“A very scary movie”: the Russo brothers promise Avengers: Doomsday won’t be your usual Marvel quip-fest

Right, Marvel have finally sent up the Bat-Signal (well, wrong franchise, but you know what I mean) for Avengers: Doomsday, and the Russos are promising something a bit darker than your usual super-powered dust-up. The word from Joe Russo and his brother Anthony is that this new instalment — the fifth, if you’re still trying to keep count through the Multiversal maze — plans to have us all properly spooked when it hits cinemas at the tail end of 2026.

Joe Russo told Empire Magazine, 'Doom is a Gothic character. He says, "Hell answers to me," and he's not kidding. He's a very powerful character with some very dark magic, and he's not above selling his soul to get what he wants. He's worth being scared of. He's a father who's a victim of trauma. He has lost a child.'

Avengers vs. Doom

The big selling point this time around is — surprise! — Doctor Doom. Victor Von Doom is stepping up as the main villain, and it’s sounding like we aren’t in for the usual Marvel wisecracks. Russo doesn’t shy away from calling the film 'very scary,' apparently more in the psychological sense than jump scares in spandex. The idea, according to both Russos, is that Doom is fundamentally broken, haunted by trauma, with just enough dark magic in his pocket to make Thanos look positively reasonable.

Anthony Russo also chimed in, explaining, 'Doom is much more ego-driven than Thanos. Thanos believed he was serving a greater good.'

The Cast Pile-Up (and a Few Surprises)

This film’s basically a Marvel reunion dinner: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth are all back for the first time since Endgame in 2019. But they aren’t travelling alone — it’s open house across the multiverse. You’ve got Avengers from six-one-six, the Fantastic Four from Earth-828, Wakandans, the Thunderbolts, and the original X-Men lineup from Earth-10005 (yes, that’s the one from the old Fox films) all crossing streams. So if you wanted more cameos, well, you’re getting plenty.

• RDJ, Evans, Hemsworth (obviously)
• Pedro Pascal and Paul Rudd
• Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Wyatt Russell, Channing Tatum
• Simu Liu, Ian McKellen, Hayley Atwell, and Tom Hiddleston

Oh, and just to complicate things: at the end of VisionQuest, Marvel confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) is back from the dead thanks to Doom’s interference, and there’s been a tease that Bruce Banner (the Hulk) is also in Doom’s crosshairs after the events of Endgame: Encore. It’s all getting extremely tangled up, even by Marvel’s standards.

Avengers: Doomsday lands in cinemas on 18 December 2026.