Avengers, assemble! On Wednesday, after over five hours (and 275 million views) Marvel Studios announced that production has begun on the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, and along with that, the first slew of cast announcements.
Fans are clearly excited about Avengers: Doomsday (or Avengers 5, as those who like counting Avengers films in numbers might like to call it) so we thought we’d run down everything we know about the movie so far…
When is the release date?
Kevin Feige revealed that the final two movies in Phase 6 would be Avengers movies back at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. Back then Avengers: Doomsday was called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and then the follow-up movie would be Avengers: Secret Wars.
Well, after the actor who plays Kang, Jonathan Majors, was found guilty of reckless assault, Marvel dropped the actor and a new plan had to be made for the second-to-last movie in Phase 6. That probably pushed the original release date back somewhat and now Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on 1 May 2026 while Avengers: Secret Wars will be released in 2027.
Who will be directing Avengers: Doomsday?
During Marvel Studios’ blockbuster Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con last year, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that Joe and Anthony Russo will return to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
The Russo brothers previously directed four movies for Marvel Studios: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Taking the stage to raucous cheers at the comic-con, Joe and Anthony Russo told the crowd that they jumped at the chance to direct Secret Wars, calling it “the biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told” and the reason they first “fell in love with comics.”
“Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a lifelong dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made,” the Russo brothers said in a statement after the panel. “We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves.”
The Russos’ company AGBO will also produce both films alongside Marvel Studios. Following the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, the Russo Brothers founded AGBO in 2017 and its production Everything Everywhere All at Once earned seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Its latest production is The Electric State, which is out now on Netflix (watch our interview with the Russo brothers about that movie here).
Tell us the cast!
In Wednesday’s multi-hour global livestream, Marvel revealed some of the film’s all-star cast, teasing the return of several familiar heroes.
Now, by no means assume that this is the final cast list. We’re fully expecting more cast to be revealed, but for now the cast list is as follows –
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
Anthony Mackie as Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
Letitia Wright as Black Panther
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
Wyatt Russell as US Agent
Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Thing
Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Kelsey Grammer as Beast
Lewis Pullman as Sentry
Danny Ramirez as Falcon
Joseph Quinn as Human Torch
David Harbour as Red Guardian
Winston Duke as M’Baku
Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier
Ian McKellen as Magneto
Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
James Marsden as Cyclops
Channing Tatum as Gambit
Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic
Robert Downey Jr as Victor von Doom.
The surprise casting of Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr as Marvel villain Victor von Doom was announced at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con by the Russos who, while on stage announced that “one very, very important character is required to do Secret Wars justice,” setting up the introduction of the notorious Doctor Doom. A group of green cloaked figures then took the stage in Doom masks, before one of them stepped forward to reveal himself as Downey. The Hall H crowd erupted, leading a chant of “RDJ!”
“New mask, same task,” Downey said. “What can I tell you? I like playing complicated characters.”
Now, Marvel fans will be well aware of the significance of the above cast, with a number of original X-Men actors included in the list, including Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier Ian McKellen as Magneto Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, James Marsden as Cyclops.
There’s also the addition of the latest X-Man to join the fold with Channing Tatum as Gambit, who was first introduced in Deadpool & Wolverine.
“She’s back. True. Blue,” Romijn said in an Instagram post after the announcement, with her husband Jerry O’Connell also posting a funny image of himself dressed as Mystique with the caption: “Congrats babe.”
Alan Cumming also posted about the casting, posting a video of him performing those cat-like Nightcrawler moves and the caption: “Never say never!”
What is the plot?
The plot for Avengers: Doomsday is securely under wraps, though with the above casting news – especially with the inclusion of the X-Men – we can probably expect various universes colliding. We’re guessing we’ll learn a lot more about the plot to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars after the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will be released in cinemas on 25 July.
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