Captain America Star Confirms 'Avengers: Doomsday' Fate

4 days ago 13
 Civil War Image via Marvel Studios

Published Oct 5, 2026, 5:16 PM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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Marvel created a ton of questions about its next big crossover event when the first teasers for Avengers: Doomsday rolled out back in December and confirmed Chris Evans' return to the MCU. The franchise has since passed the shield to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, who even got his own movie last year in Captain America: Brave New World, while Steve Rogers got to live the life he missed out on with Peggy Carter. Making matters more curious is the shot showing the former Sentinel of Liberty holding a child in his hands. This won't be a brief stay for the seasoned Avenger, as Evans himself has confirmed he'll be in the sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, next year to some degree, but his successor's fate has been a bit more up in the air.

Mackie, for his part, has been a bit more ominous in his teasing. Doomsday will pit teams of superheroes, from the New Avengers to The Fantastic Four, the Wakandans, the old 20th Century Fox X-Men, and other assorted figures against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, who, as the trailer shows, may be an even bigger threat than Thanos. All signs are pointing to a much darker MCU outing than usual, a feeling further driven home by Mackie assuring that "everyone is expendable" in Anthony and Joe Russo's latest movie, which he says will end on an impactful cliffhanger. Does that include the former Falcon himself, though?

Evidently not. During a conversation with Deadline about his return to play Macbeth on Broadway next year, the star confirmed that he'll be back for Secret Wars shortly after he wraps his time playing Shakespeare's legendary villain. "So once I finish on Broadway, I’ll go to finish up all the Avengers stuff for Secret Wars," he said. That should ensure Sam's safety through the encounter with Doom, at least, though what lies afterward for him remains up in the air. While Mackie will have to suit back up next year to finalize his time in the crossover, the Russos are expected to get started on the production even sooner, given how massive an undertaking it will be and how critical it is to the MCU's future.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which MCU Villain Do You Align With? Killmonger · Namor · Zemo · Thanos

Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you do about something unfair, how long you will wait for what you want, who you are really loyal to, how easily you let a thing go. Answer them and we will tell you which one of these four you have more in common with than you would like. Every one of them thinks they are the reasonable person in the room.

🐆Killmonger(Black Panther)

🔱Namor(Wakanda Forever)

🎭Zemo(Civil War)

🧤Thanos(Infinity War)

FIND YOUR VILLAIN →

01

How do you react to something you think is unfair? All four of these men started here.

ALoudly, and I want the whole thing torn down. BI protect whoever it hurt, first and fast. CI say nothing, and I start planning. DI look for why it keeps happening at all.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

How long will you wait for something you want? Patience separates these four more than anything else.

ANot long, since I have waited long enough already. BAs long as my people stay safe meanwhile. CYears, if years are what it takes. DTime does not really come into it.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

Who are you actually loyal to? Answer for the real one, not the polite one.

AThe people nobody else turned up for. BMy own, and nobody outside that. COne person, and they are already gone. DAn idea, rather than any group of people.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you win an argument? Everybody has one method and uses it every time.

ABy being angrier and more right. BBy making the cost of disagreeing obvious. CBy letting them talk until they trip over something. DBy explaining it until they run out of objections.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

How easily do you let something go? This is the question that makes villains out of people.

AI do not, and I can tell you exactly why. BOnce whoever caused it stops being a threat. CWhen the balance is settled, and not before. DInstantly, because it was never personal.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What do you think about breaking the rules? Nobody on this list has ever felt guilty about it.

AThey were written by whoever benefits from them. BMine apply, and theirs do not reach me. CRules are a tool, and I use them precisely. DThe rule matters far less than the outcome.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What do people say about you behind your back? You already know which one it is.

AThat I am far too angry about it. BThat I put my own above everybody else. CThat I am much quieter than I should be. DThat I am certain in a way that unnerves them.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

What would you do with real power? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your villain.

AGive it to the people it was kept from. BUse it to shut my own people off from the world. CUse it to make the guilty face what they did. DUse it to fix the thing everybody refuses to face.

REVEAL MY VILLAIN →

The Case Is Made You Align With…

Four villains, and four arguments the films were honest enough to actually let them make. Here is the one you lean towards, the part of it that holds up, and the exact point where it stops holding up.

Erik Killmonger

You align with the one who was right about the problem and wrong about the solution. Killmonger is the most persuasive villain Marvel has produced because the film never pretends his anger came from nowhere.

  • You notice who was abandoned and you cannot let it go, which is a moral instinct before it is anything else.
  • His argument lands because Wakanda really did watch and do nothing, and the film makes T'Challa admit it out loud.
  • Where it breaks is the method, since a man who was failed by power decided the answer was to hold more of it.
  • Michael B. Jordan plays him as somebody performing certainty over grief, which is why the last scene of that film still works.

Namor

You align with the protector, which is the most understandable and most dangerous position on this list. Namor is not chasing power or revenge, he is doing whatever keeps his people hidden, and he has been doing it for centuries.

  • Your loyalty has a hard border around it, and everything inside that border matters far more to you than anything outside it.
  • Talokan is the best realised world Marvel has built since Wakanda, and the film makes you understand exactly what he is guarding.
  • His logic is airtight right up until it requires somebody else's people to pay for his people's safety.
  • He would rather be feared by the surface world forever than trust it once, and history has given him reasons.

Helmut Zemo

You align with the patient one, the only man on this list with no powers, no army and no hurry. Zemo lost his family in Sokovia and then spent years working out that you do not fight the Avengers, you introduce them to each other's secrets.

  • You go quiet when you are hurt, and the quiet is where the thinking happens.
  • Zemo is the only MCU villain who completely won, and he did it with a notebook, a plan and a great deal of self control.
  • His grief is real, and the film is careful never to let you forget that he started as an ordinary man with a family.
  • Where it fails is the cost, since taking apart the people who hurt him meant hurting a great many people who did not.

Thanos

You align with the one who decided the answer was arithmetic. Thanos is not angry and not grieving in any way he will admit to, he simply reached a conclusion and never once revisited it, which is precisely what makes him frightening.

  • You are capable of holding a position that costs you everything, and you would call that conviction rather than stubbornness.
  • Infinity War works because it is structured as his film, with a goal, a journey and a sacrifice, and the heroes are the obstacle.
  • The flaw in the plan is not the cruelty, it is that he never seriously considered a single alternative to it.
  • Josh Brolin plays him tired rather than triumphant, which is the choice that turned a purple giant into a real character.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Who Else Is Confirmed to Appear in 'Avengers: Secret Wars'?

Marvel is still a ways off from revealing the full Secret Wars cast, but there are a few confirmations beyond the two Captain Americas. The Fantastic Four are all set to return, including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, and Letitia Wright as Shuri. Peggy will also be joining Steve for the adventure, as Hayley Atwell is confirmed to appear in both films. In terms of newer characters, Sadie Sink's Jean Gray will join the fight after being introduced in the recent Spider-Man: Brand New Day and ahead of her joining Jake Schreier's X-Men movie, though the bigger surprise is Noah Jupe. The Hamnet star was only recently announced to be appearing in a mystery role, and there's been speculation he could be playing either another young mutant or a grown-up version of Franklin Richards.

Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, while Secret Wars premieres one year later on December 17, 2027. Stay tuned here at Collider for more updates until their release.

avengers-doomsday-poster.jpg

Release Date December 18, 2026

Runtime 165 Minutes

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    Robert Downey Jr.

    Victor von Doom

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    Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic

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    Sue Storm / Invisible Woman

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