Everything We Know About Avengers: Doomsday Ahead of December
A theatrical re-release, a shared release date with Dune, and the final film of Marvel's Phase 6. Here's where things stand ahead of December 17.
Marvel is closing out Phase 6 the way it opened the entire franchise: with the Avengers. Doomsday lands December 17, and the lead-up has already started.
The Endgame Encore Play
Ahead of Doomsday's release, Endgame Encore is back in theatres, giving fans the chance to relive the cultural phenomenon on the big screen with four new post-credits scenes and six additional minutes. It's drawn some fair criticism as a cash-grab dressed up as nostalgia, but as a piece of pre-release marketing, it's effective: it puts the MCU's biggest moment back in front of audiences right as Doomsday's own campaign ramps up.
Endgame Encore opened in Australian cinemas on 24 September, giving local audiences a few months to catch the new footage before Doomsday arrives. The re-release doesn't touch the original film's story, instead using its extra runtime and post-credits scenes to plant seeds for what Doctor Doom and the wider multiverse have been doing since, effectively turning a seven-year-old blockbuster into a trailer for the next one.
A Loaded Release Date
Doomsday shares its December 17 release date with Denis Villeneuve's next sci-fi epic, a scheduling collision fans have already started calling "Dunesday." Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, marking their return to the MCU, it's shaping up to be one of the most star-studded releases of the year regardless of what it's up against.
Just How Big Is This Cast
Doomsday is built around a genuine multiverse collision: the Avengers, Wakandans and New Avengers of the mainline Earth-616 timeline, the Fantastic Four of Earth-828, and a separate universe's X-Men, all converging to face Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. Confirmed names include Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Fantastic Four, and a run of X-Men veterans including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer and Alan Cumming reprising roles many hadn't played on screen in years. Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Tom Hiddleston and Channing Tatum's Gambit round out a cast that Kevin Feige has described as drawing on the "Secret Wars idea of different universes colliding."
Details: In theatres December 17, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
What It Means for Phase 6
As the final film of Marvel's current phase, Doomsday carries more narrative weight than a typical ensemble outing. It's the first time the Russo brothers have directed an Avengers film since Endgame itself, and expect the marketing push to intensify through November, with Endgame Encore doing the work of resetting the emotional stakes before the new film has to raise them again.
