It's officially 2026, and with that we can officially say: Avengers: Doomsday is coming out this year.
The movie was initially planned for early summer, but Marvel Studios pushed it to the end of the year to allow more time for production, ensuring that it lives up to - or exceeds - fan expectations. And based on those first few trailers, it's clear that it's on track to doing all of that (and so much more).
But while the official marketing has only just begun for the larger-than-life Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, the rumor mill has been doing the heavy lifting for the past two years. It shows no signs of slowing down either, as a new report claims that one rumored returnee will be involved in a greater capacity than expected.
Hayley Atwell to play multiple roles in Avengers: Doomsday
It sounds like we should be prepared to see a lot of Peggy Carter in 2026. Or a lot of Peggy Carters. Veteran industry insider Daniel Richtman has revealed that star Hayley Atwell, who is expected to return in Avengers: Doomsday, will actually have a much bigger role than expected. The report says that it won't just be a cameo appearance and that the Agent Carter star will have the biggest role she's ever had in an MCU Avengers movie. This comes alongside a report from Richtman that she will be playing multiple characters, too.
Atwell has been attached to Avengers: Doomsday for over a year now. Although Marvel has not officially confirmed her involvement, Deadline revealed in December 2024 that she would be joining the production alongside her Captain America: The First Avenger co-star Chris Evans. Marvel left both of them out of the official cast announcement, but it did recently confirm that Evans would reprise his role as Steve Rogers in the film - as the first teaser trailer showed the legendary Captain America with a child. As Steve retired from superheroism at the end of Avengers: Endgame in 2019 to live a happily married life with Peggy Carter, we can take this as official confirmation that she will appear too.
Atwell has been a fixture of the MCU since the very beginning. She first appeared as Peggy Carter in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger before going on to reprise the role in ABC series Agent Carter (which has seemingly been retroactively placed in an MCU-adjacent timeline). She would return in guest and supporting roles in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Endgame.
When the franchise kicked off the Multiverse Saga, there were more opportunities for Atwell to return even though the main Peggy's storyline had been wrapped up in Avengers: Endgame. She would begin voicing an alternate version of the character, Captain Carter, in animated series What If...? (as well as other variants of Peggy, too) before returning in a physical capacity in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness - playing a different version of Captain Carter, too.
As for which characters she might play in Avengers: Doomsday, it isn't hard to see the most likely choices. Evans' return as Steve pretty much confirms that we will indeed see the original Peggy Carter back in action again. The duo's stories are synonymous with one another and, after they already got their happy ending in Endgame, it appears that they will have to fight to keep it in Doomsday.
Fans are also anticipating the live-action debut of the What If...? version of Captain Carter, who seemingly died when she sacfiriced herself to save the Watcher in the third and final season. There was a lot of disappointment about the treatment of the Doctor Strange version, so this is Marvel's chance to right that wrong.
As this is a multiversal movie, we wouldn't be surprised to see other variants too. Perhaps this will be Marvel's chance to address whether the events of the Agent Carter TV series are actually canon to the film franchise or not. If not, we could see that Peggy too. Honestly, the more Agent Carter, the better!
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026.