What’s that saying again? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? That seems to be the tack Marvel is taking with the MCU. Arguably the biggest announcement out of San Diego Comic Con is the news that the superhero juggernaut plans to do more of the same in the next few years: They’ve brought back Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., to play Doctor Doom—and Joe and Anthony Russo (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame) will return to direct the next two Avengers films. Their production company, AGBO, will co-produce with Marvel.
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One of those films, at least, has changed considerably. Avengers: Secret Wars remains the grand finale to this phase of the MCU. But the film before that is no longer Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but Avengers: Doomsday, which presumably answers any remaining questions about the role of Kang in the wake of actor Jonathan Majors’ conviction for harassment and assault.
Another man is returning from the previous Marvel era, too: Stephen McFeely, who wrote the previous four Russo brothers Marvel movies (and Thor: The Dark World, among other things), is now writing these two Avengers films. He follows in the writerly footsteps of Loki‘s Michael Waldron.
Marvel announced or confirmed a few more things at SDCC—like that Harrison Ford is Red Hulk, which everyone who saw the Captain America: Brave New World trailer had essentially already surmised, and that the Fantastic Four film is called The Fantastic Four: First Steps—but nothing quite matched the chaos caused by Downey Jr.’s return.
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Given that Secret Wars is a multiversal story, there’s naturally some question about whether this Doom is a multiversal variant of Tony Stark. One way or another, he’s key to the Secret Wars storyline, which is extremely difficult to sum up but involves the destruction of a whole lot of Marvel universes and the formation of a place called Battleworld, where Doom (and some other characters) brings a handful of rescued characters. There are pocket universes! Doom becomes God Emperor Doom! Even the Punisher shows up.
And Doctor Doom is, of course, often an antagonist to the Fantastic Four, though not in their upcoming movie, where they’ll have Galactus to deal with. But—multiverses and saga-ending stories allowing—presumably this Doom could be around for a while. Maybe not as long as Iron Man, though.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to release in May of 2026.
