Credit: Marvel Studios After setting up Captain America’s successor in Phases Three, Four, and Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios is seemingly side-stepping this transition and focusing on its original hero.
The journey to Avengers: Doomsday (2026) has been an interesting one. The fifth Avengers movie originally began life as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which was set to center on Jonathan Majors’ Kang Variants. Following the ousting of Majors, Disney and Marvel quickly pivoted to another iconic villain and, in 2024, announced Avengers: Doomsday, directed by the returning duo Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom.
Since then, the cast has largely been revealed (although it’s likely Marvel Studios is holding some characters back), and a number of teaser trailers have surfaced. While plot details remain slim, Doomsday will feature a big ensemble cast spanning both the Disney-era MCU and the 20th Century Studios superhero universe, and is expected to involve Multiversal incursions. The current rumor is that Doom is searching for Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers/Captain America due to his time-travelling antics at the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019).
The Russo Brothers return from helming Endgame and its billion-dollar predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War (2018). The duo, as well as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, have claimed that Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), are not the end of the current Multiverse Saga, but will instead act as the launching pad for the following chapter, which is expected to be the Mutant Saga.
The aforementioned teaser trailers landed at the end of 2025 during the theatrical run of James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025). They included historic characters like Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Shuri/Black Panther (Letitia Wright), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) from the MCU, as well as Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Ian McKellan), and Scott Summers/Cyclops (James Marsden) from the 20th Century X-Men franchise.
The first, though, featured the beating heart of the MCU’s first three Phases. In the teaser, Chris Evans was confirmed to be returning to Avengers: Doomsday, bringing Steve Rogers firmly back to the MCU. Evans left the MCU at the end of Avengers: Endgame, handing over his shield and Captain America legacy to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon.
Sam Wilson’s journey to becoming Captain America was documented in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series from Malcolm Spellman and Kari Skogland. Mackie starred alongside Sebastian Stan in the six-episode series, who reprised his role of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. By the end of the series, Sam Wilson had shed his Falcon persona, having stepped into the Captain America role.
Mackie returned to his Captain America role in Captain America: Brave New World (2025) last year, and while he is still the MCU’s current star-spangled hero, the return of Chris Evans in Doomsday throws that development into question, especially after the Russo Brothers’ recent comments.
“Each one of those trailers is narrative information. It’s all part of a larger story,” Joe Russo told Empire Magazine (via Comic Book Movie). “So I would argue that Doomsday has already started for you.”
“Look, the movie is very complex,” the filmmaker continued. “We thought one of the best ways to celebrate what the movie is was to give characters their own space and highlight some moments.” As stated earlier, the first trailer centered on Steve Rogers and his child. On Steve’s return, Anthony Russo confirmed what type of role the former Captain America will have in Avengers: Doomsday.
“We have a special affinity with the character. We can’t see this narrative without his central role in it, basically. The special place he holds among the ensemble, he sort of retains that moving forward.”
The central role feels particularly evident, at least when considering the reports on the direction Doomsday will likely take. That then leaves the question of where Anthony Mackie’s Captain America will filter into the story. The last audiences knew of Sam Wilson’s role was that he was assembling his own Avengers team–a team that is in direct conflict with Yelena Belova’s (Florence Pugh) Thunderbolts team, AKA The New Avengers.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18, 2026, and marks the beginning of the end for many beloved characters audiences have come to love over the last 18 years. A year later, Avengers: Secret Wars will debut. However, if recent reports are to be believed, Disney and Marvel may be looking at splitting Secret Wars into two entries, turning the Avengers double-bill into a trilogy.
With an opening in the lucrative holiday corridor, Avengers: Doomsday is on track to deliver well over a billion dollars. Whether it can replicate the huge success of Infinity War and Endgame–the latter of which was at one point the highest-grossing movie of all time–remains to be seen.
In the current superhero movie climate, anything could happen.
Next up for the MCU (and Sony) is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which opens exclusively in movie theaters on July 31, 2026.
How do you feel about this central role for Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!