Face front, Marvel fans, because we have another look at footage from Avengers: Doomsday… well, sort of. A new trailer for the much-anticipated MCU sequel debuted at CinemaCon 2026, but was only shown to attendees of Disney’s panel and hasn’t been released online (yet). Of course, descriptions of the footage from the lucky few who got to see it have now spread across the internet, revealing that we finally have our first look at Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom in action. Sporting a comic-accurate costume, a (vaguely Slavic) accent, and enough power to deflect Stormbreaker in a one-on-one battle with Thor, fans are clamoring for the trailer to be released publicly so we can bask in the glory of the MCU’s take on the sovereign of Latveria.
That said, one aspect of the new trailer did give me pause: the fact that it doesn’t highlight Victor von Doom’s greatest enemy, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Mister Fantastic has been Doom’s #1 opponent since their college days, and the rivalry between the pair is one of the greatest hero/villain dynamics in all of superhero fiction. Yet the CinemaCon trailer instead puts most of its focus on Thor, Steve Rogers, and the returning Fox X-Men, with the Fantastic Four not getting major moments according to the footage descriptions. Such a heavy emphasis on the Avengers-related characters does make sense for a movie called Avengers: Doomsday, but it doesn’t bode well for the MCU’s adaptation of Doom if it turns out that he doesn’t consider Reed to be his ultimate foe.
Doctor Doom vs. Mister Fantastic
If you don’t know much about the characters from the comics, Doctor Doom has been the archenemy of the Fantastic Four ever since Fantastic Four #5 all the way back in 1962. In that issue, we learned that Reed and Doom were classmates in college, and that Doom blamed Reed for a failed experiment that exploded in Victor’s face and led him to wearing his famous iron mask. Since then, Doom had two major goals: to conquer the world, and to definitely prove his intellectual superiority over Mister Fantastic (his third goal was to rescue his mother’s soul from Hell, but we didn’t know that yet).
In subsequent appearances, Reed continued to be the one hero who could be counted on to come up with a plan to thwart Doom’s schemes, making the pair bitter foes for decades and cementing Doom’s status as one of the greatest comic book villains of all time.
Yet even with that pedigree, film adaptations haven’t been kind to the ruler of Latveria. The Tim Story Fantastic Four films turned Doom into a generic businessman instead of a master of technology and mysticism, removing a lot of the specificity that makes him such an iconic character. And the 2015 reboot strayed even further, completely changing Doom’s look, origin, and powers to the point that he was basically unrecognizable from his comic book counterpart.
Our first look at Doom’s visual design in the MCU seems to be a serious course correction in that department, but if Avengers: Doomsday wants to right the wrongs of previous live-action adaptations of Doom, it needs to have the Reed and Doom rivalry be a major aspect. Doom has encountered basically every hero in the Marvel universe at some point or another, but Reed is the only one he truly feels threatened by, even if he would never admit it.
That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with Doctor Doom being the villain of an Avengers movie; he was really Marvel’s only choice for a big event villain after they moved away from Kang, and he has fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes several times in the comics. However, since this is Doom’s first full appearance in the MCU (we’re not counting his wordless cameo in First Steps’ post-credits scene), the franchise hasn’t had the time to develop Doom’s relationship with the Fantastic Four before now. Given how many characters are expected to show up in Doomsday and Secret Wars, the potential lack of screen-time for the Fantastic Four is a valid concern. Could it be that Marvel Studios is backing away from the Reed vs. Doom dynamic in favor of fronting one between Steve Rogers and Doom, as a way of banking on the audience’s pre-existing investment in the chemistry between Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans?
Doctor Doom vs… Captain America and Thor?
To be clear, contrasting Doctor Doom and Captain America isn’t a terrible idea in a vacuum. They are both ambassadors of their respective nations, and represent the conflict between a genuine paragon of goodness versus the self-righteousness of misguided evil. If properly developed, such a dynamic could be quite interesting. The problem is that RDJ’s Doom hasn’t established his foundational conflict with Mister Fantastic first. Doom may make a great foil to heroes outside of the FF, but the personal nature of his vendetta with Reed Richards and Marvel’s First Family simply can’t be replicated with other heroes, no matter how marketable they may be. With the trailer indicating Marvel Studios may not be giving that rivalry the attention it deserves, it feels like a mistake in the making the MCU can ill-afford at such a critical juncture.
Given how turbulent Phases 4 and 5 were, Marvel needs Avengers: Doomsday to be a hit. Not just financially, but critically and with fans to win people back over after so many poorly received projects. Marvel fans the world over have been waiting a long time for a definitive Doctor Doom adaptation, so messing him up would incite the kind of backlash that may do permanent damage to the MCU brand.
That said, it is very possible this is all just the realities of marketing, and that Marvel is placing so much emphasis on Thor and Cap because they’re popular with the general audience. This may be a non-issue when we actually see the film and learn that the Fantastic Four have a big role. As a long-time fan of the character, I’ve been holding out hope that Marvel understands the importance of Reed and Doom’s dynamic since the cast reveal video last year, which placed Pedro Pascal’s chair right next to RDJ’s.
Hopefully we’ll find out more about Avengers: Doomsday and Mister Fantastic’s place in the film as we get closer to the December release date, but so long as the film understands why Reed Richards and Victor von Doom are archenemies, then it has a chance to be the film adaptation Doom deserves.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
