Avengers: Doomsday is gearing up to be the biggest Marvel crossover yet and the perfect space for the MCU's most prominent characters to shine. However, before the movie arrives on December 18, Marvel Studios is shortchanging three key characters in a way that's become glaringly obvious. The film pits heroes from across the Marvel universe against the greatest threat they have faced yet: Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. In a crossover like this, one small thing that gets fans giddy is hearing their favorite heroes' code names called out mid-battle. It seems they won't be hearing them for a few characters, thanks to Marvel's strange stance on the matter.
The latest wave of Avengers: Doomsday artwork puts a good number of the film's characters front and center alongside their iconic code names. In the piece, 22 heroes are placed around Doctor Doom, each image labeled with their superhero moniker. Well, 19 of them, anyway. Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards appears with his Mister Fantastic moniker inked alongside his image, Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier is classified as Professor X, and the same goes for the rest, except for three heroes who are referred to by their birth names.
The choice stands out precisely because this isn't the first time Marvel has avoided these characters' hero monikers in Doomsday's marketing. The trend goes all the way back to the film's March 2025 cast announcement livestream, which listed their names with no monikers attached while other actors' characters got theirs. The new poster is basically Marvel doubling down on that decision.
Avengers: Doomsday Avoids Using Superhero Monikers for Three Characters
Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova was one of the three characters on the Doomsday poster labeled with her birth name instead of her Black Widow moniker. That designation was officially given to her in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, where characters identify her as the new Black Widow for the first time since Natasha Romanoff's death. In the cameo, Peter Parker tracks her down at the bathhouse she uses as a makeshift office, and the movie calls her Black Widow more than once, truly cementing her as her sister's replacement.
Yelena has done a great job as Natasha's successor since first appearing in the Black Widow movie. Making a legacy hero stick is difficult, since audiences are usually attached to the original. Fans have widely accepted Yelena as Natasha's successor, but Marvel seems hesitant to commit to the title and make it stick. After Brand New Day, one would expect the studio to heavily market her as the new Black Widow before her biggest appearance yet, but that has been far from the case.
Official action figures for Yelena have also referred to her by her birth name, so this clearly isn't a one-off thing from a poster. It's a trend that has followed the character throughout the film's marketing, and it's plain to see that it's a deliberate decision by Marvel, one that undercuts Yelena's highly emotional succession story.
Yelena is also poised to have a big role in Doomsday, with Kevin Feige revealing at BilibiliWorld in Shanghai that "if you're a fan of Yelena, wait until Avengers: Doomsday. Yelena plays a big part in that." Meanwhile, Shuri is succeeding a much bigger character in Black Panther, and she's been often referred to by the moniker in the movie's marketing, so it's strange that Marvel is hesitant to promote Yelena with the Black Widow title.
Bucky Barnes
Marvel gave Bucky Barnes one of the most storied arcs in the MCU. He made his debut in Captain America: The First Avenger, and the studio later built an entire movie around his moniker, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He even received a second iconic name after being rehabilitated in Wakanda, where Shuri freed him of his HYDRA programming. The Wakandans referred to him as White Wolf, a popular name pulled from the comics that first surfaced in Black Panther's post-credits scene and almost made it onto The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's end-credit title card.
Despite having these catchy monikers, Bucky has largely gone by his birth name on the battlefield. In Thunderbolts, the Winter Soldier title was mentioned no more than twice, with "Bucky" serving as the go-to name for Sebastian Stan's character. This has carried over into Doomsday marketing as well, with Marvel placing the name Bucky Barnes front and center in its push.
Back in July, Marvel spotlighted 11 heroes in an Avengers: Doomsday display at Shanghai's BilibiliWorld event alongside an official synopsis. While the synopsis leaned on hero monikers like Captain America, Falcon, and Red Guardian, Bucky Barnes was among the few characters with established aliases who got birth names instead.
For Bucky, it's understandable for Marvel to go this direction with the character since he's been trying to escape the name, which is tied to the darkest and most traumatic periods of his life. The White Wolf moniker would have been a great middle ground, but Marvel hasn't really tried to make it stick.
John Walker
John Walker is yet another Thunderbolts member whose moniker has been largely missing from Doomsday's marketing, including the new poster. Notably, Alexei Shostakov has been referred to as Red Guardian throughout the film's promos, which makes Marvel's insistence on John Walker going by his birth name a bit odd, given that he's had an entire arc establishing him as the U.S. Agent.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced him as the government's replacement for Steve Rogers, but he lost the Captain America title after killing a Flag Smasher in public with the shield, soiling his reputation in the process. In the finale, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine gave him a black suit and told him, "We're not going to need a Captain America. We're going to need a U.S. Agent."
Since then, though, Marvel has barely committed to the moniker. In Thunderbolts, he's almost always referred to as John Walker, and the U.S. Agent alias is rarely mentioned. In Doomsday's marketing, even when the title U.S. Agent does come up, it's placed after John Walker, showing Marvel's hesitance to fully commit to it.
These Thunderbolts characters are likely being marketed with their actual names because they are heavily referred to as such in their flagship film. Marvel likely feels general audiences are not familiar enough with their monikers and wants to avoid confusing fans with titles they don't immediately associate with the characters. Even so, these aliases were introduced by Marvel as their superhero titles, and there should be a push to make general audiences familiar with them, since aliases go a long way in making characters popular.
Check out Avengers: Doomsday's promo art below:
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.
