Today, to close out their legendary Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con (read what else happened at the panel here), Marvel head Kevin Feige announces the return of the directing duo The Russo Brothers. Both brothers are set to return and direct Avengers 5 and 6 for the studio after already directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. The crowd erupts, cheering and chanting the duo’s name as a mashup video featuring all their previous Marvel film’s best moments plays on screen.
The duo came on stage with Feige to reveal Avengers: Secret Wars, which was one of the first comics they both loved as children and always wanted to adapt to as adults. After stepping away from Marvel Studios following Endgame, they are extremely excited to return for the next two films. They also revealed that the fifth Avengers film before Secret Wars must follow an extremely important villain not yet seen in the MCU. Before revealing Avengers 5 (previously titled The Kang Dynasty) will now be titled Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel has long been rumored to move away from the character of Kang the Conquerer following the extremely poor reception of Ant-Man 3 and the firing of actor Jonathan Majors. And they will now focus on the Fantastic Four arch nemesis, Doctor Doom.
Finally, the duo revealed that they had already cast the role of Victor Von Doom, much to the surprise of the Hall H audience. Then, a group of cloaked figures in Doom masks appeared on stage, with one coming to the front of the group. He removes his mask to reveal that Robert Downey Jr. will be returning to star as Doctor Doom, not Tony Stark, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All 6,500+ attendees in Hall H erupted with this reveal at the panel. The character has long been butchered in live-action form after appearing in 2005’s and 2015’s Fantastic Four films (played by Julian McMahon & Toby Kebbell respectively). Stephen McFeely is set to pen both Avengers films after Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) & Jeff Loveness (Ant-Man 3) wrote previous drafts. Screenwriter Christopher Markus (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) will not work alongside his longtime writing partner.
We at Knight Edge Media had heard several months ago that concept art was floating around for the Deadpool & Wolverine post-credit scene that would set up Robert Downey Jr. as an alternate Doctor Doom in a bought Avengers Tower. However, this was never shot and ultimately cut in favor of the Hall H announcement and Avengers feature film. Finally, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars logos and their release dates appeared on the screen to close out Hall H.
Avengers: Doomsday hits May 2026; Avengers: Secret Wars hits May 2027
