Robert Downey's Doctor Doom raises Sentinels in Doomsday trailer
Marvel surprised San Diego Comic-Con Hall H with exclusive Avengers: Doomsday footage that puts Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom front and center, raising an army of Sentinels to take down the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men ahead of the film's Dec. 18 theatrical release. The sneak peek, reported by Variety, also deepens Doom's fraught history with Reed Richards and Sue Storm.
Key Takeaways
- Robert Downey Jr. headlines the Hall H footage as Doctor Doom, warning heroes they have "lived stolen lives."
- Doom overpowers Thor and raises an army of Sentinels from the X-Men films.
- Sue Storm and Reed Richards confront Doom's past amid a ruined New York City.
- The cast spans Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, Wakandans, and returning Fox X-Men stars.
- Avengers: Doomsday opens Dec. 18 after early premium-format presale momentum.
What does the Avengers: Doomsday Comic-Con trailer show?
According to Variety, the Hall H clip opens on Victor Von Doom — Robert Downey Jr. — seated on a throne while Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm narrates how the once-brilliant Victor changed. "Victor was always the smartest guy in the room. He used to be different," she says, adding that everything he loved was taken from him.
TheWrap reports a fuller version of that narration: Sue tells fellow heroes he used to be kind and caring, that she knew he was lost, but "I did not realize that he was broken." Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards then stands amid wreckage and asks whether Doom caused the carnage. Doom replies that they have lived stolen lives and must give them back.
Thor confronts the villain, who casually catches and discards the hammer, then summons Sentinels from the ground. When Thor vows Doom will beg for hell, Doom answers, "Hell answers to me," per TheWrap. For more Streaming & TV Alerts coverage of big-screen and platform releases, see BlasterPost's Streaming & TV Alerts hub.
Which Marvel stars appear — and who is missing?
Variety and Yahoo Entertainment list a sprawling team-up. Quick shots include Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Chris Evans's Captain America, Letitia Wright's Black Panther, Simu Liu's Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, plus X-Men returns such as James Marsden's Cyclops, Ian McKellen's Magneto, and Channing Tatum's Gambit. Yahoo also notes Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, Sebastian Stan's Bucky, Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, the Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts/New Avengers leads, Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, and Wakandan allies including Winston Duke's M'Baku and Tenoch Huerta's Namor.
Yahoo says the full trailer drew about 503 million views in its first 24 hours. Not every confirmed name is on screen: Lewis Pullman's Sentry, Kelsey Grammer's Beast, and Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler are confirmed for the film but absent from the clip. TheWrap adds that Ryan Reynolds appeared in Hall H as Deadpool for a jokey Q&A and is apparently not debuting in Doomsday. Yahoo also flags no trailer sightings of Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Nick Fury, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, or the Guardians.
When can fans see Avengers: Doomsday in theaters?
Marvel and Disney have set a Dec. 18, 2026 release. TheWrap notes the film logged $16.5 million in presales in the first 24 hours of availability, limited to about 1,000 premium-format screens under Disney and Marvel's "Infinity Vision" push, while Imax screens go to Warner Bros.' Dune: Part Three on the same date. After months of teasers — including Evans's Cap return, Thor and Love, Fantastic Four meeting Wakanda, and Fox X-Men entering the MCU — the Comic-Con footage makes clear Robert Downey's Doom is the threat uniting nearly every corner of Marvel's roster.