We finally have our first true look at Avengers: Doomsday and the first trailer isn’t quite blowing people away. In fact, many are downright disappointed or struggling to summon any strong emotion after watching Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor lay out the stakes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest extinction-level showdown.

It’s been eight years since Avengers: Infinity War, and if you haven’t watched every new MCU movie and streaming TV show since then, you might find yourself at a loss for what’s going on in the new Doomsday trailer. In fact, you might feel that way even if you haveĀ been keeping up with all of Marvel’s annual blockbuster cash-ins. Instead of starting small and lowkey, the trailer kicks off at 11 with a sizzle reel of chaotic action sequences and knowing nods between random Marvel characters we’ve never seen interact with one another before. It feels like the setup for the third movie in a trilogy that Disney forgot to make.

Here are some of the initial takes and reactions online:

I love definitely being in the same physical place as all of my friends

Jacob Geller (@jacobgeller.com) 2026-07-20T14:48:51.749Z

They really turned the MCU into the impenetrable bramble of timelines and continuities that still somehow has zero tangible consequences or plot development as the comics huh

Zane Schacht – Voice Goblin (@voicesbyzane.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T13:43:44.848Z

Critics are already praising Doomsday as a movie coming out this December.

107 Reasons Why (@107reasonswhy.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T13:42:13.052Z

Avengers Doomsday and Dune 3 dropping on the same day got people going "Dunesday" Bitch I Am Going To Watch Dune In Theaters 3 Times Then Go Home And Watch Doomsday On 123Movies I Don't Give A Fuck

Ash (@santanaelchan.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T13:54:05.155Z

some of the MCU movies are pretty good and some of them aren't and i expect that will continue so long as they keep making MCU movies

post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T14:05:42.017Z

Youtube
YouTube

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Reddit

'Avengers: Doomsday' (2026)
dir: Anthony & Joe Russo šŸ“½ļø

Catbus (@catbus.phd) 2026-07-20T14:24:19.434Z

Really feels like Doomsday/the MCU going forward at large is riding hard on the X-Men after we've had a few years post-Inhumans push to be allowed to go "oh right the X-Men fucking rule" again between krakoa, X97, the fox nostalgia et al

James Whitbrook (@jwhitbrook.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T14:02:33.596Z

There’s this clip from Hell’s Kitchen, during one of the signature dish challenges where Gordon Ramsay tastes a dish and just says ā€œWell, that certainly tastes corporateā€ā€¦

And like—I don’t have time to find it but that was my first gut reaction to that Avengers trailer

Anne Reads Comics! (@annecomics.bsky.social) 2026-07-20T13:57:07.027Z

New Avengers movie releases were time-delineating events in the 2010s, and after years of sub-par MCU spin-offs and shows of mixed quality, there’s clearly a section of the audience pining for the highs of the last decade and hyped to see Chris Evans and the rest of the gang get back together. Others, including myself, hope Doomsday can be a launching pad for a revitalized X-Men franchise at the box office.

If all of the celebrity cameos, greenscreen action set-pieces, and hard-to-visually-parse VFX can’t offer fresh hope for the MCU’s future, at the very least maybe it can offer an entertaining last gasp of its past. I’ll take anything other than a sprawling multiverse box-office event struggling under the baggage of its past and the expectations of fans, which is certainly the vibe given off by the first Doomsday trailer. It’s now five months until the movie’s December release. Marvel has a long and expensive marketing campaign left to try to get people excited. It can start by making sure the next trailer is better lit.

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