Doomsday’ Is the Next ‘Avengers’ Movie

Marvel has announced the new name of the fifth Avengers film: Avengers: Doomsday.

The title confirms that the movie will feature the Avengers (and, the Fantastic Four) squaring off with one of the biggest Marvel villains in history, Doctor Doom. And in a shocking twist, Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU to play Doom.

The company made the announcement of the new title at their big Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. By the time the film arrives in theaters, it will be the first Avengers movie to reach theaters in 7 years. (Avengers: Endgame was released on April 26, 2019.)

The directors of the last Avengers movies, Joe and Anthony Russo, are officially returning to direct the two upcoming sequels.

READ MORE: Every MCU Movie (Including Deadpool & Wolverine) Ranked

The fifth Avengers movie has already had a long development history. Marvel formally announced the film two years ago, at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. At that time, the film was dubbed Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, indicating that the movie would focus on the time-traveling villain Kang, played by Jonathan Majors.

But then Majors got in trouble with the law, and was fired by Marvel in December of 2023. Marvel quietly dropped The Kang Dynasty subtitle from the film and began simply referring to the film informally as Avengers 5. During this period, the film also lost its original director, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Destin Daniel Cretton.

It’s still unclear just who will make up the Avengers team in the film, as most of the original Avengers either died or retired in Avengers: Endgame, including Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America. The most likely candidates include Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Letitia Wright’s Black Panther, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and perhaps Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.

At the Comic-Con panel, Marvel did confirm that the new Fantastic Four will appear in these Avengers movies as well.

Avengers: Doomsday is currently scheduled to open in theaters on May 1, 2026. The sixth Avengers movie, Avengers: Secret Wars, is scheduled to follow on May 7, 2027.