As Marvel Studios gears up for the release of Avengers: Doomsday this December, the franchise is breaking new ground, particularly with the movie's trailer rollout. The 2026 MCU mega-movie will mark the Avengers' first big-screen adventure since the multi-billion-dollar-making Avengers: Endgame in 2019. While much will be the same in the upcoming super-powered epic, a few key details will be different, and that has been no more evident than in the film's marketing so far.
Avengers: Doomsday's first trailer footage, publicly released within four distinct teasers, has broken an 18-year rule for the MCU, already putting its name in the Marvel Studios history books. The upcoming Multiversal romp is the first Marvel film to feature Robert Downey Jr. as one of its primary stars without featuring the longtime MCU actor front and center in marketing.
This is a significant change from the Iron Man actor's past appearances in the franchise, where his face has been a selling point in every Marvel Studios project he's been in.
Of course, this is a different kind of Marvel movie for the now 60-year-old star. Doomsday will see the former franchise figurehead return to the comic book world, but not as his "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Instead, he will play the movie's central villain, an otherworldly take on the terrifying Doctor Doom hellbent on dominating the Marvel Multiverse.
Thus far, Marvel Studios has opted to keep Downey's Doom hidden from public view, instead focusing on the movie's central heroes in its four sneak peeks released to this point.
These have included teasers centered on Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, the classic Fox X-Men characters, and the Wakandans/Fantastic Four.
It is widely assumed that the next Doomsday trailer will introduce audiences to Downey's MCU villain in some form, but, for now, the character/actor remains hidden behind a veil of secrecy (if you don't count the various potential Doctor Doom leaks that are out there).
Downey being the centerpiece of MCU marketing dates back to the very first Iron Man movie in 2008. The actor helped to establish the very foundation of the MCU, so it would make sense that he got the 'front of the poster' branding that he has. This would continue with each successive Iron Man sequel.
He then would serve as one of the founding members of the MCU's Avengers team, meaning that he (alongside Evans' Captain America and Hemsworth's Thor) would get the top-billed treatment in any Avengers movie that their heroes were featured in.
Downey's Tony Stark character, of course, then died at the end of Avengers: Endgame, seemingly closing the book on the actor in the iconic comic book universe. Notice that Doomsday yet again has Steve Rogers and Thor as two of its marketing cornerstones, but because Downey's Stark is now dead, the franchise has left him behind.
Avengers: Doomsday comes to theaters on December 18. The new movie from The Russo Brothers will center on a new version of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, forced to band together with characters from across multiple realities after the emergence of the villainous Victor Von Doom.
Why Doomsday's New Marketing Strategy Makes Sense
Even though Avengers: Doomsday's marketing strategy so far has been unprecedented, this lack of Robert Downey Jr. actually makes a lot of sense.
Had Marvel Studios wheeled out RDJ's masked MCU villain in the debut Doomsday trailer, it would not have been all that surprising. He is a big name, so why not show him off to drum up hype for the upcoming film? However, the super-powered studio seems to be taking a different tack and is probably better for it.
Downey's return as Doctor Doom was a headline in and of itself. Just finding out the former MCU star is coming back to the franchise was news enough for fans. They can wait to see him in the mask.
Instead, with these first few trailers, it is essential that the film helps to establish the other characters set to appear in the Multiversal team-up. Doom's reveal will come, but Marvel can save that pop for another day.
It will be interesting to see just how long Marvel can go without showing off the film's titular big bad. There are still several superhero teams the movie needs to highlight in its marketing. So, will they get their own trailers, as some of the other characters have? Or will it be all Doom, all the time after this next marketing beat?
