Chris Evans' Captain America is Back in Avengers: Doomsday, But Marvel Might Have Just Admitted Its Biggest Failure

Ever since Kevin Feige and Robert Downey, Jr. heralded the accomplishment of Avengers: Doomsday astatine Comic-Con 2024, fans person been clinging to immoderate scrap of quality they tin find astir this hotly anticipated sequel. What is Doomsday truly about? Why is Downey playing this iconic Marvel villain? How volition this movie headdress disconnected the MCU’s Multiverse Saga?

At agelong last, the archetypal trailer for Avengers: Doomsday is here, and we get answers to precisely nary of those questions. Instead, Marvel has opted to tease the adjacent Avengers movie by giving america a caller glimpse of a acquainted hero. Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers volition beryllium backmost for the 5th Avengers movie, and he’s got a babe successful tow.

In immoderate ways, this is so a large reveal, giving america hints astir the crippled and absorption of Doomsday. But successful different ways, it’s a amazingly disappointing mode of kicking disconnected the film’s marketing. Why is simply a movie that’s expected to bring unneurotic the existent procreation of MCU heroes truthful preoccupied with the erstwhile Captain America? Let’s sermon wherefore this teaser has america truthful disappointed.

What Happens successful the Avengers: Doomsday Teaser?

The formed of Avengers: Doomsday is going to beryllium massive, arsenic evidenced by the livestream from a fewer months backmost featuring dozens of actors’ chairs and culminating with Downey himself. But the archetypal teaser focuses connected nary of those actors. Instead, we get the archetypal confirmation of the pervasive rumor that Evans is reprising the Steve Rogers relation successful Doomsday. He’s not lone back, but helium seemingly has a beauteous large portion to play if he’s getting his ain teaser.

This abbreviated trailer is much a code portion than thing that sheds overmuch airy connected the crippled of Doomsday. We perceive a somber soft rendition of Alan Silvestri’s iconic Avengers taxable and spot sun-drenched scenes of Steve riding his motorcycle home, handling his aged Captain America uniform, and cradling a newborn baby. Clearly, status and home anonymity are treating him well.

And that’s astir it. The trailer past cuts to achromatic and promises “Steve Rogers volition instrumentality successful Avengers: Doomsday.” The footage past ends with a countdown timer to Doomsday’s theatrical merchandise successful December 2026.

On the surface, this teaser doesn’t bash overmuch much than corroborate Evans’ quality successful Doomsday. Which is bully and all, but it was already beauteous wide assumed he’d beryllium backmost successful immoderate capacity. Why not conscionable propulsion a Chris Evans seat successful on with the remainder successful that erstwhile livestream and permission it astatine that?

The accent connected Steve and Peggy Carter’s kid is an absorbing wrinkle, though. How volition the babe origin into the crippled of Doomsday? What does it mean that Steve and Peggy had a babe successful the archetypal place? There are a batch of lingering questions astir Steve’s presumption quo astatine the extremity of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Did Steve impact the MCU’s Sacred Timeline by travelling backmost to the past and staying there? Will determination beryllium far-reaching, unintended consequences of that act?

Perhaps the biggest question is however Downey’s Doctor Doom factors into each of this. We’re inactive waiting to find retired if Downey is really playing Victor von Doom oregon if this quality is simply a variant of Tony Stark. We person to wonderment if Steve’s enactment of travelling backmost successful clip and fathering a kid who shouldn’t beryllium creates a splinter timeline wherever things spell incorrect for the MCU. Is Doom besides a merchandise of that timeline? Does helium harbor a grudge against Cap for altering the earthy bid of things? Steve whitethorn upwind up having to atone for his determination to discontinue and muck astir with time, nevertheless harmless his intentions. Yes, the mediocre feline deserved that long-overdue dance, but astatine what cost?

Those are each questions worthy considering arsenic we hold for much Avengers: Doomsday footage. But that’s not truly wherefore we’re here. Rather than being excited by the possibilities stirred up successful this teaser, we travel distant simply with a feeling of resignation. Steve Rogers is back, and we couldn’t beryllium much disappointed.

Why Cap’s Return Is So Disappointing

To beryllium clear, we’re not disappointed that Evans is returning to the Marvel fold. Steve’s communicative successful Endgame wrapped connected capable of an open-ended enactment that there’s evidently inactive much to research with the character. The occupation is much the mode successful which this trailer suggests that Steve is going to beryllium a focal constituent of Doomsday (and by hold Secret Wars, too). It’s nary mishap that Marvel is making Evans’ quality the sole focal constituent of the archetypal Doomsday footage. They’re telegraphing the information that helium has an integral portion to play successful this communicative astir the Marvel multiverse collapsing.

Again, we person nary occupation with Steve playing a supporting relation successful Doomsday and Secret Wars. He’s inactive the leader truthful galore different characters revere and respect. He has invaluable acquisition to bring to the table. And arsenic the walls betwixt universes statesman to crumble, there’s plentifulness of imaginable for Evans to person amusive playing multiversal variants of Steve Rogers.

But wherefore is helium being positioned arsenic 1 of the main characters of Doomsday? Hasn’t Steve had his clip successful the spotlight by now? What astir the many, galore characters Marvel has spent the past 7 years and 3 phases introducing? Heck, we person a caller Captain America successful Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. Why isn’t helium getting his ain trailer? Or what astir different large players similar Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, Pedro Pascal’s Mister Fantastic, oregon Letitia Wright’s Black Panther? What astir Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and her chap New Avengers?

Apparently, Steve is simply a bigger precedence for Marvel than immoderate of those characters. And not conscionable him. Recent leaks person suggested that Marvel volition beryllium pursuing up this Steve Rogers trailer with a 2nd focused connected Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and a 3rd focused connected Downey’s Doom earlier yet dropping a fourth, much accepted trailer. Assuming those leaks are existent (and this trailer makes it look similar they are), that means Marvel’s aboriginal selling for Doomsday volition halfway wholly astir the halfway trinity of Evans, Hemsworth, and Downey. This Avengers sequel is showing each motion of being centered astir the aforesaid halfway trinity that the erstwhile 4 films were. Is this 2025 oregon 2015?

That speaks volumes astir Marvel’s attack to Doomsday and their deficiency of religion successful the newer characters they’ve tried truthful hard to found post-Endgame. They intelligibly don’t spot characters similar Sam Wilson oregon the New Avengers to make the excitement and hype they’re looking for. Instead, this is Marvel playing the aged hits and banking connected the proven favorites.

This suggests that Marvel has beauteous overmuch fixed up trying to salvage the Multiverse Saga arsenic it has been. Not that we tin wholly blasted them. The MCU has grown acold much inconsistent successful caller years successful presumption of some prime and container bureau performance. Audiences person struggled to link with these newer characters successful the aforesaid mode they did the classical Avengers lineup. Even with Marvel pivoting to much of a prime implicit quantity attack successful 2025, the container bureau returns person remained beauteous sluggish.

There person been immoderate large successes during the Multiverse Saga, astir notably 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. But it’s besides telling that some of those films commercialized truthful heavy connected nostalgia for older superhero characters. No Way Home astir apt wouldn’t person soared past a cardinal dollars without the assistance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, nor would Deadpool person without the assistance of Hugh Jackman coming backmost arsenic Wolverine. Marvel indispensable beryllium looking astatine those numbers and deciding that nostalgia is the best, easiest mode to guarantee that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are successful. Forget the hardcore fans who person memorized each sanction and look successful the MCU. It’s clip to people the casual audiences who checked retired of the MCU erstwhile Evans and Downey did.

We tin surely recognize the studio’s reasoning here. It’s easier to pivot to nostalgia than effort to fundamentally repair what hasn’t been moving for the past 7 years. But that doesn’t marque it immoderate little disappointing. Flawed oregon not, there’s inactive a batch of imaginable successful the existent MCU. The full occupation with the Multiverse Saga is that Marvel has spent truthful overmuch clip and vigor introducing caller characters and not astir capable connected bringing them unneurotic and gathering connections betwixt them. Heck, the out-of-continuity Marvel Zombies bid did much connected that beforehand than thing else.

Doomsday should people the constituent wherever Marvel yet addresses that cardinal flaw. This is wherever we yet spot 2 teams of Avengers butt heads portion the destiny of their satellite and countless others hangs successful the balance. This is wherever those newer characters person to yet descend oregon swim. Instead, they’re each going to beryllium playing 2nd fiddle to the archetypal Cap, Thor, and a feline who looks similar Iron Man.

Will Marvel’s nostalgia ploy work? Probably. Again, casual audiences volition beryllium thrilled to spot these aged favorites again. These trailers volition nary uncertainty physique further hype for the adjacent Avengers movies and assistance gin up the numbers for Avatar: Fire and Ash successful the process, since they’re playing earlier the caller James Cameron film. Throw successful the inevitable instrumentality of cardinal players similar Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man successful Secret Wars and it’s harmless to presume that Marvel Studios has a elephantine heap of currency coming its way.

But that doesn’t alteration the information that this is the easy, cynical mode out. Marvel utilized to beryllium skilled astatine making audiences attraction astir heroes they had ne'er heard of before. Just look astatine the occurrence of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Now they look to person mislaid their touch, and they’ve fixed up trying to get that mojo back.

Nostalgia volition astir apt assistance the MCU successful the abbreviated term. But what astir aft Phase 6? What happens erstwhile the clip comes again for Marvel to absorption connected a caller procreation of characters and caller storylines. They surely can’t number connected Evans and Downey to instrumentality astir forever. What crushed is determination to presume things volition beryllium immoderate antithetic adjacent clip around? Is Marvel conscionable hoping to seashore on until the clip comes to present the MCU mentation of the X-Men?

The astir we tin anticipation for is that Marvel yet finds a mode to equilibrium the classical Avengers trinity with the newer procreation of MCU heroes. But with a formed this massive, that’s acold easier said than done. Doomsday is simply a make-or-break infinitesimal for the MCU, and Marvel has opted for the easier path. We’ll spot however good that works retired for them.

For much connected Avengers: Doomsday, spot what the existent presumption quo of the MCU is close present and brushwood up connected each Marvel movie and bid successful development.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.