Avengers: Doomsday's Script Is Still Being Written - Here's Why That's A Problem

"Avengers: Doomsday" is set to release in theaters on December 18, 2026.  The cast of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," "Thunderbolts*" and several returning faces from the "X-Men" films are uniting with many of the Avengers to face down the newest threat to the Marvel multiverse, Doctor Doom. The Marvel Cinematic Universe's former big two stars Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) are returning — only RDJ will not be playing Tony Stark, but Doom himself!

Beyond that, we don't know what the movie's story is or what comics it may pull from ... and it seems the filmmakers may not either!

One of the returning "X-Men" actors in "Doomsday" is Rebecca Romijn, who played Raven Darkholme/Mystique. Currently, Romijn is playing Enterprise XO Una Chin-Riley on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" and she attended San Diego Comic Con to promote the show with her castmates. Romijn has previously said that the Marvel fans are more obsessive than the Trekkies, so I doubt she was surprised when she fielded a question (via THR) about "Doomsday" and whether she's wrapped filming her scenes. Her answer may make your jaw drop, though.

"Not quite sure [if I'm done filming for 'Doomsday']... the script, they haven't finished writing it [laughs]... they keep everything close to the vest to themselves in an effort to keep everything under wraps."

Romijn also could "neither confirm or deny" if she's read the entire "Avengers: Doomsday" script. The release date for "Avengers" Doomsday" has only getting closer (the release has already been delayed once from May 2026) and the movie began filming in April 2025. That means they've been shooting for three months and are still tinkering with the story. Maybe that's why "F4: First Steps" is rather light on any "Doomsday" set-up, and Doom himself has no lines during his post-credits scene cameo: the story hasn't been locked in.

Beginning principal photography before you have a finished script may sound like a lapse of common sense, but it's business as usual for Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently spoke with Variety and other outlets about the studio's current and future plans. (Apparently, plans for the MCU currently extend to 2032.) During the interview, Feige admitted that: "We've never started a movie without a full script and I have never been satisfied with a script that we've had."

Feige framed this "make it up as you go" approach as one that offers more creative freedom to the cast and crew when shooting the movies:

"Actors, both the ones that are playing these characters for the first or second time and the characters playing them for the 10th or 12th time, are the best in the world at it and know these characters so well. If they have an idea, you want to listen to it and you want to adjust to it and you want to improve it. I wouldn't want to change that."

The first MCU movie, 2008's "Iron Man," famously featured less a full script and more an outline. The details of the story were filled out with improv. That can work when you have actors as talented and experienced as Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges on set! But it's also a recipe for potential chaos and jumbled stories. 

Even if the earlier phases of the MCU weren't planned out in detail, the movies still felt like they were moving forward due to the overarching threat of Thanos (Josh Brolin). Not so after "Avengers: Endgame," where everything feels more scattershot. (Feige attributes the downward turn to quantity over quality, especially too many TV spin-offs.) 

The lack of an overarching villain in recent movies is likely another reason why the "Doomsday" story has yet to be finalized. Remember, Doom's introduction (and RDJ's return) were a late pivot. Before that, Marvel Studios had been building up Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) as the big bad. The fifth "Avengers" film was originally titled "The Kang Dynasty," not "Doomsday."

Then Majors was arrested for domestic violence in March 2023. He was convicted that December and subsequently fired by Marvel/Disney. Feige claimed that the pivot wasn't just about the Majors scandal, but because Doom was the only villain who could match Thanos' grandeur. (Indeed, Kang's debut film "Ant-Man: Quantumania" got rather poor reviews even if some liked Majors' performance.) According to Feige:

"We had started to realize that Kang wasn't big enough, wasn't Thanos, and that there was only one character that could be that because he was that in the comics for decades and decades. We started talking about Doctor Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang. In fact, I had started talking with Robert about this audacious idea before 'Ant-Man 3' even came out."

That may be the case, but given what looks from the outside like a last-minute change, a firmed-up script would be reassuring for the Marvel fans out there who want the MCU back on track.

"Avengers: Doomsday" is scheduled to hit theaters on December 18, 2026.