Doomsday Is A Changing Of The Guard For The MCU

Avengers: Doomsday is assembling some of the biggest heroes from across Marvel’s movie history, but who exactly is involved makes this entry a changing of the guard for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For well over a decade, the Avengers have been defined by six heroes. Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye were the team’s key figures throughout the Infinity Saga.

But over the years, more and more heroes have become important to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Scarlet Witch, Vision, War Machine, and Sam Wilson/Falcon became official members after Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the Avengers assembled to take on Thanos two different times, everyone from Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Rocket, and others had officially earned a place on the Avengers team.

Avengers: Doomsday is reshaping the team once more, but in a completely different way. Sam Wilson has assembled his own Avengers team after taking over Captain America’s mantle. The Thunderbolts have also been rebranded as the New Avengers, with Bucky Barnes and Yelena Belova serving as the team’s primary leaders. They’ll converge with the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Doom as the fate of the multiverse hangs in the balance.

Marvel has given Avengers: Doomsday plenty of veterans of the franchise, headlined by Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth back as Thor, the Russo brothers at the helm, and Robert Downey Jr. trading in Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor for Victor Von Doom’s suit. The familiar Avengers elements have dominated discussion for Doomsday, but the heroes involved make this entry unlike any Marvel Studios has done before.

Avengers: Doomsday Is Missing Two-Thirds Of The Original Avengers

The Avengers stand together in The Avengers (2012)

The truth of the matter is that Avengers: Doomsday is without the majority of the heroes that audiences have followed throughout the previous four movies, to the tune of $7.7 billion at the box office. Steve Rogers and Thor are the only members of the original team who are confirmed to return. They are both poised to have significant parts in the multiversal event film, but that doesn’t change the fact that who they are teaming up will be very different.

Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame is permanent, and even though Marvel Studios recruited Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom now, Tony Stark will still be nowhere to be found in Doomsday. Perhaps the movie will reveal a connection between Doom and Stark thanks to the multiverse element of the villain’s debut. Even if that does happen, Downey won’t be playing the original Iron Man fans know and love.

Similarly, Black Widow is absent from Doomsday by all accounts. Her sacrifice in Endgame cannot be undone. Scarlett Johansson has remained steadfast in her belief that Natasha Romanoff’s story is done, and given how many characters are in the movie, it does not appear that a Natasha Romanoff variant is among them.

Unlike Iron Man and Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye are both still alive and active in the MCU, making it easier for them to appear in Doomsday‘s story. So far, there have been no indications that either of them is in the movie, though. Clint Barton went back to his family after Hawkeye season 1. Bruce Banner’s fate after Spider-Man: Brand New Day remains to be seen. While either could cameo, neither is expected to.

Doomsday certainly has not completely moved past the original six Avengers, but it is also quite clearly far less reliant on them than it might seem given the attention-grabbing nature of Steve and Thor’s roles (which, to be fair, were the focuses of the movie’s first two trailers).

Doomsday Moving Away From The Original Avengers Is Good For The MCU

MCU art of Thor, Loki, Wolverine, Deadpool, Star-Lord, Yelena, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and Shuri

Beyond the screentime that Thor and Steve receive, Doomsday will otherwise focus on some of the MCU’s newer stars and those who are more important to the future. Sam Wilson’s Captain America, Shuri’s Black Panther, Shang-Chi, the Thunderbolts/New Avengers, and the Fantastic Four are just a few examples of this.

Most of these characters have been stuck trying to get out of the Avengers’ shadow after Endgame, with the Multiverse Saga often struggling with convincing audiences to follow heroes and franchises beyond those from the Infinity Saga. Marvel has often drawn criticism for a lack of a clear plan and for not properly building to the Avengers’ eventual return.

Now, Doomsday is the shot to really make these characters connect with the general public. Anyone who didn’t see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will get to learn why Simu Liu’s masterful kung fu fighter is one of the Multiverse Saga’s best new characters. Those who skipped Thunderbolts* will get to see Yelena Belova, Sentry, and others in action. There are many more examples like these, too.

But putting heroes/teams that couldn’t break through in a bigger way in an Avengers movie changes things. Marvel should want to make sure that audiences walk out of Doomsday more excited to see what’s next for Shang-Chi, the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, etc. than just whatever happens with Steve and Thor. Doing that will set the MCU up for long-term success by more directly creating a demand for these characters to return.

Even the presence of the multiversal (heavily nostalgic) X-Men team connects to this idea. Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, James Marsden’s Cyclops, and others won’t be part of the MCU’s main X-Men team after the Multiverse Saga concludes. By including the mutants in an Avengers movie, Marvel is still teasing how they will enter the MCU in a larger capacity and be prominently featured in whatever comes next.

For as great as it might be to see Steve and Thor again, the MCU can’t keep relying on them forever. New characters and franchises must be able to carry the universe forward if it is going to succeed and find new audiences. Doomsday‘s ability to elevate the Fantastic Four, Shang-Chi, Yelena, and more will be for the betterment of the MCU if it is successful. Their future films will become much bigger deals for fans around the world to see.

The MCU’s Original Avengers Could Still Reunite One Last Time

That said, Doomsday highlighting the exciting post-original Avengers future that the MCU has doesn’t mean Marvel is officially ready to leave them behind just yet. While nothing is confirmed on this front, the existence of the multiverse leaves the door open for the team to assemble one more time and give this collection of heroes another moment in the spotlight.

Avengers: Secret Wars looms large on that front. Even if the multiverse ends and is reshaped with Doom as its ruler at the end of Doomsday, that may ultimately be part of the plan to bring Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye back together. Cap, Thor, Hulk, and Hawkeye could survive the multiversal collapse, while slightly different versions of Iron Man and Black Widow could be pulled in from alternate universes.

The MCU already gave the original Avengers an amazing sendoff in Endgame, but that won’t stop Secret Wars from doing it again in a slightly different way. Endgame was the end for the original version of Earth-616’s Avengers and show there importance to the MCU at large. Secret Wars can be where the cast assembles one last time alongside other legendary Marvel movie stars for the crossover to end all crossovers.

The pitch of the original Avengers characters fighting alongside Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and more holds too much box office potential for Marvel to pass up if all the actors can get on board. There’s no way of knowing for sure if that has happened so far, but the odds seem high.

Considering the massive cast Doomsday has assembled in replacement of the original Avengers, it’s hard to imagine Marvel not being able to close deals to pull this off and have the Multiverse Saga end with a celebration of nearly 30 years of Marvel movie history. That will make Avengers: Doomsday turning the attention to some newer characters all the more important.