A new wave of Avengers: Doomsday posters officially gave the spotlight to the crossover's two main superheroes who will lead the fight against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. The anticipation is high for Doomsday due to its promise of bringing together heroes across the Multiverse for the Multiverse Saga's climax. The crossover event unites the core Avengers, the newly assembled New Avengers, the X-Men from a different universe, and the Fantastic Four from Earth-828. All of them are set on a collision course with Doctor Doom, who utilized otherworldly allies like the Sentinels, a coven of Latverian witches, and a team that includes MCU heavyweights Scarlet Witch and the Hulk.
Amid this massive ensemble of teams and returning characters, marketing and the promotional wave of Avengers: Doomsday have consistently elevated two MCU pillars as the central heroic forces, as evidenced by this latest banner from Shanghai, China. The banner showcased Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Chris Hemsworth's Thor at the forefront, indicating they are the most important heroes leading the charge against Doom.
Joining Thor and Steve Rogers in this mega banner for Doomsday are the two other leaders of their respective teams: Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova of the New Avengers and James Marsden's Cyclops of the X-Men.
Thor is shown wielding Stormbreaker amid crackling energy, while Steve appears ready for battle with Mjolnir in tow, underscoring their status as the top-billed superhero actors anchoring the film.
It's interesting that the campaign continues to place them at the forefront even as the story expands into Multiversal crossovers. Empire's recent covers reinforce the same hierarchy, giving Steve Rogers and Thor dedicated lead spots on two of the three hero variants (with Cyclops headlining the third).
Giving Steve Rogers the spotlight is a no-brainer, mainly because he remains one of the MCU's most trusted leaders. Steve is someone who can unite disparate teams, make the hard calls, and inspire others even when the odds are overwhelming. However, his leadership isn't the main reason why he is one of the main superheroes in Doomsday. Sam Wilson's Captain America was given the nod to rally these fractured teams in the looming Multiversal conflict.
Doctor Doom's hatred toward Steve Rogers runs deep because Steve's choices at the end of Avengers: Endgame (returning to the past to live with Peggy Carter) carry personal and Multiversal consequences that Doom holds him accountable for. Some have theorized that Steve's timeline leap contributed to the incursions destabilizing realities, including events that devastated Doom's own world and family. This effectively makes Steve a primary target of Doom's vengeance. This personal grudge elevates Steve beyond a simple leadership role and into a central narrative fulcrum.
As for Chris Hemsworth's Thor, the God of Thunder is perhaps one of the strongest MCU heroes heading into the conflict against Doom. As a result, Doom sees Thor as a mighty rival who can potentially match or even challenge his power on a cosmic scale, especially if Thor taps into greater Asgardian forces.
Marketing, including trailer footage of Thor and Doom fighting, consistenly places Thor at the forefront as the primary powerhouse of the Multiversal army. This emphasis is no accident. Thor is already framed as the "elder" member of the Avengers, and footage showed him rallying everyone to set aside their "petty squabbles" to focus on the conflict at hand.
Paired with Steve Rogers' leadership and his own issues with Doom, Thor provides the raw, elemental force the massive heroic ensemble needs. His more mature, battle-hardened presence, now shaped by personal stakes stemming from Love's existence, positions him as both the mightiest physical counter to Doom and a central pillar of Doomsday's narrative.
The placement of Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova as one of the prominent heroes has led to scrutiny from the MCU fan base. Some have noted skepticism about Yelena's fighting abilities against Doctor Doom and about how she could hold her own against him alongside other powerhouses. Others, meanwhile, pushed back, widely noting that she is the New Avengers leader and that Natasha Romanoff faced Thanos. Some clarified that her role leans more toward strategy and leadership than directly defeating Doom physically.
Avengers: Doomsday is being positioned as the Marvel project where James Marsden's Cyclops will shine within the larger ensemble. Marvel Studios already confirmed that Cyclops is the leader of Fox's X-Men in their alternate universe, meaning that he has a significant role in the film. This would also explain why he is featured prominently in the Shanghai banner with Thor, Steve, and Yelena.
Marvel Studios' treatment of Cyclops in Doomsday's promotional push means that Marvel is treating the X-Men's return as more than simple fan service. As the strategic and moral center of his team, Cyclops offers a natural counterpart to Steve's leadership and Thor's raw power. Empire's dedicated Cyclops cover further reinforces this elevated status, framing him as one of the primary heroic faces of the campaign rather than a supporting player.
Empire's January 2027 covers further cement the idea that Cyclops, Steve Rogers, and Thor are the three lead hero faces rallying their respective units against Doctor Doom.
The earlier international poster also centers the broader Multiverse ensemble under a looming Doom, with Steve, Thor, Yelena, and Cyclops among the prominent heroes, alongside other notable figures like Sam Wilson, Reed Richards, and Magneto.
The fact that they are at the forefront of this wide Multiversal assembly reinforces how the campaign continues to elevate the original Avengers icons while folding the New Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four into a unified visual hierarchy.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18.
Why Cyclops & Yelena Are Just As Important as Thor & Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday
Cyclops and Yelena matter as much as Steve Rogers and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday because they are the field commanders of the two largest non-classic Avengers factions that must be integrated into the fight. If anything, Cyclops and Yelena occupy a different but equally critical layer.
Cyclops and Yelena's prominent placement in some of the marketing materials for Doomsday suggests that Marvel is treating them as co-equal operational anchors essential to winning the Multiversal clash against Doom. While Steve can inspire and Thor can level a battlefield, neither can command the X-Men's specific tactical operations or the New Avengers' team of misfits.
Cyclops has decades of experience leading mutants against extinction-level threats, while Yelena brings Red Room-honed strategy and the ability to coordinate a team that includes characters who have previously been on the wrong side of the law. Without these two pillars, the Multiversal ensemble risks remaining a collection of powerful individuals rather than a functional multi-unit force.
