The Marvels gets left off Disney+'s Avengers: Doomsday prep list
Disney+ has named the essentials to watch before Avengers: Doomsday — with one notable title nowhere to be seen.
Marvel's got a knack for making everything feel bigger every year, but the lead-up to Avengers: Doomsday is next-level even by their own standards. Back in the old days (by which I mean 2012), you had to sit through a handful of origin films before turning up for the first Avengers. Easy. Now? Good luck keeping track of the homework, let alone actually watching it. Thankfully for the chronically overwhelmed, Disney+ has decided to map out exactly what you 'need' to see before Doomsday arrives — presumably for anyone who doesn't have four weeks to spend just reading plot summaries.
X-Men, X2, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Captain America: Brave New World, Deadpool & Wolverine, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thunderbolts, The Fantastic Four: First Steps are all required viewing for Avengers: Doomsday, according to Disney+.
What Disney Says to Watch
Here's the official survival list, straight from Disney+'s own universe overlords:
- X-Men
- X2
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Loki
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
- Thunderbolts
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
If you spotted some questionable omissions, you aren't wrong. The Marvels didn't make the cut — awkward, considering that post-credits scene featuring Kelsey Grammer turning up as Beast, multiverse mumbo-jumbo and all. Monica Rambeau’s entire subplot with space/time madness apparently doesn’t qualify as essential, according to the House of Mouse. This is how tangled the MCU timeline’s got: even Marvel can't agree on what matters most some days.
Doomsday Details (and Gimmicks)
Marvel Studios kept the official synopsis for Avengers: Doomsday concise (almost suspiciously so):
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
If that leaves you with more questions than answers, you’re not alone. Three universes, existential threat, and all your favourites hurdling towards doom — it’s Marvel bingo, basically. The new trailer also goes heavy on something called Infinity Vision, which is less a plot point and more a shiny logo for their latest Premium Large Format (PLF) cinema tech. Big promise: massive screens, retina-searing brightness, sound that rattles the popcorn out your hand — the usual blockbuster braggadocio. Tickets are already on sale, if you fancy pre-booking your trip to multiversal chaos. Naturally, a new teaser poster’s gone up too, if promo images are your thing.
How Many Heroes Can You Fit?
The Doomsday cast list is, unsurprisingly, a roll call of nearly every major Marvel player they can presumably lure back for a day’s filming. You’ve got Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Kelsey Grammer (Hank McCoy), Lewis Pullman (Bob), Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Winston Duke (M’Baku), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier), Ian McKellen (Erik Lehnsherr), Alan Cumming (Kurt Wagner), Rebecca Romijn (Raven Darkhölme), James Marsden (Scott Summers), Channing Tatum (Remy LeBeau), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), and just to turn things on their head: Robert Downey Jr. now as Victor von Doom.
Release date’s locked for 18 December 2026. At this pace, expect another dozen cameos and probably a few more 'essential' rewatches on the list by then.
The UK release of Avengers: Doomsday lands 18 December 2026.