Marvel Rivals developer NetEase is taking extra care to make sure it doesn't leak anything about Avengers Doomsday as it plans a crossover with the MCU film.

2026 has been a big year for the Marvel Rivals team as the developers have been celebrating the four Avengers MCU themes with new cosmetics and modes throughout the year on the Path to Doomsday. This kicked off in April with an Avengers themed event that had a 6v1 asymmetrical mode in which you team up against a single Loki, while this week marks the Infinity War event which will introduce a 2v2 mode in which two teams of 6 players can battle with the Infinity Stones in round robin bouts. Then later this month a PVE mode based on Endgame will drop, in which 50 players have a scrap with Thanos and his army.

Naturally, this is all set to culminate with Avengers Doomsday in December, but all of Marvel Studios barring 2018 Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo take spoilers very seriously. But for Rivals to have Doomsday-themed content, it'll need some insider info.

Speaking to FRVR, Marvel Rivals game director Guangyun Chen assured "We are doing everything we can to prevent any leaks for this important event." Unfortunately, this is somewhat undercut by supposed leaks for Marvel Rivals season 11 which pegs Nightcrawler and Dr Doom – both of which are set to play a big role in Doomsday – as the new characters set to be added next season. Not to mention Season 10's Gorr the God Butcher was leaked ahead of time too.

Granted, I don't know that Marvel Rivals' crossover will necessitate too many full-blown spoilers about the upcoming movie, least of all the "surprising ending" Joe Russo is hyping up. I'd be shocked if the film's ending – which features Beast transforming into Frasier Crane in a Dragon Ball Z-like sequence in which he one shots Doom – will be crucial to the new season. But let's hope no leaks happen, just to be safe.

Marvel Rivals hasn't managed to beat Overwatch's stats yet, but Disney boasts it's still "attracted 40 million players worldwide."

26 years ago, the first all-out superhero ensemble movie hit screens. Introducing legendary characters to live action such as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier, the first X-Men movie did what had never really been done before, bringing a team of heroes with equal agency together to face a common enemy. That formula would be repeated over and over, and was the first step on the road to the ultimate team-up movie, Avengers: Doomsday, releasing later this year.

Aside from the questionable outfits, the 2000 movie was a smash hit amongst Marvel comics fans at the time, and still holds up today. Not only does the movie act as a perfect origin story for Xavier's superhero team, but it also introduces characters and relationships that survive on screen for decades to come. But in a rather ironic twist, the whole story will come full circle later this year in Avengers: Doomsday, as the same characters to introduce the modern superhero ensemble format are returning in the ultimate team-up adventure.

Over two decades after X-Men hit screens, Doomsday welcomes back most of the original mutants, including Xavier, Ian Mckellen's Magneto, James Marsden's Cyclops, and Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, as they make their MCU debut. But with the MCU shifting into a new era, it feels like the fifth Avengers movie is bringing the OG heroes back just to kill them off, which makes looking back to the start of their journey that more heartbreaking.

The first to do it

Directed by disgraced filmmaker Bryan Singer, X-Men introduces Wolverine as he plods across the nation with no memory of how he gained his powers, struggling to accept his new identity. That is until he meets the equally confused teen mutant Rogue (Anna Paquin). But just as the two become targets for the villain Magneto and his henchmen Sabretooth and Toad, they are scooped up by Professor X's squad. And so the X-Men team was born. The movie gives us just enough of a taste of each mutant's respective powers and a glimpse at their backstories, and sets up the heated rivalry between Xavier and Magneto that launches the whole franchise.

But you may be thinking, what do you mean X-Men was the first superhero ensemble movie? What about the early Batman movies that saw the Caped Crusader and Robin team up? Or 1987's Masters of the Universe? It is true that heroes did band together on screen before, but there was always one frontrunner followed by a gaggle of sidekicks. X-Men was the first major Hollywood movie to successfully bring a superhero team to the big screen where all the lead characters played an important part in the story. The joining of heroes who have similar capabilities would be replicated later down the line in 2012's The Avengers, spawning a whole franchise in and of itself.

The end of an era

However, according to the Avengers: Doomsday synopsis, the Marvel Phase 6 film is setting itself up as a pivotal moment in MCU history, which could mark the end for the original X-Men. "Universes collide, and the Multiverse Saga begins its final chapter," reads the synopsis. "This epic film will lay the foundation for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Now, to me, that sounds as though the movie will say goodbye to a bunch of old heroes in order to make way for a new era. Furthermore, the Doomsday cast list is so incredibly stacked that there is no way all of the characters will be able to share screen time, meaning many may be binned early on.

In the added Avengers: Endgame Encore footage, the TVA learns that 3,000 universes have impending incursions, the first being between the Fox X-Men universe Earth-10005 and a new universe Earth-1127. The incursions are no doubt caused by Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, who is on a path to avenge his own misfortune. But it may be too late for the X-Men. In the Avengers: Doomsday trailer, we see that parts of the X-Mansion have been destroyed, and another shot shows Xavier looking up at the fiery sky. Universes colliding is worlds away from the early 00s movie, so it may be a little too much for X and Magneto, who are huddled together and honestly look terrified.

In with the new

I believe Doomsday will give our favourite Mutants time to shine, though, before closing their coffins shut. In the trailer, we see Gambit fighting Shang-Chi, and in another scene, Mystique shape-shifts into Florence Pugh's Yelena. The mutants are probably trying to protect themselves from the strange heroes who have landed in their universe, who are really there to save them. But the X-Men will probably be no match for Doctor Doom, who has been described as "very difficult to beat" by director Joe Russo. Especially as Famke Janssen's ultra-powerful Jean Grey is absent.

It's going to be incredibly sad to see the OG X-Men go, particularly Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen's Professor X and Magneto, whose turbulent relationship kept us on our toes for decades. However, the Fox-era X-Men deserve a proper send-off. Let's face it, the old mutants could never have stayed around in the MCU for long, as Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier's upcoming X-Men movie is already in the works. The new movie is set to welcome back Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, adding Kit Connor's Cyclops, Christopher Abbott's Professor X, Inde Navarrette's Rogue, and more.

The first X-Men movie is required viewing ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, mainly to remind you how important the X-Men are to Marvel Studios and how one 26-year-old superhero film, that is on a pretty small scale compared to ensemble flicks today, changed the modern superhero genre forever. Knowing that this may be the last time we see our favourite mutants is devastating, but rewatching the first X-Men movie also makes me super excited to see the early days of a new group of mutants again.

Avengers: Endgame is available to stream now on Disney Plus, ahead of the release of Avengers: Doomsday on December 18. Avengers: Endgame Encore is in theaters now.

Look ahead with our list of upcoming Marvel movies and check out how to watch the Marvel movies in order ahead of your next rewatch. See you next week as we revisit the second X-Men movie, X2.

A sprawling Lego Marvel Skyline with some of the franchise's best-loved locations has been revealed, and besides ample fan-service, it's got some gloriously silly deep cuts.

The 1,200-piece kit went up for pre-order at the Lego store yesterday ahead of its launch in January, and it's a rogue's gallery of the Marvel universe's most iconic buildings. While there are plenty you'd expect to see like Avengers Tower, the X-Mansion, and the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building, it's also stuffed with lesser-known locations from the comics like Rand Industries (Iron Fist's company) and then villainous AIM. In addition, Lego Marvel Skyline makes sure to sneak in a couple of very goofy references too – the Spider-Mobile and Thanos Copter.

Yes, Thanos the Mad Titan – destroyer of half the universe – used to fly about in an incredibly silly yellow helicopter that he named after himself. This can be seen hovering beside the Daily Bugle from the Spider-Man mythos.

Oh, and speaking of everyone's favorite webhead, his infamous 'Spider-Mobile' is also scaling the Bugle. Spidey was made this by an in-universe car company who wanted to promote their non-polluting engine, and it's been an in-joke ever since. (There was even an alternate-universe version of Peter who looked like Spider-Mobile called 'Peter Parkedcar,' which is the best thing I've ever heard.)

In terms of other references, there's a Chitauri Leviathan from the 2012 Avengers movie, Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Oscorp, the Department of Damage Control (with a teeny Spidey out front stopping a train as he did in Spider-Man 2), Daredevil's law office Nelson and Murdock, the hyper-evil Roxxon Corporation, a Wakandan Embassy referencing Black Panther, and Fisk Tower. There's even a to-scale Galactus minifigure as well, which might be the first we've ever gotten.

Much like the new Lego PlayStation with its Gran Turismo diorama, it's also populated with tiny cars made using squares or curved single stud pieces on a roller skate.

Lego Marvel Skyline will drop on January 1, 2027.

There's quite a lot on the docket for January; an iconic piece of Joker art is being made into a Lego Batman set, but fans are worried it'll haunt kids' nightmares. However, it's impressive enough to challenge the best Lego sets, so maybe it gets a pass.

• See all the new sets at Lego store

The mystery behind the identity of MJ's boyfriend in Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to rumble on after new subtitle revelations.

Previously, there had been speculation that Eman Esfandi's unnamed character (listed only as 'The Boyfriend' in the credits) was Paul, a notoriously divisive comic character who ended up adopting children with Mary Jane.

At the time, Esfandi (jokingly) took offence to the theories, writing on Twitter: "I am not, never have been, and never will be 'Paul'.

Unfortunately for the actor, perhaps best known for playing a live-action Ezra Bridger in the Ahsoka series, the digital release of Brand New Day lists the character's name as 'Paul' in the subtitles.

Esfandi has moved swiftly to deny it, however. "No clue why subtitles say that [to be honest], your guess is as good as mine," he stated on social media.

Personally, I remain utterly convinced something is up with Esfandi's character. But, instead, I think he's playing Harry Osborn instead of Paul – a character who even the MCU might not be able to redeem on any level, such was the nature of how much he was hated by ardent Spidey fans.

Let's hope we find out at some point in the near-future. We wouldn't bet against a Spider-Man 5 happening in the MCU, anyway, after Brand New Day became the highest-grossing movie domestically in the US. We partially have Paul to thank for that.

Esfandi, meanwhile, will next appear in Ahsoka season 2 next January.

For more on that and other projects on the way in a galaxy far, far away, check out our guide to upcoming Star Wars movies.

Avengers: Doomsday sees MCU's best and brightest uniting to try to defeat Doctor Doom, but from everything that's been teased so far, it seems it will be their greatest challenge yet.

We haven't seen much of the character, aside from a few post-credits nods, so as an audience, it's tricky to work out why he is such a formidable foe. Now director Joe Russo has shed some light on that in a new interview.

"Doom’s magic is ancient," he told Fandango. "He is a very powerful character, as you can see in the trailer, and he's a genius. He studies his foes. He understands them, and he's also well-planned. He's not somebody who just does something off the cuff."

Russo continued: "Everything is meticulous with him, and he knows that if he's going to step onto a battlefield against somebody, he has to have the tactical advantage or a power advantage against that person. So, he's very difficult to beat."

Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU to play the iconic villain in the new movie, but we've only had a few glimpses at his performance so far. He'll be sporting a mask and a new accent, but it does seem like he'll have a link to Tony Stark. The Russo brothers aren't giving anything away at the moment, but they have teased the connection will be addressed.

Avengers: Doomsday arrives in UK cinemas on December 16 and in US theaters on December 18. For more, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

After a few years in the wilderness, Samuel L. Jackson has confirmed he'll be back as Nick Fury in Avengers: Secret Wars.

When speaking to The Direct, Jackson let slip he would appear in the "movie after" Avengers: Doomsday.

However, Jackson, who has portrayed the one-time SHIELD director for almost two decades, has "no idea" what the story will be about.

"[Marvel] hasn't told me anything, other than, 'You're not gonna be in this movie. You'll be in the next,'" Jackson said.

As Nick Fury, Jackson remains one of the most prolific MCU actors.

Memorably, he first appeared in the post-credits scene of Iron Man to tease the 'Avengers Initiative.'

From there, he made appearances in almost a dozen Marvel films, including backing up Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel and The Marvels, being impersonated by Talos while he was away in space in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and being a core member of the Avengers movies. He also led Secret Invasion, a gritty Disney Plus series that was largely panned by critics.

Given the looming presence of Avengers: Doomsday, little is known about 2027's Secret Wars, even if the release date will change.

A handful of concept art pieces were purportedly leaked last year and showed Doctor Doom in charge of 'Battleworld' with Doctor Strange by his side, but directors the Russos moved swiftly to debunk the material.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18. Avengers: Secret Wars is currently slated for release on December 17, 2027.

For more, including the latest on the new X-Men film, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now out on digital release, which comes with a whole bunch of extra featurettes. In one, called 'Friends and Foes', Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland open up about working together on the movie, and tease what it might mean for their future in the MCU.

"The idea of Hulk and Spider-Man finally meeting up," Ruffalo says in the clip. "It's iconic and legendary in the comics. And I think the way we do it is really a teaser for what's to come with these two characters."

It's an intriguing statement as it's not totally clear yet how both characters will play into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. As part of the Avengers: Endgame Encore re-release, a post-credits scene was added, which saw Bruce Banner in an underground facility after the events of Brand New Day. Here, we see Doctor Doom appear and collect the Hulk, taking him somewhere else.

The scene has spawned a theory that the same thing might have happened to Peter Parker in the Brand New Day post-credits scene. If you'll remember, this featured Parker on the Spidey Tracker somewhere in Queens before he disappeared and turned up on an unknown planet far away. Could Doom have also collected him and transported him far away?

The Russo brothers, who directed Avengers: Doomsday, have already teased that Doom has his eyes on recruiting more MCU characters. Let's see if Spider-Man is one of them...

For more, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now out on digital, and the release has brought with it a whole host of new footage. Among the additional moments is a glimpse at the scene when Spider-Man is unmasked in the hospital.

After taking the bullet for Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) at the Department of Damage Control on Roosevelt Island, Peter is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. In the final movie we don't see him until he's recovering in his hospital bed, but it seems an earlier moment was filmed.

Shared on social media, he can be seen having his Spider-Man mask taken off in the operating theater, and he looks absolutely terrified. Whether this is down to his identity being revealed or the life and death situation, it's not quite clear but it's certainly a moving additional scene.

There was also a lot of debate among Spider-Man fans about how Peter managed to keep his identity a secret in the hospital. It seems the answer is that he didn't, but those involved in helping him get better kept his secret for him.

The scene was included in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the film, where star Tom Holland explains Peter evolving throughout the movie. "Peter's journey in this movie is about him learning that he can't do this alone," he explained.

Fans have been reacting to the scene and it seems like some are hoping the deleted moment could end up in the film's rumored re-release. "Every detail is more devastating than the last one," wrote one, while another added: "I swear if this scene is not in the extended version I'll burn the theater down." A third wrote: "They should have explained why the doctors never revealed his identity. We could have had a scene like in Spider-Man 2."

It's not quite clear where Holland's Spider-Man will end up next but the movie's post-credits scene seems to link his trajectory with Doctor Doom. Our best bet is that we'll see him in Avengers: Secret Wars, but here are all the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows he could appear in.

Doctor Doom looks great in green in Avengers: Doomsday, but new merchandise reveals we almost had a fresh look and title change for the Marvel supervillain.

As is now customary for a big new Marvel release, a wave of Funko Pops have teased what to expect from certain characters.

Among them is Doctor Doom. While there is a Doctor Doom Funko showcasing much of what we've already seen from Robert Downey Jr.'s masked character in recent Doomsday trailers, we also have confirmation that he will be accompanied by Franklin Richards, the son of Fantastic Four's Reed Richards and Sue Storm – as set up by the Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credits scene.

More intriguingly, though, is the figure named 'Lord Doom', complete with gold trimmings, regalia, and a slightly modified mask.

While this doesn't tell us much about Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, it does clue us into Marvel Studios' thinking behind the scenes. That's because the Lord Doom Funko is part of the brand's 'concept series', which shines a light on concept art and scrapped designs that never made the cut. Check it out for yourself below.

As the road to Doomsday gets ever shorter, we're starting to hear more and more about the biggest Marvel release in years.

The directors Joe and Anthony Russo have already given a ballpark figure of two-and-a-half hours for its runtime, with talk of a "very surprising ending" to boot. Joe Russo has also described the collapse of the multiverse in apocalyptic terms, meaning that there's bound to be more than a few casualties as the incursions start to hit close to home.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas in the US on December 18 and in some regions from December 16.

For more, we have a guide on the complete Marvel timeline. Plus, we have a look ahead to all the upcoming Marvel movies currently in the works.

Anthony Mackie has confirmed he's heading to Broadway to star in Macbeth, and it's revealed some new details about the Avengers: Secret Wars filming schedule. The Captain America star will be working on the show from February until July 2027, which he told Deadline is when he'll film for Secret Wars.

"So once I finish on Broadway, I'll go to finish up all the Avengers stuff for Secret Wars," he told Deadline in a new interview, referring to his filming schedule. Now, this seems to be a pretty tight turnaround for the upcoming Avengers movie, which is due out on December 17, 2027.

Avengers: Doomsday, by comparison, wrapped filming in September 2025, with additional photography taking place in early 2026, ahead of its December 2026 release date. The timeline seems to be a lot tighter for Secret Wars at this point, as filming has yet to start.

However, it's worth noting that Mackie may be doing some filming ahead of his Broadway stint and could just be "finishing" filming next summer. Even so, with the huge amounts of post-production that movies like this need, it's going to be a sprint to hit that release date.

Currently, most of the cast of Avengers: Secret Wars is unconfirmed, given that we don't know what will happen in Avengers: Doomsday yet. It is expected that most of the major MCU heroes will return, and there have been rumors that Noah Jupe has joined in a secret role. As soon as Doomsday hits theaters, we should get a bit more of an idea of what to expect.

For more MCU, here's our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about.

It's the most wonderful time of the year (at least for us New York City-based nerds). New York City Comic Con is almost upon us, and much like San Diego Comic-Con, we can expect a plethora of exciting news, reveals, and announcements from the most highly anticipated movies and TV shows set to arrive in 2026 and beyond. From new Marvel TV shows to a long-awaited horror prequel and a follow-up to one of the best animated shows from our childhoods... there's truly something for everyone this year at NYCC.

Below, we've rounded up five of the biggest highlights – which was no easy feat given how many exciting things there are to look forward to this year. We've mentioned some of the biggest and the best, but there's still so much more. A panel for the upcoming survival thriller Whalefall will feature a Q&A with star Austin Abrams, and we can't forget about Blumfest, which will tease the horror studio's upcoming slate of films... which may or may not include Five Nights at Freddy's 3 (especially since both Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich will be in attendance this year...)

During the week of NYCC, we'll be keeping you updated with every exciting bit of news that comes out of each panel. There are even some immersive activations, one which may or may not involve being chased by Mrs. Voorhees herself... When you're done reading the below, be sure to head on over to our list of all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows.

Marvel TV and Animation

Marvel is known for their big convention appearances, which is where they tend to break the biggest news and give us the most exciting announcements. On Thursday, October 8, Marvel will hold a panel (4:15 – 5:45 pm ET at the Empire Stage) that showcases what's next from Marvel Television and Marvel Animation. This will put a spotlight on the upcoming WandaVision spinoff VisionQuest, as well as season 3 of X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2. We also may get an early look at Daredevil: Born Again season 3, the final season of the hit Disney Plus series, as the show just wrapped filming in NYC and has entered post-production.

Blade Runner 2099

On Saturday, October 10, Prime Video is holding a panel for upcoming sci-fi series Blade Runner 2099 (6:45 pm ET at the Empire Stage). The lineup includes stars Michelle Yeoh, Hunter Schafer, Dimitri Abold, Lewis Gribben, Matthew Needham, showrunner/executive producer Silka Luisa, and executive Producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. There will also be a two-floor immersive experience designed to put you right in the middle of dystopian Los Angeles. Open to attending NYCC guests, the off-site experience lets you go undercover as a replicant, test your humanity, and even step into a nigh club straight out of the Blade Runner universe (and we hope a giant neon Ana de Armas is there to greet us).

Crystal Lake

Ever wondered why Pamela Voorhees ended up murdering all those camp counselors? Well, Peacock's Crystal Lake picks up right after little Jason was drowned by those bullies and follows Linda Cardellini as the one and only Mrs. Voorhees. On Thursday, fans can check out a special screening of the horror prequel's first episode (6:30 ET at the Empire Stage), followed by a Q&A with Cardellini, creator/showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, and more. Then, they can head on over to the Crystal Lake booth (1359) on the main show floor for an immersive experience that takes you to Camp Crystal Lake in the 1970s.

Dexter: Resurrection season 2

Dexter didn't die... and he's back to killing bad guys, though he's got his son to help him out this time. A panel for Dexter: Resurrection season 2 will take place from 12:30 - 2:00 PM ET on Thursday at the Hall 1D: Main Stage, and feature stars Michael C. Hall, Uma Thurman, James Remar, Jack Alcott, Bokeem Woodbine, and Krysten Ritter. Paramount is also promising "plenty of killer surprises," so we can expect a sneak preview, and maybe even some casting announcements that we did not see coming... will they confirm that Ritter is returning as Lady Vengeance? Will Dan Stevens make an appearance as one of the show's newest NYC serial killers?

Avatar: Seven Havens

On Friday, October 9, Avatar: Seven Havens, a direct sequel to Avatar spin-off The Legend of Korra, will hold a panel from 11:15 - 12:15 pm ET over at the Main Stage. Moderated by the original voice of Korra, Janet Varney, the panel includes cast members Saheli Khan, Aishu Devan, and Major Curda, as well as executive producers Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Ethan Spaulding, and Sehaj Sethi. We can expect a sneak peek at the upcoming series, some fun behind-the-scenes fodder, and Paramount has hinted at a possible announcement as to what's next for the Avatar franchise...

For more, check out our list of all the upcoming movies in 2026 that you need to know about, or check our guide to all the new TV shows.

New X-Men actor Christopher Abbott has recalled his harsh "learning curve" as part of the Kraven the Hunter cast.

"I don't know what I was doing in that thing," Abbott said on Happy Sad Confused of playing The Foreigner in the 2024 Spider-Man spin-off.

To that end, Abbott admitted to not even understanding his character's abilities, which involved hypnosis.

"I didn't understand what the superpower was; I didn't know what was going on. I take off my glasses? What happens? I feel like no one really had a good answer," Abbott said, who also mentioned that he felt "in the moment" he didn't think it was "going well.

Abbott added, "I don't know what I was wearing in that thing. I've sort of buried that deep… it's a learning curve."

Kraven starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the eponymous hunter, who has long been a thorn in the side of Spider-Man in Marvel's comics.

The movie may have bombed on release – generating only $60 million at the worldwide box office – but Abbott has managed to shift to another superhero project which should have a bright future: X-Men.

There, he will portray Professor Xavier – though admitted he felt his D23 reveal alongside the rest of the cast fell a little flat in his eyes.

"I think I started walking out pretty enthusiastically, and then I kind of felt like a lot of people there didn't know who I was, so then my energy shifted within the split second," Abbott told The Cut.

X-Men hits cinemas on May 5, 2028.

For more on that and other future projects, we have a guide to upcoming Marvel movies.

If you're lagging behind before Avengers: Doomsday, we have a comprehensive rundown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Sean Gunn might have retired from playing Rocket Racoon, but he'd be open to a Kraglin comeback.

Gunn was the physical performer for Rocket, who was voiced by Bradley Cooper. But, Gunn shared recently that he has retired.

In a Reddit AMA, Gunn was asked if he was also finished with his Ravager role of Kraglin. Gunn responded: "If they call about Kraglin I will answer my phone."

"Since I've turned 50 a couple of years ago, I am retired from playing Rocket," Gunn shared on the Phase Hero podcast in September. "Not that they've called. But if they did, I don't think I could do the motion reference anymore for Rocket. I think I'm too old."

There's no word yet on when – or if – Rocket or Kraglin might return in the MCU, since neither is currently part of the confirmed Avengers: Doomsday roster.

Gunn also plays Maxwell Lord in the DCU, and he recently shared his thoughts on upcoming Superman follow-up Man of Tomorrow.

"I can't say anything about Man of Tomorrow in terms of what it's about or who's in it, or whatever. But I think it's okay that I can say that I've read it, and it's my favorite of all of them," he said, referring to his brother James Gunn's Marvel and DC filmography. "So I'll be very curious to come back a year from now and talk to people about what they like the best."

Man of Tomorrow arrives on July 9, 2027. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows for everything else that's in store.

The assistant set director for the post-credits TVA scene in Avengers: Endgame Encore has shared a closer look at the set. Nathan Elliott posted several pictures on his website detailing small elements of the TVA offices used in the bonus footage of the Marvel re-release.

Just like with Loki, it's further evidence of the extreme level of detail that goes into the world of the Time Variance Authority. The pictures show draws stacked full of reports and papers, retro-futuristic machines, and screens monitoring potential incursions.

My favorite details are the closer look at the Loki dedication on the wall where he's called "Employee of all time" for his sacrifice to save the multiverse. There's also a closer look at the tree of different universe threads being held together by Loki, monitored on the TVA screens under a system called "tree overview".

It seems the production crew also snuck in a few Easter eggs as well into the wall of employees. Elliott appears as one of the "Employees of the millennium" alongside names like screenwriter Cassian Pryce.

There was clearly a lot of attention to detail put into the brief post-credits scene, which looks like it will have a huge impact on the events of Avengers: Doomsday. This saw the employees at the TVA witnessing 3,000 incursions as the multiverse collapses all around them. We think we know who is to blame for that one…

Avengers: Doomsday releases in the UK on December 16 and in the US on December 18. For more, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need on your radar.

The MCU is almost 20 years and 38 movies deep, but Marvel boss Kevin Feige isn't done yet.

"The Marvel mythology is ripe for storytelling," he said at the Pioneer of the Year dinner. "It's so rich. It is, and you can look this up, the longest running fictional narrative in history. And Doomsday's only the 39th movie. We've still got a lot of stories to tell, a lot of movies to make. Because we love making these movies, we love it." Check out the video below.

The next movie to arrive from Marvel is Avengers: Doomsday, which is shaping up to be a crossover of epic proportions. The Fox-era X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, the likes of Thor and Captain America, and also Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man will all be sharing the screen.

Avengers: Endgame Encore, meanwhile, is in theaters now, and it adds bonus scenes that directly set up the events of Doomsday. The re-release has proved to be a huge success, with the Marvel movie now on track to become the highest-grossing film of all time once more (beating James Cameron's Avatar).

"I think people are going to be surprised," Joe Russo said recently of Doomsday. "It's a very surprising ending. It's a very surprising movie and that's all we'll say about it."

VisionQuest is the next Marvel release on the small screen, landing on Disney Plus this October 14.

Avengers: Doomsday arrives this December 18. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else that's on the way.

Nicolas Cage had some strong words for the MCU and its stars in a recent fan convention appearance. It seems the legendary actor, who recently starred in comic book show Spider-Noir, is feeling some familiar superhero fatigue with Marvel's output.

Speaking at Fan Expo Dallas (H/T The Independent), he was asked about the MCU. “It started out, in my view, terrific," Cage replied. "Some of the early stories were marvellous, the way that they wove all the threads together and told the different character stories and backstories.

"But lately – I do say this with love – when I see these 50-plus, otherwise intelligent, remarkably gifted thespians putting on these ridiculous outfits and getting ready for the fight, it’s hard for me not to be reminded that the MCU is becoming a well-funded and glorified WWE."

It's a pretty brutal description from Cage, who's characters have existed on the edges of the MCU. He notably played Ghost Rider for Marvel prior to the MCU kicking off and recently suited up as Spider-Noir in the Prime Video Spider-Man spin-off, which falls under Sony's umbrella.

Cage also isn't wrong that the MCU has hit a few snags since its inception. While the original Phase 1 movies were well received, recent outings have failed to win over audiences. Studio head Kevin Feige is hoping that the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday turns the tide on that as it brings together several universes of heroes in the fight against Doctor Doom. Maybe that will win the Face/Off star back over?

For more upcoming superhero movies, here are our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and upcoming DC movies and shows.

Christopher Abbott says his X-Men casting reveal felt like more of a nightmare because the crowd at D23 didn't seem to recognize him.

"I think I started walking out pretty enthusiastically, and then I kind of felt like a lot of people there didn't know who I was, so then my energy shifted within the split second," Abbott told The Cut. "I was a little bit more humble about it."

Abbott is set to play a younger Professor Charles Xavier in the MCU's upcoming X-Men movie, being much, much younger than Sir Patrick Stewart was when he originated the role back in 2000. Some, but not all, of the cast was revealed during Marvel's D23 panel over the summer.

Abbott is perhaps best known for his role as Charlie on the hit HBO show Girls, and to his credit... the people seated for the Marvel panel at D23 don't necessarily seem like huge Girls fans. He was also in the 2025 Wolfman remake with Julia Garner, starred in the Oscar-winning Poor Things, and played The Foreigner in Kraven the Hunter. Before that, he was known mainly as an indie darling.

"I almost did a fist pump when I walked out, and then I felt like the applause was muted," he continued. "So I was like, 'I'm just going to walk out and nod.' It feels almost like a video game, or a dream. Not like a good dream. It’s a bit of both – a bit of a dream and a nightmare."

The rest of the cast includes Maya Boyd as Storm, Asa Germann as Angel, Adam Driver as Mister Sinister, and Samara Weaving as Emma Frost. Sadie Sink made her debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

X-Men hits theaters on May 5, 2028. For more, check out our guide to everything announced at D23 2026. We've also rounded up all of the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way in 2026 and beyond.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have seemingly confirmed the current runtime for Avengers: Doomsday is shorter than Avengers: Endgame.

While speaking to Fandango about the challenge of balancing a large cast with a focused story, Anthony Russo said, "It's a two and a half hour movie or so, and you're sitting through it, and it's a focused propulsive narrative that has like an organizing principle at its center, and everything has to orbit around that.That's part of the creative challenge for Joe and I – just figuring out how that what that orbit is and how it all smashes together."

However it comes together, the Russos have confirmed – much like Avengers: Infinity War before it – there will be a shocking finale in store for those watching Doomsday.

"I think people are going to be surprised," Joe Russo teased. "It's a very surprising ending. It's a very surprising movie and that's all we'll say about it."

If the Avengers: Doomsday runtime of around 150 minutes holds, it will pale in comparison to Avengers: Endgame's three-hour length (not even taking into account Encore added an extra four minutes of bonus scenes).

Doomsday will, however, match up to MCU runtimes such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (161 minutes), Eternals (156 minutes), and Avengers: Infinity War (149 minutes).

In a separate interview with Empire, the directors confirmed the Endgame Encore bonus scenes wouldn't be part of Doomsday, meaning you'll have to watch them in cinemas to get the full context on the road to the next major Avengers crossover.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 16 in the UK and December 18 in the US.

For more, we have a complete guide to upcoming Marvel movies.

Robert Downey Jr. was announced as Tony Stark 20 years ago, marking one of the most iconic superhero castings ever made. A report from September 29, 2006 was shared by a fan on Reddit alongside one of the actor's final screen tests.

In the original report from The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel head Kevin Feige was quoted about the news, seemingly bracing for backlash from fans. "In every casting announcement we've done, people in their mind's eye have their own view of it and let us know about it," he said: "We're used to it. The point is we looked at everybody and we found the best person for the role. It's as confident a casting move as we've ever done. The proof will be in the pudding, but he is Tony Stark."

Indeed, the initial casting was reportedly met with mixed reactions with everything from his age to on-screen history questioned by fans. However, as Feige puts it, the proof really was in the pudding and Downey Jr. is in my mind the best casting the MCU has ever done.

His screen test audition proves it too, featuring a scene from a movie where Stark is outrageously arrogant to a female journalist. The screen test also features Downey Jr. improvising and leaving the executives watching laughing as well as featuring one of Stark's most intense scenes with Rhodey. Yep, he is Tony Stark.

Marvel fans have been reacting to seeing this 20 years on from the casting, some for the first time. "What a pivotal moment for the MCU, it's hard to imagine anyone else as Tony Stark now," writes one, while another added: "Crazy to think this was the moment that set the whole MCU in motion. RDJ as Tony Stark ended up becoming one of the most defining casting choices in superhero movie history."

Tony Stark's story came to a heartbreaking end in Avengers: Endgame, but Downey Jr. will soon be heading back to the MCU as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. That casting was equally met with mixed emotions, will the actor prove audiences wrong once again come December? I can't want to find out.

Avengers: Doomsday is released on December 16 in the UK and December 18 in the US. For more upcoming superhero movies, check out our breakdown of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need on your radar.

Avengers: Endgame co-writer Stephen McFeely has revealed the surprising way the Soul Stone sacrifice was chosen.

"Because it's not a small thing to kill off a principal female character in the MCU, we tried a version of Hawkeye [dying]," McFeely said of the moment on the planet Vormir between Hawkeye and Black Widow at an Avengers: Endgame Encore Q&A event (via Forbes).

But a back-and-forth was just beginning. With the writers undecided on whether to kill off Hawkeye or Black Widow, those at Marvel HQ helped make the writers' choice for them.

"A number of the female employees at Marvel, when they read [the script], grabbed me in the hallway and said, 'Don’t you do this to her. Don't you take her heroic moment and give it to him. And I said, 'Oh, that’s a really good point.'"

Black Widow would go on to appear in her own solo movie, which also helped pave the way for the current iteration Yelena, played by Florence Pugh, to make her own mark in the MCU.

Despite that legacy, McFeely still holds some regret over how quickly Endgame moves on to its action-packed third act.

"There was not that much time to mourn Natasha because we got to snap everybody back and Thanos has to bomb us, and the Avengers have to fight their biggest fight in the MCU and Captain America has to wield Thor's hammer… we had a lot to do," McFeely lamented.

Hawkeye, meanwhile, went on to star in his own Disney Plus series, passing the torch – or should that be bow? – to Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop.

There is no news yet on if one of the few remaining OG Avengers will return in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, however.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is currently in cinemas, complete with bonus footage. If you're still on the fence about seeing all of the new scenes, you'll need our guide to Infinity Vision, Marvel's answer to IMAX.

It must be great to be Spider-Man, right? As Brand New Day showed, Peter Parker's life was anything but – isolated from friends, grieving lost family, and operating in a city where the criminals want you dead and no one knows who you really are.

According to Tom Holland, that fairly depressing throughline was inspired largely by a joke from 2017's The LEGO Batman Movie.

"Something that I always really loved from a superhero movie is the LEGO Batman Movie when they talk about how he must be having parties with all of his friends and dating supermodels and all this sort of stuff and then it cuts to him like in his house alone," Holland told Accion Cine Series.

In the scene in question, Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) heads back to Wayne Manor after a successful day of crimefighting, only to be met with a sad plate of microwaved lobster thermidor and a lonely rewatch of Jerry Maguire.

"Sending that into [director Destin Daniel Cretton] being like this is a great little thing for us, we should do something like this," Holland said. "I just think that it creates a lot of layers and people are going to yearn for Peter Parker to make some life changes so that he can find happiness and peace and love."

As ever, it proves Holland's instincts for Spider-Man are on point. He previously mentioned he "hated" a cut that was shaped by test screening feedback.

"It totally didn’t work. And it's what the people were asking for, but it wasn't quite what we wanted as the creatives," Holland told Quotable prior to release. "But they learned lessons from that experience. So, a movie can change in a thousand different ways in the edit room."

Aided by Holland's Spider-Sense, Spider-Man: Brand New Day became a record breaker at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time in the US.

A re-release is now planned, with deleted scenes being put back into the cut.

For more, check out our ranking of best Spider-Man movies.

The Russos have revealed they thought about including a sequence involving Steve Rogers returning the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame.

At the end of Endgame, Steve Rogers goes on a mission through time to return the Stones to their rightful places – which would have involved encountering the Red Skull on Vormir. As Joe Russo told CBR, the directors did contemplate showing the mission.

"We did have that conversation. There might have even been… I think we toyed around with an idea of like, 'Is there a montage where he puts the stones back?' We felt like it just played past the ending. We were like, 'It seems like much more complicated than a montage could sustain.' And so we didn't do it." Added Anthony Russo: "We did circle it for a long time, that idea."

When CBR brought up the possibility of seeing the story play out in another way, Joe said: "I think that's a great idea. How about a movie?"

We'll next see Chris Evans's Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday. The Avengers: Endgame Encore bonus footage revealed that Steve travelling back in time to live out his life with Peggy Carter is what sparked the plot of Doomsday, with Loki coming to visit them in the past.

Doomsday arrives this December 18, while Endgame Encore is in theaters now (and is on the way to becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time again).

For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.

Following Bruce Banner being kidnapped by Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in the added Avengers: Endgame Encore footage, the Russo brothers have confirmed that the villain is indeed collecting Marvel heroes ahead of Avengers: Doomsday.

"I mean, look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner. So, that's what we'll say about that," said Joe Russo to Empire. Fans were already starting to wonder what Doom might be up to, with one wondering that, in addition to the Hulk, Doctor Doom has already kidnapped Tom Holland's Spider-Man.

If this is the case, it will finally bring meaning to the Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credits scene. When Doom infiltrated Banner's bunker, the screen starts to glitch, which is exactly what happens at the end of Brand New Day. We see Ned's tracker trace Spidey as he leaves Earth before the screen glitches and shows him landing on a mysterious planet. But what if the glitch was actually Doom taking Parker away?

We already know that Doomsday takes place after Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so we can't really account for Spidey's whereabouts after that. However, neither Bruce Banner star Mark Ruffalo nor Holland have been confirmed to return in Doomsday. When asked about Ruffalo's involvement, Joe Russo said, "[Banner] is certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom. We will not confirm nor deny his appearance in Doomsday."

Anthony Russo added, "The farthest we can go is to say, there are characters and actors who have not been announced, who are a part of Doomsday." The Russos have already stated that not all of the cast has been announced. As for Doom's other captees, Marvel fans seem to think something has happened to Chris Evans' Steve Rogers. Fans grew suspicious of Steve Rogers after the Avengers: Doomsday trailer, and many believe that Rogers has perhaps been replaced by the villainous Hydro Cap.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is already the third highest-grossing movie worldwide, but it seems Marvel Studios are hoping to push it further. The Sony co-production is reportedly getting a re-release, which will feature new footage and deleted scenes.

Per Deadline, the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed movie will feature multiple extras when it returns, including the widely-reported Rosario Dawson cut scene. The actor made a cameo as Claire Temple, her character in Netflix's Defenders saga of shows, in a deleted scene.

The movie's writers previously revealed that the scene came after a brutal Scorpion fight as Claire helped Peter Parker get to hospital. Dawson revealed it was cut earlier this year at a convention, sharing how gutted she was that it didn't make the final edit.

It's not clear what other footage could be included, but Ramrod actor Billy Clements previously revealed that several of his scenes were cut. He also revealed that more "recognizable" actors were completely axed from the movie too. It seems likely these could be added back for a new version.

It's not yet confirmed how a re-release of the movie might happen and Sony is yet to confirm the news, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens next. In the meantime, Marvel has just re-released another movie with Avengers: Endgame Encore currently in theaters.

The new version features several additional scenes, which set up Avengers: Doomsday, due to hit theaters in December. For more, check out our guide to other upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

Avengers: Doomsday is releasing early in some countries, and fans have valid concerns over spoilers: "We’re going to have the entire film online"

As confirmed by several cinema outlets, Avengers: Doomsday will be released in the UK and some other territories on December 16, as early as 6:00 AM GMT (1:00 AM Eastern). In the US and Canada, the movie is still locked in for December 18.

"They really have to do December 16 screenings in US/Canada too," one concerned fan wrote on Twitter. "We’re going to have the entire film online by the time the first screening in North America happens."

"Sorry USA brace yourself for spoilers to be online," another commenter said, summing up the mood of a social media contingent that will have to do their level best to avoid spoilers and leaks for at least 48 hours in the lead-up to release.

"The UK will spoil it for us all!" another added, perhaps mindful of Spider-Man actor Tom Holland's penchant for revealing major Avengers story details ahead of time.

From across the pond, it's safe to say fans are stoked. One joked, "Being from the UK does have its benefits after all." Another declared it an "absolute win", using Smart Hulk's iconic Endgame reaction GIF to help reflect their feelings.

Wherever you are in the world, though, those social media concerns are definitely valid. Avengers: Endgame Encore's bonus scenes that help set up Doomsday were leaked ahead of its US release by fans around the world who were lucky enough to watch it early.

The lack of a simultaneous worldwide release is something that has dogged Marvel blockbusters in recent years. There have been early UK releases for several MCU movies, back to the likes of Captain America: Brave New World. On the flip side, Brits will surely remember the insanity of Ant-Man and the Wasp coming to cinemas over a month later than the US because of the World Cup.

While it's not that bad, it does seem like those in the US will need to put up every social media barrier possible to avoid Avengers: Doomsday spoilers before December 18. Good luck with that.

For more on the MCU, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies – including Doomsday. There's even a Marvel timeline to help you make sense of events stretching back decades.

X-Men star Alan Cumming is continuing to be very candid about his Avengers: Doomsday experience.

The actor will reprise his role as Nightcrawler in the Marvel Phase 6 film, along with other returning X-Men like Ian McKellen's Magneto and Patrick Stewart's Professor X.

"To be honest, I don't fully understand the plot," Cumming admitted to SiriusXM. "There was a bit when we were shooting a scene, and it was one of the rare scenes when I was actually on the backlot and not in front of a blue screen. And this man came and said, 'So right now Alan, these giant robots are blah blah,' and started to tell me the thing, and I was like, 'You know what, thank you so much, but just tell me where I point my, whatever I point. And I'll do that. Really, I just know I'm here to run around.'"

He also gave away a tidbit about Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. "And I saw Florence Pugh yesterday at the Emmys," he added. "And I said, 'Gosh, it's so funny. I've never met you, but you lay on top of me, or your body double did.' And she goes, 'Yeah I lay on top of you as well, but it was your body double.'"

So, that means Nightcrawler and Yelena are unlikely to interact again after the fight at the X-Mansion shown in the trailer.

Last year, Cumming also gave away that he'd be coming to blows with Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards. "I was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene and I'm thinking, 'I'm 60 years old. 23 years ago, I played that superhero. I was kind of old for a superhero even then," Cumming shared. "And now I'm back doing it. That, to me, is hilarious. I'm sort of learning these fights and I'm like, 'What? Who am I fighting with?' And they said, 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,' or something."

Avengers: Doomsday arrives this December 18. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store.

Avengers: Endgame will almost certainly become the highest-grossing movie again – after Encore's re-release proved to be a smash hit at this weekend's box office.

As per Variety, Encore grossed $86 million worldwide, bringing Endgame's overall gross to $2.88 billion, some $40 million shy of Avatar's record.

If the numbers keep up, Avengers: Endgame will regain its crown (after Avatar and Endgame traded number one slots thanks to a series of prior re-releases) in just a few weeks.

All told, the appetite for Endgame Encore is positive news for the MCU: hot off the heels of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's own record-breaking performance and Avengers: Doomsday looming in the distance, it proves audiences will still flock to big Marvel Studios event movies in their droves.

Of course, this was no mere re-release. Avengers: Endgame Encore included a handful of bonus scenes, including a revised ending featuring Loki, and Tony Stark's hammering sound over the credits tying into Doctor Doom. The Infinity Vision editions of Encore also included post-credits featuring the TVA on high alert as thousands of timelines were being destroyed by incursions.

Perhaps most importantly for Doomsday, Doctor Doom also captured Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner – but not before he transformed into the Hulk. What does he have in store for the Jade Giant? That's just one of the questions we have on the road to Doomsday.

Speaking at a Q&A attended by GamesRadar+, Doomsday co-director Anthony Russo admitted he's had to be careful about making cast announcements, because some characters are being kept under wraps.

"The cast is so large, and we've announced some of the cast, and we haven't announced some of the cast," Russo said. "I get confused myself over who we've announced and not announced, so I have to just slow down."

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, but is also receiving an earlier UK release date on December 16.

If you're planning a MCU marathon before then, be sure to check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

More of an eye towards the future? Here are the upcoming Marvel movies currently in the works.

Following Avengers: Endgame Encore hitting theatres today with added footage that bridges the gap between the 2019 movie and Avengers: Doomsday, one Marvel fan has a wild theory that Doctor Doom has already kidnapped Spider-Man.

One of the added Encore scenes, which was leaked online earlier this week, shows Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner hiding out in an underground bunker trying to keep Savage Hulk at bay after his outburst in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, his stronghold is infiltrated by Doctor Doom, who then kidnaps Bruce. Well, one Marvel fan thinks the same thing has happened to Tom Holland's Spider-Man.

"When Doom is about to take Bruce Banner, everything suddenly starts glitching. It seems like a small visual detail, but the exact same type of glitch was already shown in the post-credit scene of Spider-Man: Brand New Day," said the fan on Twitter. "That strongly suggests the two scenes are connected. Doom found Peter Parker."

The Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credits scene shows Ned's Spidey tracker trace Spider-Man as he leaves Earth before the screen glitches and shows the web-slinger land on a mysterious planet. At the time, many thought this was an Avengers: Secret Wars tease, showing Spidey leaving for another universe. But the theory suggests we may be seeing him sooner. Although Holland has not yet been cast in Doomsday, director Anthony Russo says not all of the cast has been announced.

We don't know why Doom abducted Bruce, but the fan believes that Doom "has been collecting heroes this entire time" and that Hulk may not have been the first person he took. This might link to an earlier fan theory regarding Chris Evans' Steve Rogers. When the Avengers: Doomsday trailer landed, many fans were suspicious of Rogers, so with this theory in mind, he may be in cahoots with Doom.

At the end of Endgame, Rogers goes back in time to be with Peggy and, in doing so, becomes old man Rogers in the present day. So how is he suddenly young again? Some fans think that the Rogers in the trailer may actually be the villainous Hydro Cap.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.

Avengers: Doomsday director Anthony Russo has opened up about the difficulties of returning to the world of the MCU and a collection of beloved characters.

Speaking at a Q&A following Avengers: Endgame Encore in New York attended by GamesRadar+, he was asked how he balances honoring what audiences love with characters while also moving the story on.

"It's a very difficult part of the process because I mean, we basically just have to use our own meters because we love the characters, we love the history, we love them in the same way that many fans do," he replied during the talk at the 92nd Street Y. "But the one thing we always like to remind people of, you know, fandom does not speak with a single voice. There's a wide variety of opinion in terms of who responds to which characters and which versions of which characters people respond to, it's a very complex relationship that people have with the characters."

Russo went on to say that they have "a lot of respect for the storytelling journey that these characters have had up to this point". He continued: "That's part of their magic, a big part of their magic. But at the same time, we need to surprise ourselves in terms of who those characters are, where they can go, what they can do, what can happen, and in doing that, we hopefully surprise audiences as well."

One particular role this was a huge challenge with was Victor Von Doom, given that he is played by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. Tony Stark has a powerful ending in Avengers: Endgame, sacrificing himself to save the world. So it's definitely no mean feat to bring him back as a new character who may be the biggest villain that the MCU has ever seen.

"It is figuring out that balance of how do you challenge yourself, i.e. casting Robert Downey as Victor Von Doom, and then and how do you sort of stay faithful to the very thoughtful and wonderfully effective storytelling road that's been traveled up until this point," Russo said about that.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is now out. For more, check out our guides to the Marvel timeline and all the new Marvel movies and shows on the way in 2026 and beyond.

Avengers: Endgame Encore has just hit screens with added footage that will bridge the gap between the 2019 movie and Avengers: Doomsday. However, one scene in particular has convinced fans that Robert Downey Jr.'s new villain, Doctor Doom, and his past Marvel character Tony Stark are somehow connected. Well, the plot has thickened as Doomsday co-director Anthony Russo has now spoken on the matter.

During an Avengers: Endgame Encore Q&A attended by GamesRadar+, Russo was asked whether there is any "connective tissue" between Tony Stark and Doom, to which he replied, "You tell me. Look, it's certainly a pregnant question. But I will say that we are fully committed to Robert Downey as Victor Van Doom, and yes, there is a curiosity around the casting, but you know everything is best left for the theater."

The theory really started to take flight after Endgame Encore footage leaked online earlier this week, including an edited post-credits scene that teases Doom's arrival. The original Endgame post-credits features a clanging hammer noise, which harkens back to Tony Stark making his Iron Man suit in the first movie. However, in Encore, the noise is followed by images of Doctor Doom forging his mask.

This could be the Russos' way of repurposing the sound. But fans think this directly ties the two characters together, suggesting that Doctor Doom made his suit at the same time as Stark did. This would mean that the two have been living parallel lives in separate universes, and that Doom is actually a Tony Stark variant. Now, that would make a lot of sense, as the two characters are played by the same actor. How else will the Russos explain how Doom and Stark share the same face? That is, if Victor ever takes his mask off.

Stark dies at the end of Endgame after making the sacrifice play to stop Thanos, so there is little chance of the two coming face to face. But if Doom really is a Stark variant, his unmasking will certainly take Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, and the rest of the stacked cast of Marvel heroes by surprise.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.

Reshoots are par for the course with superhero cinema, but what do you do if your star is in the middle of shooting an entirely different movie when pickup shots are needed? If you're Ryan Reynolds, you suit up as Deadpool wherever you may be.

Reynolds' Apple TV action-comedy Mayday, in which he stars as a hotshot pilot who crash-lands behind enemy lines in Russia, was filmed from March to May 2024, in the run-up to the release of Deadpool & Wolverine that year. Evidently, pickups were required, and rather than jet off back to Pinewood, where most of the Marvel movie was filmed, Reynolds had his full Deadpool costume (including katanas) shipped to the Mayday set.

Mayday director Jonathan Goldstein revealed the fun behind-the-scenes crossover on Twitter, sharing a picture of himself and co-director John Francis Daley alongside Reynolds in full Deadpool regalia on the Mayday set. We don't know exactly what moment from Deadpool & Wolverine was filmed, or if Goldstein and Daley guest-directed the shot in the absence of Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, but it's a fun insight into the practicalities of big-budget moviemaking.

Some have theorized that the image could be confirmation Deadpool will appear in Avengers: Doomsday. However, the timelines don't match up, as Mayday was shot well over two years ago (a surprising amount of time for a movie to be sitting on the shelf, it has to be said), while Doomsday was filmed from April to September 2025. Still, that doesn't rule out Deadpool making a 'surprise' appearance in Doomsday, after teasing as much at both San Diego Comic-Con and D23.

We don't yet know for sure if or when Deadpool 4 will happen, either, though Reynolds has alluded to a solo sequel being in the works a number of times in recent months, suggesting it will feature some comic deep cuts and that he has "some stuff kind of written" already.

As for Wolverine, no word yet on whether Hugh Jackman will appear in Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, but given the rest of the Fox X-Men cast are seemingly getting a final send-off in the Marvel mega-event, it wouldn't be a surprise for the most famous X-Man of all to make an appearance before Marvel's X-Men movie reboots mutant-dom in the MCU.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.

With less than three months left until Avengers: Doomsday hits screens, co-director Anthony Russo say he and his brother Joe Russo still haven't announced the full cast.

"The cast is so large, and we've announced some of the cast, and we haven't announced some of the cast," said Anthony Russo at a post-Avengers: Endgame Encore screening Q&A attended by GamesRadar+. Joe Russo was not in attendance due to illness. "I get confused myself over who we've announced and not announced, so I have to just slow down."

In fact, Joe and Anthony Russo are still working on the upcoming MCU movie. "Joe and I are still very deep in the process of finishing Doomsday. We always say we're not done with a movie until they pry it out of our cold, dead hands," added Anthony Russo. "So, it's a very iterative process for us... from the time of conception all the way to final delivery of the film. So it is alive, and we're still working with it."

The movie already has a pretty stacked cast list, many of whom were announced during the unforgettable Avengers: Doomsday livestream event where names on the back of the director's chair slowly revealed returning Marvel heroes. The cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, the new Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, the Wakandans, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, most of the original Fox-era X-Men, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and more.

At Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con 2026 panel, it was announced that Peggy Carter star Hayley Atwell is also returning, which makes sense with Steve Rogers being back, as the last time we saw him was at the end of Avengers: Endgame when he went back in time to be with Peggy. However, there still seem to be a few names left out, with many fans wondering if Hugh Jackman's Wolverine will join his fellow X-Men, or if Tom Holland's Spider-Man will make an appearance. Only time will tell.

The upcoming movie marks the first Avengers project since 2019's Avengers: Endgame. However, Avengers: Endgame Encore is now in cinemas, with bonus footage, which has already been leaked, to bridge the gap between the two movies.

Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, and December 16 in the UK. For more, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is now out around the world and features some intriguing new footage, which leads directly into the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Speaking at a Q&A after a screening of the new movie in New York attended by GamesRadar+, co-director Anthony Russo spoke about the particular importance of one moment.

Now, we'll be getting into details of what exactly the extra scene entails below, so if you want to avoid any spoilers, stop now.

If you're still here, then you'll know that the ending of Avengers: Endgame has been changed. Instead of ending with Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter dancing into the credits, there is now an extra scene. This sees Loki arriving at their door, while Steve hides around the corner.

Peggy asks him, "Can I help you?" before TVA agent Loki walks into their home and says, "No, but I can help you, both of you."

At the Q&A held at the 92nd Street Y, Anthony Russo was asked about whether a moment in Endgame has changed for them now they've been working on Doomsday.

"Well, I mean, you all just saw Endgame Encore, and there's certainly a pivotal moment in that film at the end, where the moment has a different meaning," Anthony replied. "You know, we sort of play one beat past where Steve Rogers' story ended with Peggy Carter, and in that moment, that's where Doomsday is born."

The director didn't give away any more, but it seems like this will be a key moment in how Steve and Peggy end up in Avengers: Doomsday. Given the other post-credits scene is set at the TVA and sees thousands of incursions happening, it seems pretty likely that this is post-Loki season 2.

Perhaps Loki has been sent away from holding the multiverse together to save Peggy and Steve if their universe is impacted by an incursion? In the Avengers: Doomsday trailer, we do see Steve holding a TVA card (with the Yggdrasil tree on it, suggesting post-Loki season 2), which must have been given to him by Loki at this moment.

The fact that Anthony is saying this is where "Doomsday is born" suggests it will likely be a key moment at the beginning of the upcoming movie. We'll have to wait and see what exactly this means this December 16 in the UK and 18 in the US.

For more, check out our guides to watching the Marvel movies in order and our breakdown of the Marvel timeline.

Ever since it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. was returning to the MCU in a new role as Victor Von Doom, speculation has been rife about how his character will be linked to Tony Stark. Now some fans think we might have an answer, thanks to the Avengers: Endgame Encore footage.

We'll be getting into spoilers from the movie's post-credits scenes below so if you haven't seen them at the theater yet, wait before reading on.

In the original Avengers: Endgame credits, the Russos included a hammer hitting on iron noise right at the very end, calling back to Tony Stark making his Iron Man suit in the first movie. In the Encore rerelease, this is coupled with images of Doctor Doom forging his mask.

While it could just be a small nod to the new villain, some Marvel fans have been wondering if this is actually setting up a major link between Tony Stark and Doom. The theory is that we could be witnessing a parallel origin story for Doom that looks very similar to Tony's, just with a few differences. This would mean that Doom is actually a Tony Stark variant, which would explain them sharing the same face.

Posting on Twitter, one wrote about the post-credits scene: "And I’m supposed to believe they’re not just gonna make him a Tony Stark variant." Another added: "So its basically just a variant of tony in like a completely different timeline, and its his villain arc." A third simply put: "So this is basically confirmation that this IS an iron man variant."

This would be far from the first time we've seen a variant in the MCU, and we're about to meet even more in Doomsday when the original X-Men cast appear in the film. Given another of the post-credits scenes directly set up the fact that the multiverse is collapsing, I'm definitely expecting a lot of multiversal madness in the upcoming film.

Adding fuel to this theory are the Russo brothers comments earlier this year. "I'm not going to give away anything. It will all make sense when you watch the movies," Joe Russo said of the fact they share the same face. Expect it to be explored at some point in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars then.

In the meantime, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as our breakdown of the Marvel timeline.

It might have been seven years since Avengers: Endgame was released, but the Encore edition is set to top the box office again this weekend.

According to Variety, Endgame Encore is tracking to earn $25-28 million dollars at the domestic box office across its opening weekend. It's going up against Resident Evil, which is on course for $24-26 million. So, it could be a tight race.

A big re-release for Endgame could also push it into surpassing James Cameron's Avatar to retake its crown as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Spider-Man: Brand New Day recently joined the top 10, passing Cameron's Titanic.

Competing for third place this weekend are Brad Pitt-starring The Heart of the Beast (projected for $17-20 million), Robert Pattinson's Primetime ($17-20 million), and animated adventure Forgotten Island ($15-17 million).

Avengers: Endgame Encore directly sets up this December's Avengers: Doomsday with new footage. Thanks to the movie's Korean release, the footage has already hit the internet – and it does indeed feature some major revelations.

"It's gonna connect the story of the two movies," Doomsday director Joe Russo has said of the re-release. "There's a natural progression from Endgame into Doomsday, which is also inclusive of all the other stories that have been playing out. I think it's required viewing for following the story in Doomsday."

Avengers: Endgame Encore arrives this September 25, while Doomsday lands on December 18.

In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store.

According to Spider-Man: Brand New Day co-writer Chris McKenna, the new MCU movie almost went down a completely different path from the metamorphosis story that was delivered, revealing that we could have gotten a British Peter Parker.

"We went down some different roads," said McKenna on The Bulwark podcast. "At one point, we had him putting on a British accent. So it would have been Tom’s British accent, but Tom from Queens pretending he’s British."

McKenna explained that the scene involved Tom Holland's Parker running into Zendaya's MJ, but because her memory was wiped at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, he had to introduce himself. However, rather than pretending to be 'Maynard' like he does in Brand New Day, McKenna explains that the alternate idea had Parker pretending to be from across the pond. But it was all about "juggling personas."

McKenna continues, "So he meets MJ a few years later. The circumstances are that he's Spider-Man, and he's talking to her, but basically he has to fall in with her to get in on this mystery. But in that version, he's not Spider-Man. He's pretending to be someone else. Ben Reilly. But he's Ben Reilly, a British person, who then falls in with her to find out what is going on with something that she knows about."

In Marvel comics, Ben Reilly is a Spider-Man variant and a clone of Parker who was created by the supervillain the Jackal to torment Spidey. But Reilly later broke free from the baddie and went on to become a hero known as the Scarlet Spider. Reilly, however, is not British, so the accent idea was probably a little dig at Holland's nationality. But Brand New Day still makes light of this, as when Ned shares his Spidey tracking with Parker, ahem, Maynard, he poses the idea of Spider-Man being British.

However, you may be thinking to yourself, 'Wait, where have I heard the name Ben Reilly recently?' Well, that is the alias used by Nicolas Cage's Spider-Noir in the Prime Video series. Although Amazon's Spider-Noir series is separate from the MCU, and Noir's real name in the comics is Peter Parker, both Brand New Day and the TV show mentioning different versions of Ben Reilly may have caused some confusion.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out now. For more, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, or our spoiler-filled guide to the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained.

Robert Downey Jr. will soon be returning to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday as a new character. Now the actor has revealed what was behind the decision to join as Victor Von Doom, and it seems like he has some big ambitions.

Speaking on the Avengers: Endgame special of the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast, Downey Jr. was asked about his return by Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani.

"What brought me back was the opportunity to redefine the genre of superhero movies so that's a tall order," he replied. "You know Mr. Feige, you know the group, we love a challenge and we figured, 'Wow let's mix it up and see if we can get ourselves excited, because if we're excited the audience will soon follow.'"

Despite the success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the star is right that the superhero fatigue has been setting in with audiences. A whole streak of MCU movies failed to perform well with audiences and underperformed at the box office in the lead up to the release of Doomsday.

Doomsday has already been tracking well in pre-sales, breaking records before it's even hit theaters. Hopes are high then that this might be a turning point for the MCU, as Feige has already announced a change of strategy with the release of fewer projects between its release and the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars.

Downey Jr. will be playing iconic villain Doctor Doom in the new film, who will be the toughest adversary yet for the Avengers. Some new teases for the film are also part of the rerelease of Avengers: Endgame, which is in theaters around the world now.

For more on the MCU, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

Mahershala Ali has spoken out about his Marvel Blade movie that never happened.

The actor was announced as Blade way back in 2019, but the movie never managed to make it into production, and it has now been scrapped entirely.

"Should have been six or seven," Ali said on GQ's One More Question podcast, when the interviewer listed the films he'd made since Green Book. "Blade didn't happen, which I felt like definitely impacted how things unfold in your trajectory."

When asked if he was saving time for Blade, Ali clarified: "I wasn't saving. Once it was happening, I was working on it. I was doing what I needed to do to prepare myself. It just didn't happen."

As for why it didn't happen, Ali candidly gave his thoughts. "That's a Kevin Feige question," he said. "They had, as you said, a two-time Oscar winning actor under contract, and you got billions of dollars. That's a question for them, why it didn't happen. I don't mean anything personal to you, but I don't know why it did. To this day, I don't know why it didn't happen. I just know that Kevin said it was the biggest failure of his career, and I agree."

When the interviewer quoted Feige saying he felt like "a gigantic loser and failure," Ali replied: "I agree with him. 100%, 100%. He should feel that way."

By the sounds of things, Ali worked very hard on the role, too. "I spent a year training. I trained so hard until I blew my knee out," he shared. "I was waiting for them to – 'Oh, pushing it back. Pushing it back.' I'm still training. I'm training, I'm learning sword work. I'm learning, like, name a martial art, I'm training in it. I literally uprooted my family, moved to Atlanta. We're there waiting to go, and they just keep pushing it back, pushing it back, pushing it, and it doesn't happen. Then it's a strike [the WGA writers' strike], and then, you know."

Ali also wasn't a fan of announcing the film so early. "I went to them in 2019. That was my first meeting," he said. "We're at Comic-Con by 2019, in the summer. I didn't want to make no announcements. I don't believe in the announcements. Just do the work, and then it's like, okay, you announce the work is done, right? But all this anticipatory stuff is not – I'm not a fan of that at all. But they want to do all that. We did all that, and had a story greenlit, and then we don't have any deliverables. And I can't deliver until they deliver, right?

"So, that's not a secret. Otherwise, we'd have a movie," he added. "And then I'm saying no to things in that time because they own my schedule, basically."

Next up for Marvel is Avengers: Endgame Encore, and footage has already hit the internet of the bonus scenes linking to Avengers: Doomsday.

Endgame Encore arrives this September 25. While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else the MCU has in store.

Avengers: Endgame Encore releases this week, and it seems like all the new footage has already leaked. The film is already out in Korea, where early audiences have been treated to new post-credits scenes and details that directly set up Avengers: Doomsday.

Now, before we get into what happens, take this as your spoiler warning. If you don't want to know what the extra footage is, come back after you've seen the movie.

It seems the extra footage is split into two sections: in-film additions and post-credits scenes. According to one social media user, there's an extra moment at the end of the movie between Peggy and Steve Rogers. While in the original movie we see them dancing together, this now features Loki knocking on their door.

Peggy opens it and asks him, "Can I help you?" as Steve hides around the corner. Loki then emerges and says, "No, but I can help you, both of you." This is TVA-era Loki, but it's not clear exactly when this takes place.

Then the post-credits start. The first features Bruce Banner and is set after the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He's imprisoned in a military complex two miles under the Earth. "The Hulk is not getting out of here, and no one else is getting in," he says, but he doesn't realize how wrong he is. His camera then crashes to the ground, as we hear Doctor Doom's voice saying, "Mr Banner, I'm here to collect you." So the Hulk will be in Avengers: Doomsday after all!

There's also a new TVA scene, which opens with Miss Minutes speaking about the agency. This is our best setup yet for how Doomsday begins. This is seemingly taking place after the events of Loki season 2, as there's a picture of Loki on the wall and we see the timelines organized like a tree, which is how Loki as the God of Stories is holding them together.

The scene then features Mobius and Ouroboros in the TVA as they start spotting incursions on the monitor. It's Earth-10005 (aka the Fox X-Men universe) and Earth-1127 (a world we've yet to see in live action) that look like they're about to collide before it's revealed that 3,000 universes have incursions.

The final tease comes right at the end of the movie. Tony Stark is forging his Iron Man mask in the original Iron Man movie, before he starts making a Doctor Doom mask. The film ends on Doom's face. Could this be implying Doom is a Tony variant?

Avengers: Endgame Encore releases on September 25. For more, check out our guides to when Avengers: Endgame Encore is streaming on Disney Plus and how you can watch it in Infinity Vision.

Guardians of the Galaxy actor and Rocket Raccoon's on-set stand-in Sean Gunn said he has retired from the motion capture role.

Speaking on the Brandon Davis Show, Gunn – brother of Guardians of the Galaxy director and DC Studios boss James Gunn – points to the physical toll from playing Rocket Raccoon, which often involved crouching and kneeling down for hours on end while wearing an uncomfortable motion capture suit.

"Everyone thinks it's my knees but it's really my feet and my ankles because I'm in a catcher's crouch and I'm pivoting a lot on my points of contact and the ground… over the years, it had a little bit of effect on my physiology," Gunn said.

"My knees are fine. Since I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I think I'm retired from playing Rocket. Not that they've called but if they did, I don't think I could do the motion reference anymore for Rocket."

If this is the end for this iteration of the character, it brings to a close one of the more fully-formed CGI achievements in Marvel and movie history.

Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper, remained a key member of the Guardians of the Galaxy through to the very end of the trilogy, leading a new Guardians lineup that included Gunn's other MCU character Kraglin, Cosmo the dog, and Will Poulter's Adam.

Over in the DCU, Gunn is now portraying Weasel and G.I. Robot in animated series Creature Commandos. In live action, he has stepped into the shoes of Maxwell Lord in both Superman and Peacemaker season 2.

The Guardians are noticeably absent from the upcoming roster of superheroes that make up the Avengers: Doomsday cast.

The latest Avengers movie, set for release on December 18, sees Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom takes on some of the MCU's finest – with Avengers: Endgame's re-release on September 25 promising fresh footage from the upcoming Marvel movie.

For more, check out our complete guides on the Marvel timeline and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Before landing on an emotional Jean Grey-centric story that helped Spider-Man: Brand New Day become the highest-grossing film of all time in the US, the movie once known as Spider-Man 4 was almost very, very different. And in a new interview, Brand New Day co-writer Chris McKenna has revealed some surprising early ideas that we hope make their way to the big screen one day.

Speaking on the Bulwark Goes to Hollywood podcast, McKenna – a writer on every Tom Holland Spider-Man film to date – explained how he and co-writer Erik Sommers struggled to find the right villains during early development on both No Way Home and Brand New Day due to the complicated shared-custody agreement between Sony and Marvel Studios for Spider-Man's extended universe of characters. This led the pair to explore some unexpected avenues during early script development.

"We were told they were never going to make a standalone Kraven movie… and we had fun ways to get into the Kraven character," McKenna said. "Kraven turning New York City into, like, a Home Alone trap for Spider-Man, where he's got booby traps everywhere, and [is] just hunting down Peter Parker. He could be either hired by someone, and maybe [you] don't even have to make him the centerpiece villain, but just someone who's stalking him the entire movie."

But, as we know, an ill-fated Kraven standalone was already in the works, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, ruling out a secondary role in a Spider-Man movie. "And then it was a joke. It was like, 'Oh no, Sony's making a standalone Kraven movie.' Like, you've got to be kidding me," McKenna said.

As for Brand New Day, the latest Spidey outing wasn't initially conceived as an introduction for Jean Grey, with McKenna and Sommers exploring other possible scenarios for Peter during early development. Among those ideas: a courtroom comedy featuring Peter's returning legal representative Matt Murdock.

"We had Peter so done with New York with his past that he goes off and sort of is a badass hero in Southeast Asia, taking down Southeast Asian gangs," McKenna explained. "He's living on a boat, like on a river, and cleaning it, fixing the engine, making his own web fluid. And then he gets a message in a video about Spider-Man back in New York, like charming fans. He's like, 'What?' There's some imposter in New York.

"So then he has to go all the way back to New York to deal with this imposter, like 'Who is this guy?' And he gets there, and he finds out this guy is using my web fluid, and he's using my suit. And it turns out the guy has done what Peter Parker had never done, where he actually had copyrighted the Spider-Man brand, like trademarked it, and had his web fluid.

“Then [Peter] had to hire Matt Murdock as a lawyer to help him fight. Because Peter Parker gets a cease-and-desist from this other guy [saying] you can't pretend that you're Spider-Man. And so it began this whole thing that was pretty fun, but it was just a different story."

While both ideas sound tremendously fun – we're particularly fond of Kraven hunting Spider-Man around New York – Sony and Marvel Studios are undoubtedly pleased with where they landed, given Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now the highest-grossing film of all time domestically after passing Star Wars: The Force Awakens' decade-long record. And, hey, there's bound to be a Spider-Man 5 to tap into those unused ideas with great potential.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out now. For more, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, or our spoiler-filled guide to the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is not just the biggest Marvel movie at the US box office, it's also the biggest movie at the domestic box office overall.

Per Variety, the fourth Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movie has grossed $936.773 in just 47 days at the North American box office... narrowly beating out Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which grossed $936 million and held the title of biggest US movie for 10 years.

In August, Brand New Day passed Avengers: Endgame, which has an overall domestic gross of $858 million, as the highest-grossing Marvel movie at the US box office. Overall, the Spidey movie has grossed $2.45 billion at the global box office, which is still not enough to beat Endgame's total gross of $2.8 billion.

The new film takes place four years after the events Spider-Man: No Way Home and introduces us to Sadie Sink's Jean Grey, who is New York City's latest undefeatable threat as she goes on the attack in order to find her kidnapped sister. The movie sets up Marvel's upcoming X-Men movie, which is due out in 2027. The post-credits scene also seems to set up Avengers: Secret Wars, which, if they directly adapt the Secret Wars comic, will put our favorite heroes on a terrible planet known as Battleworld. It's also worth noting Brand New Day has a 90% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a nearly perfect 98% audience score, making it the 11th highest-rated Marvel movie overall.

For more, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, or, check out our guide to the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained.

We might already know most, if not all, of the cast members who will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, but the guest list for Avengers: Secret Wars seems far more, well, secret. Last year, word got out that both Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, and Paul Bettany, who plays Vision, will be joining whatever battle will unfold in next year’s battle. Now, Simu Liu has let slip that he’ll be getting in on the action after telling a fan he’ll be part of the sequel too.

A now-deleted video from Itzyreviews (shared on Reddit) on Instagram showed Liu at a signing where he was asked when we'd be getting a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. As expected, the star's guess was as good as ours, but he did clarify that he had a to-do list to get through first. "First Doomsday, then Secret Wars, then…" before the fan suggested Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time, to which Liu kindly replied with "let's hope."

After the game-changing chapters of the MCU that were Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the expectation is that the upcoming double-bill will follow a similar trend and see key heroes being taken out of action before (hopefully) being brought back off the bench of whatever Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) might’ve stuck them on.

If Liu's recent comments are an indication, there's a chance he might be playing for the whole reality-bending game, which is great news for fans. It's been five years since we saw him throw his rings in the air like he just didn't care (in live-action), at least, so seeing him go a few rounds will make for a long-overdue event. We can only hope that once he does, the chances of a Shang-Chi movie happening go up as high as his kicks do.

As for the rest of Marvel’s future, check out every new Marvel movie and television show heading our way.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is heading to theaters very soon, but it seems like you'll have quite a different experience depending on how you watch the movie. The final runtimes for the re-release have seemingly been confirmed.

According to the British Board of Film Classification, the regular screen version of Avengers: Endgame Encore will be 183 minutes and 3 seconds. The original Avengers: Endgame was 181 minutes, meaning that there will be two minutes of new footage.

Meanwhile, the Infinity Vision version of the film will be 186 minutes and 14 seconds, meaning it will have five minutes of new footage in total. This isn't wildly different from the four minutes that was initially reported, but we had expected normal screenings to feature a bit more than this.

This all means that if you want to see anything substantial with the Endgame re-release, you're going to want to grab an Infinity Vision ticket. This is a label for cinema screens that is only being used by Marvel at the moment, and it essentially means it must have a screen width of at least 45 feet, have a Dolby Surround 7.1 sound system, and a specific brightness level. When booking your tickets, it will have a label on it to make sure you get the right ticket.

As for what will be featured in the Avengers: Endgame Encore footage, it's still not entirely clear. All we know so far is that the trailer edited a key line of dialogue from Tony Stark.

Avengers: Doomsday directors the Russo brothers have also teased that it will be "required viewing". "It's gonna connect the story of the two movies," Joe Russo told Fandango earlier this year. "There's a natural progression from Endgame into Doomsday, which is also inclusive of all the other stories that have been playing out. I think it's required viewing for following the story in Doomsday."

Avengers: Endgame Encore is out on September 25. For more upcoming superhero movies, here's our guide to new Marvel movies and shows.

An interview from 2025 with Kelsey Grammer has been doing the rounds today regarding his return as the X-Men character Beast in Avengers: Doomsday and while we can’t knock his enthusiasm for his return as the brainy, blue mutant, some fans think his view might be a little off.

Speaking to ComingSoon last year, Grammer talked about his hopes for returning as his version of the hero that we hadn’t seen since X-Men: Days of Future Past, and made a surprise cameo in The Marvels. "Yeah, it was the secret, quiet passion and mind to come back to Beast because I love the character. I love him for what I think he stands for," Grammer explained. "I mean, to me, to my mind, he's the Martin Luther King of the mutant community. He's a man of stature, of integrity, who believes that what you do is who you are, and he's done everything, and he stands. He was slow to action, but once being immersed, he is given no quarter and expects none. He's an amazing character, an amazing man."

The Frasier star deemed the role a rarity, adding, "I love playing him. I think people will be happy with what we’re doing when he comes back. But I'd love to see [what happens] and play him again. Honestly, to me, he is one of the great opportunities in my life."

There’s no doubt that Hank McCoy has been a hero for most of his time on the big screen, whether being played by Grammer or Nicholas Hoult in the younger years of Beast. It was the comparison to Martin Luther King and "Who believes that what you do is who you are" that raised eyebrows.

@NYCBeastDRKing chimed in, saying, "Man he has no clue does he lol. Beast is MOST definitely not like that." @MASECHARTIN joked saying, "I'd love to know what this lovable blue furball has been up to in the comics the last couple of years." Well, for the uninitiated, you might be disappointed to learn that in the last few years Beast broke bad. Like, really bad.

First, there was the Age of Apocalypse, when Beast (commonly known as Dark Beast) performed heinous experiments for Apocalypse and eventually crossed over to the main timeline. "Well, that’s not our Beast," I hear you cry. Well, no, but that didn’t stop Hank from this universe going down a dark path during the Krakoan era and becoming an outright bad guy that the X-Men had to take down. It was only thanks to one of the many clones of Hank he'd created (and that had memories up until he started to go bad) that a reset of sorts was applied, and he was back on the hero team.

With that in mind, fans have focused on this and think Grammer might need to do some required reading if Beast appears post-Doomsday. "The man never read a comic in his life," wrote @mgolingan1, with @ColeGmaen also adding, "Calling Beast the MLK of mutants is a stretch when comic Hank went full mad scientist. Still hyped for Grammer’s blue boy in Doomsday."

Who knows, though? With all the surprises inevitably lined up in Marvel’s massive final chapter of 2026, Beast might become more aligned with his comic book version, in which case it might be the perfect time to panic.

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18. For more, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order, and keep up with new Marvel movies and shows heading your way.

We’ll never know the full extent of what stopped Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie from ever seeing the light of day, but the silver lining is that Marvel Studios' failed vampire entry instead gave us the Oscar-winner’s new one, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, which has been a massive hit with critics.

In an interview with Deadline, Ali was asked just how much time he spent getting prepped to don the title of Daywalker and wield a sword like him, only for everything to turn to dust. "Oh, absolutely. For a year, yeah. A little more than a year. I'm actually really grateful. They helped pay for our movie, so thank you. I got to go train for a year, so at this point, I'm so grateful that they made a wonderful contribution to our film."

This contribution has certainly paid off, with the new movie from director Bassam Tariq (who was once set on helming Blade before leaving the project) sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. Their new action thriller from MGM Studios follows Latif (Ali), a religious hitman who is also a loyal and devoted father.

Unfortunately, these two worlds collide, forcing Latif to travel across Houston to try to keep his children safe and cutting down anyone who tries to stop him. Zachary Lee of The Wrap was blown away by the film, saying, "What Ali, Tariq and the collaborators have assembled feels not just like kismet but divinely ordained, as if this was the movie they were always meant to make."

Unfortunately, Ali has put a solid stake through any chance of returning to the MCU, with his only contribution being an off-screen appearance in Eternals and his likeness used in season 1 of Marvel Zombies. "I'm done. I'm doing this and anything moving forward," he confirmed. "I'm over that. I'm done with that."

There’s no question that Marvel Studios endured an array of blips trying to map out their universe in a post-Endgame era, but Blade always felt like the one that could’ve been so easily avoided. The signs were all there for a truly great addition to the MCU, and perhaps somewhere in the TVA offices, there’s a timeline where it actually worked out. Now, though, that particular comic book world is too focused on Doctor Doom and mutants making their appearance to make space for a vampire hunter.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother releases in theaters on September 25. For more, check out every other upcoming Marvel movie and show that we hope doesn’t go the way of Blade.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is almost upon us... but what is it? And do you really have to go see it before Avengers: Doomsday?

Below, you'll find a mini guide that explains what the re-release is, how it leads into Avengers: Doomsday, and if it's required viewing before the newest Avengers movie hits theaters on December 18.

For more, dive into the Marvel timeline and our guide on the best way to watch The Odyssey in theatres.

What is Avengers: Endgame Encore?

Avengers: Endgame Encore is the theatrical re-release of Avengers: Endgame, which acts as a refresher for audiences prior to the December release of Avengers: Doomsday. It comes with four minutes of bonus footage, a new post-credits scene, and an exclusive sneak peek at Avengers: Doomsday (in certain select showings). The re-release is also color-graded and has a confirmed runtime of 185 minutes.

It'll be shown in IMAX and Infinity Vision, the latter of which is the Disney and Marvel certification for screens of a certain size (45 feet wide or more) with Dolby 7.1 surround sound and requisite brightness.

Do I need to see Avengers: Endgame Encore if I've already seen Avengers: Endgame?

In short? Yes. The Russo brothers have said that Encore is "required viewing," as the re-release acts as a narrative bridge between Endgame and Doomsday.

"It's gonna connect the story of the two movies," Russo told Fandango. "There's a natural progression from Endgame into Doomsday, which is also inclusive of all the other stories that have been playing out. I think it's required viewing for following the story in Doomsday."

I, for one, haven't seen Endgame since it was in theaters in 2019, so I personally need the refresher. You might need it, too!

How will it set up Avengers: Doomsday?

We don't know exactly how it'll set up Avengers: Doomsday, other than what the Russos have said about the re-release bridging the narrative gap between the two films. We can assume that the brand-new post-credits scene will lead directly into Doomsday, and that the exclusive look at Doomsday will give us more info on what's to come (since we still don't know much about it... I mean, how the heck did Steve Rogers come back from the past?)

Avengers: Endgame Encore hits theaters on September 25. For more, head on over to our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order and all the new Disney movies on the way.

It's been 10 years since the release of Captain America: Civil War, and it seems like Chris Evans might be having a change of heart. The closest The Avengers have ever come to splitting came in Captain America 3 when Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fell on two separate sides following the events of Age of Ultron.

It all stems around the big question of whether superheroes should be controlled and supervised by the United Nations. On one side, you had Stark, wrecked with guilt with over his role in the destruction of Sokovia, in support of them. Meanwhile, on the other, you had Cap, concerned with what agendas these government bodies will bring to the table, potentially hindering their ability to act when they need to.

Reflecting on the film in the new Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday podcast, host and Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani asked Cap star Chris Evans about whether his thoughts on the two sides had changed.

"You know, as the character I stand by Team Cap's position," he replied. "Me personally? You know, I might be Team Iron Man. I know that's probably controversial to say, but you know?" It's a pretty big swing from Evans, but the world has changed a lot in the 10 years since Civil War released, and so has Captain America.

The actor is returning soon to the MCU, appearing in Avengers: Doomsday as Steve once again. This version of the character follows the Nomad storyline, disillusioned with representing one country, he becomes a man without a country. It's not clear yet how this will work into the Doctor Doom storyline, but we don't have too long to wait before December 18.

For more Marvel, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Asa Germann has been cast as Angel in the MCU's upcoming X-Men movie, and this is the best casting choice thus far.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Germann initially auditioned for Scott Summers aka Cyclops, which ultimately went to Heartstopper star Kit Connor.

Germann is best known for his role as Sam Riordan in The Boys spin-off Gen V, which centered on a group of young Supes at a Supes-only university. Sam was not among the student population, but was kidnapped and experimented on by the people in charge of the university in order to help create a virus that would kill all Supes.

Germann's performance as Sam is captivating, and he brings so much vulnerability, raw intensity, and a dark psychological complexity to the role. That's exactly what it takes to play Angel, who was quite literally introduced on-screen in X-Men: The Last Stand as a child cutting off his own wings. Marvel really hit the nail on the head with this one, and I am so ridiculously stoked.

The rest of the cast includes Maya Boyd as Storm, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Adam Driver as Mister Sinister, and Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, respectively. Sadie Sink made her debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

X-Men hits theaters on May 5, 2028. For more, check out our guide to everything announced at D23 2026. We've also rounded up all of the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way in 2026 and beyond.

In the aftermath of Spider-Man: Brand New Day and as Avengers: Doomsday approaches, Marvel has recorded its biggest month ever on Disney Plus.

That's according to The Hollywood Reporter journalist Borys Kit, who writes on Twitter: "News: Disney says domestic pre-sales for AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY have crossed $50 million… with still over 3 months to go." He added: "Disney also saying it's seeing a major lift thanks to Doomsday and SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY. Case in point: Marvel recorded its highest hours in Disney Plus history with over 420M hours for the month of August."

Brand New Day has taken the box office by storm, too, currently standing at $2.4 billion globally. The film introduces Sadie Sink's Jean Grey and seems to set up the X-Men movie – more cast members, including Adam Driver's Mr Sinister and Inde Navarette's Rogue, were announced at this year's D23.

Doomsday, meanwhile, is set to be Marvel's biggest movie yet. Its supersized cast list includes the likes of Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Chris Evans's Steve Rogers, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.

"I feel very at home with the role," Evans has said. "I feel very not just comfortable, but precious. I care about the arc of all these characters, and we wouldn’t be doing it unless there was going to be a really interesting situation to put him in."

Doomsday arrives this December 18, and Brand New Day is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else that's on the way.