Marvel Studios ended their Hall H panel at SDCC ’24 with a bang. After revealing that Anthony and Joe Russo were officially back in the fold to direct the next two Avengers films, the studio dropped a pair of bombshells on the crowd. After months of speculation about how the studios would move forward with the previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty following the firing of its star, Jonathan Majors, and having to replace the original creative team of director Destin Daniel Cretton and Jeff Loveness, Marvel used the panel to break the news that the rumors of a total overhaul of the project were true. Rather than moving forward with the originally planned Kang storyline, the studios retitled the project Avengers: Doomsday and announced that Robert Downey Jr. was set to play the film’s titular character, Victor Von Doom.
Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves
-The Russo Brothers
While the announcement of Doom finally making his way into the MCU was well-received, the casting of Downey in the role has been met with some serious skepticism. Taken as a whole, the news seemed to have a bit of a getting-the-band-back-together vibe which has been seen as a desperate play on the part of Marvel Studios. Whether it was or not, it will be a few years before the success of the reunion can be judged and a bit part of that success will depend on the script. To that end, the studio turned to another familiar face who was a major part of the success of the Infinity Saga to take over scripting the next two Avengers films.
According to a press release from Disney, Stephen McFeely has taken over writing duties from Michael Waldron on Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, confirming an earlier report.
Along with Christopher Markus, McFeely co-wrote a half dozen MCU films including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and the Captain America trilogy. Waldron, who wrote Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, was announced as the writer of Avengers: Secret Wars in October 2022 and took over duties on Avengers 5 in November 2023. It is unclear how much, if any, of his recently completed draft of Avengers 5 will be used by the studios.
Avengers: Doomsday remains on track to hit theaters on May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars set to follow it up on May 7, 2027.
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