A new Avengers: Doomsday teaser highlighted three MCU flops, as fans prepare for the upcoming Marvel Studios team-up. In just over a year, Earth's Mightiest Heroes will assemble once again, coming together for the first time since 2019's Avengers: Endgame. This Multiversal epic will be the culmination of six years of super-powered storytelling for the brand, roping in threads from across Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the MCU.
In the same way that Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame included narrative elements from across the MCU (no matter the quality or success of the project), so will Avengers: Doomsday, as evidenced by the trailer shown to fans in attendance at Disney's annual Destination D23 event in Orlando. The new teaser included a mash-up of past moments from across the Marvel canon.
It spotlighted several Marvel box office flops of the last couple of years, once again showing that even though something may not resonate at the ticket window, it is still intrinsic to the ever-weaving tapestry that is the interconnected MCU continuity. No new footage was shown from Doomsday; it was entirely retrospective, including dialogue from various Marvel films (even from Fox's series of X-Men movies).
Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth movie in the Marvel Studios Avengers franchise. It brings together major Marvel teams like the Avengers, Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four, and X-Men to take on the new villain Doctor Doom. MCU veteran Robert Downey Jr. leads the Russo Brothers-directed epic as the villainous Victor von Doom, with Patrick Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Anthony Mackie rounding out the movie's superhero ensemble. Doomsday is the first of two Avengers films on the MCU slate and will be released in theaters on December 18, 2026.
The 3 MCU Flops Featured in the Doomsday Teaser
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
One of the first voices heard in the new Avengers: Doomsday teaser is that of Paul Rudd's Scott Lang.
The trailer's opening few voice lines included Rudd's size-changing hero as heard in the critically maligned Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Reading from his in-universe memoir, Look Out for the Little Guy!, Rudd's Lang says, "Will I be there when the Avengers need me? Absolutely."
Quantumania notably underperformed at the box office and stands as one of the worst-reviewed MCU movies to date. This came despite the film's branding at the time of release, as a preamble to an eventual Avengers-level showdown with the Multiversal madman, Kang the Conqueror (played by the now-fired MCU actor, Jonathan Majors).
Even though Marvel pivoted from its previous Kang-based plan for Avengers 5, Ant-Man's last adventure will still play a major part in setting up the Doomsday story, as he remains one of the few long-standing Avengers heroes left on the team.
Captain America: Brave New World
Earlier this year, the fourth Captain America film, Captain America: Brave New World, tragically landed with the dull thud of Cap's shield hitting the ground. While earning a respectable $450 million at the global box office, the Anthony Mackie-led blockbuster did not resonate with critics.
Brave New World ranks as the third-worst reviewed MCU movie on Rotten Tomatoes (sitting at a meager 46%), standing ahead of only Eternals and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
In spite of all of this, the movie will weigh heavily on Avengers: Doomsday. Mackie's Captain America could be heard in the new teaser, saying, "If we can't see the good in each other, we've already lost the fight."
This could be teasing the upcoming Avengers vs. New Avengers conflict that was teased for the movie. In it, Mackie's Sam Wilson will contend with Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes and Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova (members of the New Avengers/Thunderbolts) over the use of the Avengers name.
Thunderbolts
The last and most recent MCU flop to be included in the new Avengers: Doomsday teaser was Jake Schreier's Thunderbolts*. During the brief minute-long tease of the upcoming MCU team-up, dialogue was ripped from the May 2025 film, with Thunderbolts/New Avengers leader Yelena Belova (played by Florence Pugh) exclaiming, "We stick together from now on."
Thunderbolts* has been one of the most confounding Marvel movies in recent history. The movie was widely celebrated by fans and critics, hitting an incredible 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and being called a return to form for the comic book brand after a lackluster couple of years leading into it.
However, it made little impact at the ticket window. Thunderbolts* earned a paltry $382 million at the global box office, which was enough to earn the movie official 'bomb' status, being the third lowest-grossing MCU movie ever.
Even though it may have underperformed at the box office, the Thunderbolts characters are said to be key to Doomsday's Multiversal proceedings, as they join the battle against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
