previous movies, Destin Daniel Cretton referred to "that opening action sequence," which was the "first thing [they] did" when production began last year

Fans caught glimpses of Spider-Man chasing a tank through the streets of New York from those snapping shots of the open set in Glasgow, Scotland. Part of the chase sequence (later showcased in the teaser trailer) featured Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle joining the pursuit in his battle van, confirming that he will enter Brand New Day as early as the opening sequence.

Marvel Studios is rebooting the heroes of its old Defenders saga, and the approach looks nothing like the Netflix run that introduced these characters to begin with. Daredevil: Born Again is the new home for Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, and the show is steadily bringing in the rest of the street-level lineup, with Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones already part of the tailend of Season 2's story and Mike Colter's Luke Cage and Finn Jones' Iron Fist confirmed for Season 3 through recent set photos.

With this rollout, Marvel Studios has officially walked away from the Netflix-era strategy of giving each Defender their own standalone show before bringing them together. The original plan under Marvel Television, from 2015 to 2019, used six separate series, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher, to build that team. The reboot is doing it inside one show across three seasons, a much tighter approach that shows how differently Marvel Studios wants to handle these heroes going forward. 

Fans may now have a sense of when Avengers: Doomsday could eventually get a release window for its streaming debut on Disney+. While Doomsday is still over half a year away from its worldwide premiere, it is expected to be Disney's biggest 2026 release by a wide margin. Following what should be a massive run at the box office, some are looking ahead to when it will be available to watch at home.

Disney confirmed that Avatar: Fire and Ash will begin streaming on Disney+ on June 24. This date will be just over six months after the threequel debuted in theaters on December 19, 2025 (188 days). Director James Cameron's third Pandora-based epic became the third-highest-grossing movie of the year at just under $1.5 billion worldwide.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 gave the Man Without Fear's mask a whole new meaning going into Season 3. The MCU's Daredevil has already worn multiple masks and suits, starting with his black, ninja-esque attire and evolving into his famous red Netflix costume, which he has now spray-painted black for Born Again Season 2, with a detour through a red/yellow She-Hulk suit along the way.   

Daredevil: Born Again's Season 2 finale saw Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock once again wear his Shadowland-inspired black suit into battle, with the dark spray paint peeling back to reveal the famous devilish red beneath. But that red is now running rampant through the streets of New York, as the superhero lawyer is no longer the only one to wear his famous cowl in the Disney+ series.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 is adapting an iconic storyline that places the Man Without Fear and Punisher's reunion on the cards. Sadly, Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle sat out the last chapter of Born Again's Kingpin clash, seemingly due to the actor's already busy MCU schedule, filming Disney+'s The Punisher: One Last Kill special and a supporting role in this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Warning - This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

But the show must go on, and Frank Castle missed out on mayhem, culminating in Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock outing himself as Daredevil in court. Unfortunately for the Man Without Fear, actions have consequences, and he was promptly arrested for Daredevil's crimes, setting up an adaptation of The Devil In Cell Block D. 

Avengers: Secret Wars' new casting update isn't as exciting as fans hoped, but there is a chance it might have a deeper meaning beneath the surface. Production for Avengers: Secret Wars is set to begin in August, and this timeline is widely seen as a smart, deliberate improvement over the rushed production schedule of Avengers: Endgame in 2018. Secret Wars is expected to continue the story from Avengers: Doomsday, bringing back several MCU characters, such as Steve Rogers, Thor, Reed Richards, Yelena Belova, and Doctor Doom. 

While a significant portion of the cast has been revealed through reports and interviews, a new casting call for Avengers: Secret Wars emerged online, but it wasn't as fans had thought due to the lack of big names attached to the listing. 

Based on a routine casting call from All Casting, a U.S. casting agency, Marvel Studios is seeking everyday performers for large-scale scenes in Avengers: Secret Wars, with specific roles including enhanced beings, military personnel, civilians, scientists, fighters, and survivors. Requirements are broad: ages 18-60, all ethnicities and body types are encouraged. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day officially revealed a third Spider-Man costume for Tom Holland's Peter Parker, and it is inspired by a suit taken from Andrew Garfield's version of the webslinger. Peter Parker is set to have a fresh start in Brand New Day as he rebuilds his life in a world that has completely forgotten he ever existed. Part of his new beginning is the creation of brand-new Spider suits, now that he has lost access to Tony Stark's technology at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

The "Home" trilogy of Holland's Spider-Man featured eight distinct suits, including the homemade suit, the Stark Tech suit, and the iconic Iron Spider suit seen in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. As part of the "Day" wave of movies, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to feature at least three Spider-Man suits, as shown in the official Practical Production featurette from Sony Pictures. 

At the 0:07 mark of the featurette, Spider-Man: Brand New Day officially revealed Tom Holland's Spider-Man wearing a winter-adapted outfit layered over the base suit. 

Marvel Studios has officially unveiled a brand-new name for the Hulk as he makes his long-awaited return to the MCU. The green powerhouse, portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, has been absent from the franchise since the 2022 Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, leaving both Bruce Banner and his alter ego completely off the board throughout the entirety of Phase 5. Now, with Phase 6 underway, the character is set to storm back onto the scene this summer under a fresh identity.

The Hulk's MCU journey began back in Phase 1 with The Incredible Hulk, where Edward Norton first brought Bruce Banner's gamma-radiated alter ego to life in the MCU. 

The role was then taken over by Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers, where the monster truly stepped into the spotlight as a barely contained, secret-filled beast, who was always angry.

Marvel Studios' new Apocalypse design will make some major changes to what was previously seen in the villain's X-Men movie from Fox. Apocalypse has had a complicated relationship in media over the last few decades, especially after Oscar Isaac's portrayal of the villain in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse became divisive among viewers. 

The first look at Apocalypse at full power in X-Men '97 Season 2 was revealed through new merchandise from Marvel Legends and Funko. The figurine and Funko Pop! provide new details about Apocalypse's look, which will be vastly different from Oscar Isaac's live-action portrayal in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse.

The animated Apocalypse has a much brighter color scheme, featuring vibrant imagery, with blue/purple armor and a beige face with blue lips. Isaac embodied a version of the character that was much more muted, with a blue/grey armor color scheme and a similar color for the villain's face, with no colors standing out.

Marvel and DC's 2027 blockbusters will now officially have some overlap in their key cast. While the MCU's only 2027 offering will be December's Avengers: Secret Wars, Sony Pictures is bolstering the red brand's place in June with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Furthermore, DC Studios is coming to play with two-thirds of its legendary Trinity in theaters, with James Gunn's Superman sequel/crossover event, Man of Tomorrow, coming in July, and Matt Reeves finally delivering The Batman: Part 2 after over five years of waiting in October.

Finally put an end to years of rumors, Reeves recently unveiled the cast of The Batman 2 in a series of GIFs posted to X. That list included two actors who have also been confirmed to appear in major Marvel movies next year, meaning that the competing superhero brands will share two (possibly three) actors in 2027...

Every Actor Appearing in Marvel & DC Superhero Projects in 2027

The live-action Spider-Man arriving on Prime Video this month has a new romantic interest of his own, and Marvel has given fans their first proper look at the pair together in a romantic sense. Spider-Noir stars Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, an aging private investigator in 1930s New York who once fought crime as the masked hero known as The Spider. The eight-episode series drops on MGM+ on May 25 before its global rollout on Prime Video two days later, and it draws heavily on the comic book Spider-Man's long history of complicated love stories.

Prime Video debuted a striking new black-and-white poster for Spider-Noir ahead of an exclusive Alamo Drafthouse screening event on May 25, and the artwork places Cage's hero in a tight, smoky embrace with Li Jun Li's Cat Hardy. The image leans hard into classic noir romance, with the two leads locked under a lamppost in pure pulp-cinema style. It serves as the clearest tease yet that Cat Hardy, this universe's take on Black Cat, will function as the central romantic interest for Cage's web-slinging detective. 

Marvel Studios is yet to bring Hulkling to the screen, but the perfect actor is already waiting to take the part. Teddy Altman, the teen green Hulk successor, is one of the few Young Avengers team members who hasn't appeared in some form in the MCU yet, but as Marvel Studios barrels its way toward a proper team-up of the group, it's only a matter of time. Adding to the anticipation is that Hulkling's love interest, Wiccan, was introduced in the MCU in 2024's Agatha All Along, and many want to see the popular LGBTQ+ couple established on-screen.

There have been many fan casts for who should play Hulkling over the years, but one actor who has recently found huge stardom would make a perfect choice. The queer hockey series Heated Rivalry, released in late 2025, quickly made household names of Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. Since then, Storrie has said he's receiving plenty of enticing offers for new roles, and the MCU could be a perfect next choice. 

The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that his agents are "bringing me a bunch of cool opportunities that I can't even believe I'm having." Storrie said he hadn't committed to anything yet, but said that it "comes down to vibe," on whether he would say yes to something. Storrie wasn't specific about whether Marvel might've been one of these opportunities, but the studio should definitely consider the actor for the currently open Hulkling role.