So the first official Avengers: Doomsday trailer finally dropped, to the collective “meh” of the internet. 

Okay, to be fair, this was not so much a trailer but a one minute cut scene revealing the return of Chris Evans as the OG Captain America. Somehow he’s not nearly as old as he was when we last saw him but that’s neither here nor there. Fact is, after months and months of waiting, we finally have our first glimpse at the movie. So why aren’t we more excited?

To say that the MCU has been struggling since a genius billionaire philanthropist pickpocketed an alien warlord and self-deleted himself in the most iconic way imaginable, would be an understatement of similarly epic proportions. It used to be that even the most mediocre of Marvel movies could easily yield at least a billion dollars at the box office (looking at you Captain Marvel). Fast forward to 2025 where even generally well-received projects like Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four: First Steps struggle just to break even. Putting aside the critical and commercial success of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and wildly successful nostalgia fest, Deadpool & Wolverine, and it’s fair to say the MCU’s days of effortless box office domination are well behind them.

Perhaps the most telling sign that much of the MCU’s mystique has faded, is the public’s lukewarm response to the upcoming  Avengers: Doomsday. It used to be that the announcement of any new Avengers film sent nerds and casual viewers alike on a collective meltdown. Lest we forget, Avengers: Endgame was so successful that it prompted sore loser James Cameron to re-release Avatar just so that his Smurfs-in-space movie could reclaim its position as the highest grossing film of all time. It begs the question; what went wrong?

Suffering from success

The Multiverse Saga seemed a natural progression from the highly successful Infinity Saga. Not only did it raise the stakes significantly, but it also opened the door to cross-franchise collaborations with characters from the Sony and Fox films, something we’d all been begging for. This was first teased in Wandavision where Evan Peters’ Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men films made a surprise appearance (only to have the writers pull the rug from under us with the now infamous Ralph Bohner reveal). 

For the first time ever, we were able to see all three cinematic Spidermen in one movie on Spiderman: No Way Home, a movie that may have had its narrative flaws but delivered in buckets in terms of nostalgia. This would be a recurring issue in similar multiversal tentpoles. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gave us cameos from fan favourite characters like Patrick Steward’s Professor X and John Krasinski as Mr Fantastic, but underwhelmed in terms of its story, which relegated Doctor Strange to a supporting character in his own film. The aforementioned Deadpool & Wolverine featured the most gratuitous nostalgia bait yet, but the film was also marred by an implausible, plot hole riddled narrative. 

This formula, which once drew audiences to cinemas in droves, appears to have lost much of its shine. Despite their promise to up the nostalgia ante even more, featuring clashes between the X-Men, Avengers and the Fantastic Four, Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars have failed to spark the excitement of previous Avengers installments. A live action X-Men and Avengers crossover should be the biggest news in superhero movie history, so why are we not losing our minds? Not so long ago, a single X-Men character appearing in an Avengers-adjacent miniseries was enough to break the internet. What changed? Is it superhero fatigue or has Marvel simply exhausted its good faith with audiences?

The Villain Problem

They say a good story is only as good as its villain. It would be hard to argue that the Infinity Saga doesn’t owe much of its success to Thanos. From his introduction at the end of the first Avengers movie, the Mad Titan quickly skyrocketed from obscure comic book villain to one of the most iconic antagonists in pop culture. We watched, jaws on the floor, as he shattered Captain America’s “indestructible” shield, erased half of all existence and beat the brakes off of the Hulk, all while casually dropping some of the most epic and memorable quotables in the MCU. For the Multiverse Saga to work, its big bad would have some pretty big shoes to fill. 

Fans initially reacted well enough to the announcement of Kang the Conqueror as the new central antagonist of the MCU, with the Loki TV series laying much of the groundwork for the intricate lore surrounding this complex character. And while this did serve to build up Kang as an intriguing antagonist at first, Antman: Quantumania completely jumped the shark by inexplicably depicting their big bad being thwarted by a B-tier Avenger and his insect buddies. Added to this, the axing of controversial star Jonathan Majors led to Marvel Studios abandoning Kang altogether, flushing hours upon hours of worldbuilding down the proverbial toilet. 

The Doom Effect

With Kang now out of the picture, Marvel quickly shifted its focus to one of the most legendary comic villains ever–Victor Von Doom, better known as Dr Doom. Avengers: Kang Dynasty was unceremoniously scrapped, replaced by Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet was abuzz again with fan casts and theories regarding the iconic villain’s introduction to the MCU. Even with Avengers: Secret Wars pushed back by 2 years after the new pivot, many while excited for Doom were still concerned that there might not be enough time to introduce such a complex and nuanced villain.

Then the bomb dropped, as the Russo Brothers finally unveiled their surprise casting of Dr Doom, none other than former Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr, which drew mixed reactions from the fandom. While some called it a stroke of genius, most saw it as a cynical move by execs panicking over dwindling profit margins.

The recent reveal of Chris Evans’ return for Doomsday was met with similar skepticism from fans. For many, it reads like a decision made in a boardroom, by shareholders acutely aware that their new characters have failed to move the needle, and retreating to the safer investment of legacy characters.

The “lukewarm” reaction to Doomsday isn’t hate, it’s apathy. Fans spent years being force-fed homework and poorly written slop. We endured the aimless meandering of Secret Invasion, the CGI campiness of Quantumania and The Marvels, and the tonal whiplash of She-Hulk. We were told to “wait for the payoff,” but the payoff never came. By the time Marvel finally pivoted back to quality control this year, the general audience had already checked out. 

Too Little Too Late?

Avengers: Doomsday may very well be good, great even, but as we’ve seen with the MCU’s last two installments, that just simply isn’t enough anymore. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorcese once famously equated Marvel movies to theme park rides, and while this may not exactly have been meant as a compliment in a sense he was right. For fans, MCU films were not just movies, they were experiences. There used to be a magic to these stories, where we left the theatre beaming with excitement after some big post credit tease, a surprising Easter Egg or a promise that a certain beloved character will return. 

But over the years, that magic has been drained, syphoned by disappointment after disappointment, dulled by the relentless hammer and chisel of studio interference. And while fans may show up in numbers to watch Doomsday next year, for many this will feel less like a theme park ride, and more a funeral for a once beloved franchise.