It’s been seven years since the last Avengers movie – and finally, three phases and a whole multiverse saga later, the MCU’s heroes are ready to asse
It’s been seven years since the last Avengers movie – and finally, three phases and a whole multiverse saga later, the MCU’s heroes are ready to assemble once more in Avengers: Doomsday. It’s just, you might be wondering who the Avengers actually are. In 2012’s original team-up, Agent Coulson had brought Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Captain America into each other’s orbit, just in time for Loki’s attack on New York. From there, that line-up evolved, splintered, and reforged across Age Of Ultron, Infinity War and Endgame. But as we enter Doomsday, the good guys of the Marvel universe (or, multiverse) are more fractured than ever.
First up, there are the official Avengers, assembled by Sam Wilson’s Captain America, as discussed at the end of Brave New World – though we’ve never seen them in action together: Cap, Joaquin Torres in the Falcon wings, Ant-Man, plus Thor and Shang-Chi. And then Thunderbolts* gave us the not-so-heroic ‘New Avengerz’, as branded by Julia Louis Dreyfus’ also not-so-heroic Val: Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, John Walker, and ‘Bob’. Factor in that the Fantastic Four are off in their own universe, as are the Fox-era X-Men, and our heroes don’t exactly present a united front. “We’re coming out of years of seemingly no organised Avengers team, and that’s exactly when they face these incursions,” Kevin Feige tells Empire. “That’s always fun, to put your heroes on the back foot.”
For Anthony Mackie – returning as Sam Wilson, after The Falcon And The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Brave New World charted his acceptance of the Captain America shield – it’s a chance for audiences to see him as the figurehead he was always intended to become. “In Endgame, Steve gave him the shield and says, ‘You need to be the leader of the Avengers,’” he tells Empire. “Now you get to see more of him leading the charge with everyone into battle.”
And while the arrival of characters from other universes will be a lot for Cap and the rest to contend with, bringing in the Fantastic Four – who have previous with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom – should come in handy. “They’re very bonded in a lot of different ways,” Pascal tells Empire of how Reed reads Doom. “They’re bonded as scientists. They think together through the lens of science and math, and think in ways that most people don’t. You can’t help but create a bond of friendship and kinship, and feel less alone in the world because there is a mind that is equal, if not superior, to your own.” Avengers, New Avengerz, Fantastic Four and X-Men – assemble!
Read Empire’s full 22-page Avengers: Doomsday coverage – speaking to Kevin Feige, Joe and Anthony Russo, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Ian McKellen, Florence Pugh, Anthony Mackie, Simu Liu, David Harbour, Vanessa Kirby, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Tom Hiddleston, Hannah John-Kamen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, and Winston Duke – in the January 2027 issue, on sale Thursday November 19, with four covers to collect. Limited copies of each cover are available to pre-order online here. Avengers: Doomsday comes to cinemas from December 18.
