Marvel Releases a New Special Look at Avengers: Doomsday Ahead of December 18 Premiere

Victor von Doom sits on a throne, green energy pulsing beneath the pedestal, as Sue Storm's voice says over the footage: "He used to be different." That's the opening shot of the special "Avengers: Doomsday" featurette, which Marvel Studios showed at the D23 fan festival in Anaheim and immediately posted online.

The two-minute video is already up on YouTube, with the theatrical premiere set for December 18, 2026. The main difference from the July trailer is that Doctor Doom finally speaks here — and speaks in Robert Downey Jr.'s voice, marking his first return to the Marvel universe since Avengers: Endgame.

The voiceover narration is delivered by Sue Storm, played by Vanessa Kirby, and she frames the villain through sympathy rather than fear. Victor, she says, was always the smartest person in any room — smart and kind, until everything he loved was taken from him. "I knew he was lost, but I didn't understand he was broken," she adds. Doom himself confronts the heroes with an accusation: that they've all been living stolen lives and need to give them back.

From there the featurette shifts from backstory to a show of force. Reed Richards, played by Pedro Pascal, encounters Doom amid the ruins, followed by Chris Hemsworth's Thor charging into battle with a promise that the villain will beg for hell long before he gets it. Stormbreaker is stopped cold by a raised palm, a beam of green energy sends Thor flying, and at Doom's command an army of Sentinels rises from the ground — the same combat robots that spent two decades hunting the X-Men in the Fox films. Only after that comes the reply: "Hell answers to me. For I am Doom."

One detail speaks to the scale of the crossover almost as much as the Sentinels themselves: machines built to exterminate mutants now answer to the man on the throne — and Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn are indeed returning to their roles from those very films. The footage was introduced on stage by Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Hayley Atwell. The festival also unveiled a new poster and a second Doom costume, and general tickets went on sale.

Strictly speaking, the footage isn't brand new: the same material was shown behind closed doors at San Diego Comic-Con in July, and it's only now going public. "Avengers: Doomsday" is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, brings together heroes from three universes, and opens December 18, 2026 — the same day as "Dune: Part Three."

Downey Jr. spent a decade as Marvel's face as a hero. Do you think he can pull off a villain just as well?