Marvel Studios is hitting the reset button: After years of underwhelming box office returns, fan complaints about the Marvel TV shows, and an Avengers movie plagued by problems and delays, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is bringing back the actor who jumpstarted the franchise in the first place: Robert Downey Jr. is returning not as Iron Man but as Doctor Doom. He’ll be the next major villain in the MCU, starring in two new Avengers films: Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Downey Jr. made the big reveal at 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con, hiding behind Doctor Doom’s mask on stage before dramatically revealing his face. “Different mask, same task,” he joked.
The Russo Brothers, who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame are coming back as well to helm the next two Avengers movies. Avengers: Kang Dynasty has been scrapped after Kang the Conquerer actor Jonathan Majors was convicted of assault and dropped by Marvel Studios’ owner, Disney.
Doom will battle the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and maybe a few X-Men. Which characters, exactly, will appear in these Avengers movies is anyone’s guess. Given the box office success of Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is probably lobbying Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to sign on as we speak. And Pedro Pascal, who will star as Reed Richards in the new Fantastic Four movie will almost certainly play a central role: After all, Doctor Doom is his major foe.
But will Spider-Man be back? And will we ever see Blade? For now, those questions are left up in the air. Here’s what we do know about all the upcoming movies in the revamped MCU.
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Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) takes up Steve Rogers’ old shield in the first Captain America movie since Chris Evans stepped away from the role. In what’s being pitched as a 90s-style political thriller, Sam will take on a group trying to assassinate the president, Thunderbolt Ross. Harrison Ford will take over the role of Ross from William Hurt, who passed away in 2022. As comics fans know, Thunderbolt can transform himself into Red Hulk, who shows up briefly in the trailer for Brave New World. The fourth Captain America movie has already undergone major rewrites, adding Giancarlo Esposito as the villain Sidewinder.
Ford’s foray into the MCU continues with The Thunderbolts. Ross will gather together a group of morally flexible fighters to join his squad, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova from Black Widow, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky from the Captain America movies, David Harbour’s Alexei from Black Widow, and Wyatt Russell’s John Walker from Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The production for this movie has been somewhat plagued—both Steven Yeun (Beef, Nope) and Ayo Edibiri (The Bear, Inside Out 2) dropped out. But the first trailer dropped at 2024’s Comic-Con.
One of the most promising upcoming films in the MCU is a reboot of Fantastic Four. This franchise has faltered in the past when 20th Century Fox tried to produce several movies about the group of friends who gain superpowers during a trip to space. The movies starring Chris Evans (before he played Captain America) and Jessica Alba are not fondly remembered. And the Josh Trank-directed reboot with the all-star cast of Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell was a historic disaster.
Finally, Disney has its hand on the rights to the Fantastic Four and are reimagining the story. It will be set in the 1960s, which hopefully means it will be a standalone story that doesn’t require homework of the viewer. They’ve cast Pedro Pascal, star of The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, as Mr. Fantastic. Vanessa Kirby, The Crown actor who has proved her action chops in the recent Mission: Impossible films, will play Sue Storm. Joseph Quinn, the breakout star of Stranger Things‘ latest season and the villain in the upcoming Gladiator sequel, will play her brother Johnny Storm. And The Bear fan favorite Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play The Thing.
The heroes will face the cosmic entity Galactus and the Silver Surfer, two of their major foes in the comic books, who have targeted earth for destruction. And Feige confirmed they will also appear in the next two Avengers movies fighting their former friend and current nemesis Doctor Doom (Downey Jr.).
Blade has cycled through two different directors and several different concepts. Deadpool & Wolverine even poked fun at the vampire hunter movie’s production delays. And fans online have been speculating that the unrelated vampire movie being filmed by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan may just crowd the Blade reboot out of theaters.
Feige insisted in interviews that the movie is still in the works and that it will be R-rated. Still, there was no mention of the reboot starring Ali at 2024 Comic-Con.
Welcome back, Downey Jr. The man who immortalized Iron Man will play another cocky genius, Doctor Doom. The character is not just an antagonist to the Fantastic Four but one of the major MCU villains and according to some fans, the best. Most likely, we’ll see an alternate universe version of Tony Stark, whose ego gets the better of him when facing the world’s smartest man, Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic as played by Pascal). Determined to get the better of Richards, he turns into the villain Doom. The only way to stop an evil genius? Avengers (and Fantastic Four), assemble!
Feige has been eager to do the Secret Wars storyline from the comics for awhile. It involves, basically, the collapse of all parallel universes—a potential plot point that’s been teased in several Marvel movies including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine. The post-collision universe is known as “Battleworld” a planet where all the various superheroes and villains from across the MCU timelines fight each other.
We’ve heard little about the Shang-Chi sequel being directed by Destin Daniel Cretton except that stars Simu Liu and Aquafina are set to return. Though there was no update about Shang-Chi at Comic-Con 2024, Liu had posted several months earlier that he promised “it’s happening” on Threads.
A fourth Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland is supposedly in the works—though Holland has in the past sent mixed messages on whether he wants to return the role. Spider-Man: No Way Home ended in a way that could satisfactorily wrap up his story or jumpstart a whole new series of adventures that involves Peter Parker trying to unite with his love interest. No word yet on whether Zendaya would return as MJ.
