When Avatar: Fire and Ash started playing in theaters last month, it was joined by the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. The sneak peek, revealing\u00a0Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers, was never officially announced, but plans for that and three more previews were leaked early by social media scoopers and the trades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each teaser leaked online in advance, while official online releases followed on Tuesdays after their respective Thursday debuts in multiplexes. After Steve, the spotlight shifted to Thor, the X-Men, and finally, the Wakandans and Fantastic Four.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, the teasers racked up a massive\u00a0combined 1.02 billion views. That doesn’t count views for the countless leaks we got, but as the trade explains, “It’s a massive sum, considering these were strictly organic online views with no tie-ins to a broadcast event.”<\/p>\n The pirated versions weren’t a negative, because according to insiders, “The social volume for each teaser was on average 188 percent greater than for a typical Marvel drop, and the combined four teasers now top the highest views for Marvel trailer launches on Instagram (505 million) and TikTok (103 million) views.”<\/p>\n “Marvel is said to be particularly proud that the four teasers were so successful without showing Downey, proving that there remains a great and passionate interest in the characters, and their originating actors,” the report adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Empire<\/a> recently caught up with filmmaker Joe Russo, who said of the teasers, “Each one of those trailers is narrative information. And it\u2019s all part of a larger story. And so, I would argue that Doomsday has already started for you.”<\/p>\n Addressing Steve’s return\u00a0in Avengers: Doomsday, the filmmaker added, “His central role to the Avengers and the larger narrative of what the MCU has been, that\u2019s very personal to [us]. We can\u2019t see this narrative without his central role in it.”<\/p>\n Interestingly, when Inverse<\/a>\u00a0caught up with The Marvels director Nia DaCosta to discuss 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, she confirmed that Cap’s return is a secret she’s been sitting on for a very long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I knew that Captain America was coming back for probably years,”\u00a0the filmmaker revealed, adding that she also visited his house while exploring the Avengers: Doomsday\u00a0set last year. “I\u00a0got to walk around to the set that they show on the teaser.”<\/p>\n DaCosta also dispelled the notion that she’s at loggerheads with Marvel Studios. “I mean, it’s so funny because the way it was reported, it seemed very dramatic, but actually I f***ing love Kevin Feige, and we all get along. At the end of the day, [The Marvels is] a Disney film. It’s a family film.”<\/p>\n As a bonus for making it this far, we can also tell you that @MyTimeToShineH<\/a> is reporting that Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight, who isn’t expected to appear in the next Avengers movies, will have a “main role” in Midnight Sons. That’s expected to be released during the next Saga.<\/p>\n The Russo Brothers direct\u00a0Avengers: Doomsday\u00a0from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the\u00a0Avengers\u00a0and\u00a0Captain America\u00a0franchises.\u00a0Loki\u00a0and\u00a0Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’s Michael Waldron is also working on the script.<\/p>\n Avengers: Doomsday\u00a0is set to be released on December 18, with\u00a0Avengers: Secret Wars\u00a0scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.<\/p>\n The countdown has begun. #AvengersDoomsday<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ISd8ed4bVn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) January 16, 2026<\/a>
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