The Latest ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Teaser Answers a Year-Long MCU Question
Another week, another look at Avengers: Doomsday. On Tuesday, Marvel Studios released the fourth (and maybe final, for now?) teaser trailer for Doomsday, after a week of it already screening in theaters before showings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The three existing teasers reached back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s past: confirming that Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers, bringing Thor back to his Shakespearean roots once again, and showing some of the Fox-era X-Men cast in new costumes. With this fourth teaser, Doomsday dwells much more on its recent past… but still brings to life a crossover with plenty to talk about.
The minute-long teaser takes us back to Wakanda for the first time since 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. We see Shuri (Letitia Wright) and M’baku (Winston Duke), as well as Namor (Tenoch Huerta), whose underwater world of Talokan formed an alliance with Wakanda at the end of that movie. As they prepare for the battle that’s ahead, Shuri and M’baku cross paths with a new face: Ben Grimm / The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who politely introduces himself and his New York neighborhood.
In lieu of action or massive plot details (which, honestly, have been missing from most of these Doomsday teasers), this teaser does reveal a major piece of the puzzle for the movie: the Fantastic Four’s jump from their universe into the MCU’s main Earth-19999. It seemingly confirms where the team’s rocket will be landing on Earth, after the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene certainly made it seem like they would cross paths with that team first. There have been no shortage of memes on that subject since this teaser first debuted in theaters, with the joke shifting from the fact that the Fantastic Four might be underwhelmed by the Thunderbolts/New Avengers, to the fact that they might now be underwhelmed by the entirety of Earth after Wakanda sets the bar so high.
The Fantastic Four and Wakanda’s Comic History
This teaser also makes sense within the context of comic history, as the Fantastic Four and Wakanda have been in each other’s proverbial orbit for decades. The Black Panther was first introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966’s Fantastic Four #52, after Kirby realized the lack of prominent Black characters in superhero comics.
In that initial storyline, the Black Panther gifts the Fantastic Four a flying vehicle, in hopes that they’ll come visit his nation. Once they do, it seems as if the Black Panther is being antagonistic towards them, until he unmasks himself as King T’Challa and reveals that he needs their help in defending Wakanda from Ulysses Klaw.
From that point onward, as Marvel launched a Black Panther solo book and evolved the character into the cultural icon that it is today, the worlds of Wakanda and Yancy Street have intersected countless times. It is lovely to see that relationship carried over into Doomsday, even as this teaser raises just about as many questions as it answers. Who else from the team is with Ben? (Probably not Sue and Franklin, given how The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ mid-credits scene ended.) How will both groups join up with the countless other heroes confirmed to be in Doomsday? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released exclusively in theaters on December 18, 2026.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
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