Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18, and with the film only two months away, Marvel Studios' marketing engine is roaring louder than ever. New promotional trading cards released by the studio spotlight its four core hero factions: the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the MCU's freshest team, the New Avengers. The promo offers a pristine look at the characters who make up each group, building further buzz for a blockbuster whose hype has already reached a fever pitch, with domestic pre-sales reportedly passing $50 million.
The latest look at Avengers: Doomsday comes via a set of promotional trading cards, produced by Italian collectibles company Panini. The four-card promo leaves out a hero faction as important as the Wakandans, led by Letitia Wright's Shuri, and some of the spotlighted teams are also missing members of their own.
Still, the cards give audiences a fair idea of which teams the fate of the multiverse will hinge on most when Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom comes to collect. This hero-focused set left out the Latverian villain faction, though separate promo material has highlighted it. This promo's team-first direction fits Doomsday's "Worlds Collide" tagline, which sets up a meeting of three universes: the Avengers of Earth-616, the Fantastic Four of Earth-828, and the X-Men of Earth-10005.
Avengers: Doomsday Team Cards Highlight the Film's Four Most Important Teams
The Avengers
The Avengers received their own card, and the members highlighted include Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson as the new Captain America, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Simu Liu's Shang-Chi, and Paul Rudd's Ant-Man. Sam stands at the front of the team with the rest behind him, befitting his role as the Avengers' new leader. His last solo film, Captain America: Brave New World, established that arc, with the hero agreeing to rebuild the Avengers. One notable absence here is Danny Ramirez's Falcon, Sam's reliable partner.
Steve Rogers doesn't appear here either, and neither does Loki, who was never an Avenger in the first place. These two will likely carve out their own unique roles in the film rather than joining a standard hero team. Steve no longer wields his shield and is no longer Captain America, but he does have one upgrade: Mjolnir. The weapon will be a major part of Steve's arsenal, and the former Captain America has even received his own logo, with the enchanted hammer featured in the design.
New Avengers
The New Avengers card highlights the controversial anti-hero team introduced in Marvel's Thunderbolts film. Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, David Harbour's Red Guardian, and Wyatt Russell's U.S. Agent stand side by side, striking stoic poses. Well, all except Red Guardian, who is goofing off in the background as usual. Yelena leads this team and has been all over Doomsday's marketing.
Some of her teammates have sadly not received the same treatment, with this promo neglecting two integral members. Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost and Lewis Pullman's Sentry don't appear on the card. The pair, especially Ghost, have been shortchanged by the movie's marketing so far. Sentry's absence from Doomsday promos looks intentional, though, with Marvel likely saving him as a wild card for the film.
X-Men
The X-Men card might be the most exciting of the four for longtime fans who fell in love with Fox's X-Men films. It features Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Ian McKellen's Magneto, James Marsden's Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer's Beast, and Channing Tatum's Gambit. Crucially, it also includes Rebecca Romijn's Mystique and Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler.
This marks one of the first times Doomsday marketing has shown Mystique and Nightcrawler alongside the rest of the X-Men lineup. Romijn's Mystique only recently debuted her comic-inspired MCU costume in promo art, and Nightcrawler has been missing from the trailers entirely. Seeing the Fox-era mutant roster united on one card is a payoff two decades in the making, although the movie is still missing at least three powerful Fox-era female mutants.
The X-Men in Doomsday hail from Earth-10005, and details from the film's trailers indicate their world is on the brink of an incursion. This looks like the most formidable mutant team ever put on screen, with trailer footage showing them battling the Avengers in what appears to be a temporary dispute before they join forces.
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four are a more straightforward team, and they unsurprisingly echo that vibe on their card. It features Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben Grimm, all sporting their new blue-and-white uniforms, a slight move away from The Fantastic Four: First Steps' aesthetic. Aside from the Thing, the members wear thick jackets over their bodysuits. Fans even got their first clear look at Johnny Storm in the new outfit via a recent Hasbro action figure.
Marvel's First Family should arguably be the most important team in the movie. The heroes are fighting a villain who is historically their biggest foe from the comics, and in the film, Doom hails from their Earth-828 reality. They will likely function as one of the story's emotional engines, especially since Doom seems very interested in their child, Franklin Richards, who carries the Power Cosmic. Among the assembling heroes, they have the most to lose.
Avengers: Doomsday's Marketing Needs to Spotlight More Heroes
Marvel Studios has a Herculean task on its hands with Avengers: Doomsday: giving enough spotlight to every character in the biggest cast ever assembled for a Marvel film. Some heroes are bound to draw less attention marketing-wise, and that has been the case since promotion for Doomsday began.
It is imperative, however, for Marvel to give fans a decent glimpse of neglected heroes like Ghost and Sentry in the final marketing push as December 18 closes in. The final trailer and a fresh round of posters would be the perfect place to let these characters shine. Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler has yet to appear in any of the film's trailers, so even one shot of him in the final trailer would go a long way.
Short TV spots are another avenue where supporting characters could shine if Marvel wants to keep its main characters front and center in the final trailer and on the major posters. The recent "Silence Your Phones" PSA, which plays before Avengers: Endgame Encore screenings, gave fans a rare look at Ghost in Doomsday promotional material. More ads like it would be a perfect way to feature more characters, since giving every single one equal attention in the campaign is virtually impossible.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
