Avengers: Doomsday's Awful Trailer Rollout Is The Wake-Up Call Disney Needs

In March 2025, the internet bore witness to Marvel Studios announcing the cast of "Avengers: Doomsday" with a comically long livestream of chairs with cast members' names on them. Not much has changed when it comes to marketing the upcoming crossover film, with the four theater-exclusive teaser trailers doing very little other than letting people know which characters are going to return. It's been difficult to muster any excitement for "Doomsday" because it reeks of desperation, especially with the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. The teasers themselves haven't done much to move the needle either, which seems like a big hurdle to get over.

Our first look at the Steve Rogers teaser did very little beyond letting us know Chris Evans was in the movie (despite not initially having a chair) and that the former Cap's peaceful new life is most likely going to be upended. It also doesn't help that it plays like a pharmaceutical commercial, which X (formerly Twitter) user Josh Billinson hilariously actualized. The "Doomsday" hype train was then followed up with a check-in on Thor (Chris Hemsworth), praying to the All Fathers so that he can presumably survive the upcoming battle with Doom. The latest teaser is easily the most nostalgic of the bunch, as we see the Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden incarnations of their "X-Men" characters grappling with the possibility of death. It's admittedly pretty funny considering we've been saying goodbye to these actors ever since "X-Men: The Last Stand" and they keep finding ways to come back for one "last" curtain call.

Marvel's strategic release model of making these underwhelming teasers theater-exclusive has proven to backfire for a number of reasons, with two of the most prominent being the wiggle room of online leaks and AI forgeries.

People used to have to buy a ticket to see theater-exclusive trailers of highly anticipated movies, but the age of social media has made that experience all but impossible to recapture. Each "Doomsday" sneak peek immediately made its way online through blurry cam rips taken from someone's phone. Like clockwork, it's already happened with the fourth teaser that has already circulated on the web. This isn't a completely new problem on account of convention leaks, but it's a poor way to make a first impression. What's even worse about Disney not being in charge of the "Doomsday" teasers' rollout is the glut of garish AI-generated videos filling the void.

YouTube, in particular, has been a breeding ground for craven opportunists who have opted to get their piece of the pie with these fake teasers. They're often sandwiched between official videos of the real thing. I can't tell you how many family members have sent me links of AI-generated YouTube clips thinking they're real. The rise in AI-generated content in recent years has made it even harder to shut them down. Disney hasn't exactly helped their case, considering they've recently made a $1 billion deal with OpenAI for Sora to be able to use their characters on the platform. It's an active threat to the company, in which their properties are being relinquished to people who can make them say and/or do unspeakable things. "South Park" even lampooned how AI deepfakes can get out of control very quickly. The influx of fake "Doomsday" trailers is the wake-up call Disney desperately needs. They will most likely continue to sleep through it.

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