Marvel Studios is no stranger to mystery, but the promotional rollout for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ feels deliberately different, even unsettling. As the movie is still almost a year from its release on December 18, 2026, Marvel has already released four pieces of footage, which, at first glance, appear to be typical trailers.
However, as filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo reveal, what viewers have been viewing might not be trailers.
Marvel Wants You To Look Closer At ‘Avengers: Doomsday’s Strange New Footage
The Russos are challenging the viewers to rethink all they have watched up to this point. Their recent comments suggest that the footage released in theaters isn’t meant to explain the movie; it’s meant to challenge how we interpret it. And, as the history of Marvel has taught fans, nothing onscreen is to be taken at face value. The four ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ trailers were released in stages by theatrical screenings of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, each highlighting a different part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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The first look featured the unexpected reappearance of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. The second one showed Thor. The third confirmed the return of Fox’s X-Men, and the last shifted the attention to Wakanda and the Fantastic Four. Each composition, separately, was emotionally charged and strangely incomplete. They felt more like a tone poem than a preview of a story. That vagueness now appears deliberate. The Russo Brothers further fueled the speculation on Instagram by stating that what the fans have been watching are not teasers or trailers, but stories and clues.
Their cryptic message urged viewers to “pay attention,” implying that the meaning of these scenes lies beneath the surface rather than in what’s immediately visible. This is in line with the long tradition of misdirection that Marvel has had. The MCU trailers have been known to be meticulously edited to maintain a surprise or even be completely deceptive. The difference with ‘Doomsday’ is that the Russos openly state that these scenes are hints and not previews. That framing makes the footage much more interesting, and possibly much more significant to the narrative.
‘Avengers: Doomsday’s Marketing Feels Like The First Chapter Of The Movie
If the ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ footage isn’t showing the movie itself, then what is it showing? A very interesting theory is that every clip is the emotional or narrative beginning of a character, not the scenes of the main plot. An example is the teaser of Steve Rogers. The visuals of him storing his Captain America suit are symbolic. It resembles a man closing a chapter instead of going to war. The fact that he has a son makes the mystery even more mysterious. Is this a glimpse of a past timeline? Or an emotionally crafted illusion that is supposed to ground Steve before the truth sinks in?
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Likewise, Thor’s prayer does not seem like a prelude to action, but rather a moment of reckoning. It implies loss, fear, or even guilt, and it even indicates that Thor might already have an idea of the magnitude of what is to come. These scenes are contemplative, which would be appropriate if ‘Doomsday’ really fulfills its name. The most recent trailer provides another disturbing hint: Namor and the people of Talokan appear in an environment devoid of water.
This lack is disastrous to a civilization that is characterized by the ocean. In case the incursions and the multiversal collisions have already started, then these trailers could be depicting the effects, not the cause. That interpretation fits perfectly with the Russos’ insistence on “paying attention.” Instead of describing the plot, the footage can trace the emotional backlash of a universe that is already starting to fissure.
