Avengers: Doomsday Is Officially Making Disney+ History

Avengers: Doomsday will be a historic release in the film world, but many fans likely aren't aware that it will also be making Disney+ history as well. Now that Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been released in theaters, fans are turning all of their attention toward December 18 for the worldwide premiere of Avengers: Doomsday, which could easily become the biggest and highest-grossing movie of all time. Doomsday is undoubtedly going to be a massive event and will likely break some records throughout its time in theaters, but it has already cemented itself in the Disney+ history books as well, overtaking the top spot for the specific record from a 2025 MCU film.

Based on the announced cast list for Avengers: Doomsday, the film will make Disney+ history by being the MCU movie that has the most heroes who have previously appeared in a Disney+ series. For example, Marvel Studios has confirmed that Doomsday will feature characters like Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, who both appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Specifically, Avengers: Doomsday will include six MCU heroes who have also been in Disney+ projects. Now, it is entirely possible that that number could increase after Doomsday is released, because Marvel could definitely have some surprises hiding behind the curtain that won't be unveiled until the movie premieres.

However, as of writing, Doomsday's six heroes who have been in Disney+ shows include Sam Wilson (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Bucky Barnes (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Joaquin Torres (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), John Walker (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Yelena Belova (Hawkeye), and Loki (Loki).

All of these characters have made multiple appearances throughout the MCU and have been featured in at least one film, meaning their stories and character arcs have already crossed over from Disney+ to the silver screen. So far, there has been a rather seamless transition from TV to movies regarding these characters, so there is no reason to assume that their presence in Disney+ projects will affect their inclusion in Doomsday.

With Doomsday featuring six MCU heroes who were also included in Disney+ projects, it will pass 2025's Captain America: Brave New World for the most. Notably, that film showcased four heroes who were previously on Disney's streaming platform.

Specifically, those characters were Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Joaquin Torres, and Isaiah Bradley, all of whom came from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In that movie's case, all of those characters being included and coming from the show made perfect sense. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was where Sam Wilson officially took up the mantle of Captain America, and Brave New World was essentially a sequel to that 2021 Disney+ show.

After Brave New World in the record books, four movies are tied for the number three spot, with each of them including three heroes who had made appearances on Disney+.

One of those four movies is the recently released Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which included the Punisher (Daredevil: Born Again and The Punisher: One Last Kill), Yelena Belova (Hawkeye), and Hulk (She-Hulk). Notably, the Disney+ appearances for Yelena and the Hulk had absolutely no connection to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so it didn't matter if fans had watched Hawkeye or She-Hulk.

The Punisher's inclusion didn't act as a direct continuation of The Punisher: One Last Kill, but the Disney+ special did give some insight into the nature of Frank's character by the time of the events of Brand New Day.

It is worth noting that, in Brand New Day's case, it did also feature another MCU character from a Disney+ show, but they aren't considered a hero. Specifically, this character was Sheila Rivera, the interim mayor of New York City. Sheila was a main character in Daredevil: Born Again, and her appointment as interim mayor happened in that series. So, when fans saw her in Brand New Day, if they had seen Born Again, they knew who she was and why she was in the position she was in.

The second MCU movie that showcased three heroes from Disney+ shows is 2023's The Marvels. The Marvels included Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), Monica Rambeau (WandaVision), and Nick Fury (Secret Invasion). Of all of the MCU movies that featured heroes from Disney+, The Marvels is probably the one that required the most homework.

For example, to really even understand who Kamala and Monica were in The Marvels, fans would have needed to watch Ms. Marvel and WandaVision. That "homework" could have been a reason that The Marvels didn't perform well at all at the box office.

It is worth mentioning that, while Doomsday will feature the most MCU heroes from Disney+ shows, the upcoming film is tied with 2023's The Marvels for having the most general characters who were in Disney+. For reference, The Marvels included six total characters who had previously appeared in a Disney+ show, but only three of them (Kamala, Monica, and Nick) were considered heroes.

The other three, which were Muneeba Khan, Usuf Khan, and Aamir Khan, were all previously in Ms. Marvel alongside Kamala. Therefore, when talking about which MCU movie features the most general MCU characters, it is a tie between Doomsday and The Marvels. However, when just talking about heroes, Doomsday has the most.

The third MCU flick to have three MCU heroes in it from the Disney+ shows is Thunderbolts*. That movie, which quickly became beloved by the MCU fanbase, featured Yelena Belova (Hawkeye), Bucky Barnes (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and John Walker (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). 

Like some of the other movies mentioned above, Thunderbolts* didn't really rely on the characters' appearances in the Disney+ shows to push the movie forward, except in John Walker's case. If fans hadn't seen Hawkeye or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it wouldn't have really made a difference regarding Yelena or Bucky. However, John was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so knowing his backstory through that show was quite crucial for Thunderbolts*.

It is worth noting that, when mentioning how many general characters appeared in Thunderbolts*, the count is at five, since the film also included Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Olivia Walker (John's wife).

The fourth and final MCU movie to include three MCU heroes from the Disney+ library is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In the Doctor Strange sequel's case, all three of its heroes (Wanda, Tommy, and Billy Maximoff) all came from the same Disney+ show, WandaVision.

Now, anyone watching Doctor Strange 2 would have needed to watch WandaVision, no questions asked. The plot of WandaVision directly impacted Doctor Strange 2's story and essentially set all of its events in motion. However, Disney+ and Marvel Studios handled the transition between TV and film seamlessly.

Another film in the MCU that featured a few heroes who had been in Disney+ shows is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. The actual main film didn't have any Disney+ heroes in it. However, one of the movie's post-credits scenes was a setup for Loki Season 2, so it included Loki and Mobius, both of whom appeared in the Loki series.

However, it is worth mentioning that Kang himself and Jimmy Woo, who were in Loki and WandaVision, respectively, did make appearances in the main Quantumania movie. However, they are not designated as heroes.

Three MCU movies only included one hero from the Disney+ shows. One of those movies was Thor: Love and Thunder, which featured Sif. Sif was also showcased in Loki, but her role was limited to a cameo. However, she did still technically appear.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever featured Ayo, the second-in-command of the Dora Milaje. Ayo notably made an appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when she confronted Bucky regarding Zemo.

It is worth noting that Valentina also made an appearance in Black Panther 2, but as previously mentioned, Val is not a hero.

Finally, Deadpool & Wolverine included only one hero from the MCU's Disney+ shows, and that hero was Hunter B-15 from the Loki series. Since Deadpool & Wolverine dealt with the Multiverse and the TVA, it only made sense for someone related to both of those concepts to appear in the film.

Other Disney+ Characters Who Could Be in Doomsday

As mentioned, it is entirely possible that other characters who have been in MCU projects on Disney+ could be featured in Avengers: Doomsday, and that they just haven't been announced yet.

A person who was one of the titular characters of WandaVision, the Scarlet Witch herself, could potentially be someone who will show up in Doomsday. It is possible that Wanda could be working for Doctor Doom and be tied to him through her magic. Fans would definitely be excited to see her back, and if she did return, it wouldn't be a surprise that Marvel decided not to market her.

Another Disney+ character who could potentially show up is Mobius. Since Mobius is so heavily tied to the TVA and Loki, and since Loki himself is going to play an important role in Doomsday, no one would be shocked if Mobius popped up as well.

Another possibility is that heroes such as Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop or Kamala Khan could make surprise appearances. It has been teased that both of those heroes could be main characters of the MCU moving forward, and it could greatly help their exposure to fans if they were in a movie like Doomsday.