The arrival of Doctor Doom is almost upon us. No matter how high excitement for Avengers: Doomsday has been over the course of the past two years (since The Kang Dynasty became Doomsday), it has never been as high as it is right now. With the film's release just a month away and the recent release of the VisionQuest finale, anticipation has skyrocketed ahead of its arrival next month - and fans couldn't be more ready for it.
It's going to be a big month for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so to mark the occasion, the studio has released a brand new CountDown trailer, reminding us all what we should be watching to catch up ahead of the movie's release. And it's just in time for them to add one more major title to that watch-list.
Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday trailer sets the stage for the big crossover
Marvel Studios has unveiled a brand new teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday ahead of the movie's release next month. Titled "Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday", the clip features a multitude of MCU footage from across the movies we need to watch - or, in most of our cases, revisit - before the big film arrives in theaters next month. And, needless to say, audiences have consumed the clip with the eagerness that MCU fans are renowned for.
Watch it for yourself below:
In what is undoubtedly going to be a nostalgic experience for any Marvel fan watching this, the clip takes us back to the Infinity Saga to showcase clips from the likes of Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers: Infinty War while also featuring the modern day MCU entries like Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It also reminds us to "Return to the Universe" throughout before wrapping up with a snippet of Doctor Doom himself, telling us that "The Countdown is on".
For the most part, the trailer does function as a look back on the MCU thus far, serving as the perfect package to convince Marvel fans to subscribe to the Disney Plus streaming service (which houses almost all of the MCU movies), but it also has the bigger purpose of reminding us that Avengers: Doomsday is on the horizon. Look no further than the Doctor Doom-coded green background for the opening Disney Plus logo or the footage of Doom at the end. Moreover, it also labels all of the Avengers: Endgame clips as belonging to recent re-release Avengers Endgame: Encore - which was designed to set the stage for Doomsday via new footage that teases Victor von Doom's arrival (and also just happened to arrive on Disney Plus).
The Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Playlist has grown one month before its release
The streaming service is also home to the official Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Watch-List - a hand-picked list of MCU movies and TV shows that Marvel Studios deemed the most relevant titles to the upcoming movie. As well as featuring a bunch of Infinity Saga movies (primarily the classic Avengers movies), it also features two of the original X-Men movies in a bid to ensure fans are familiar with the legendary stars of that franchise ahead of their MCU debuts and returns in Avengers: Doomsday. The rest of the projects are, of course, from the Multiverse Saga.
With that in mind, here is the official Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Watch-List and all of the titles that are featured on it as of November 2026:
- X-Men
- X2
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Loki
- Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Deadpool and Wolverine
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Thunderbolts
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- VisionQuest
If you have been keeping up with the stories revolving around this particular playlist, you will probably know that it was somewhat controversial when it was first unveiled, as it missed out a lot of important Multiverse Saga titles - once again highlighting how vast and divisive the saga ultimately was. The biggest omission was, of course, The Marvels, which featured one of the most important post-credits scenes of the whole saga - one that clearly set the stage for Doomsday. However, as the film's plot is pretty standalone (and it unfortunately flopped at the box office), it seems that the studio has opted to ignore its importance.
Interestingly, they have made a recent amendment to the playlist, adding Disney Plus series VisionQuest to the line-up. The Paul Bettany-led series joins Loki as the only other MCU show on the list and its inclusion has, of course, sparked a lot of discussion online. Its post-credits scene is pretty important for Doomsday so that might be why Marvel made the decision to add it - but then again, that didn't work for The Marvels. And that leads us all to wonder as to whether Anthony Mackie's slip of the tongue about working with Bettany again recently just might be true. Yes, it appears that Vision will return in Avengers: Doomsday too.
The star-studded spectacular is just one month away, and the anticipation couldn't be any higher. If you haven't already, now is the time to watch - or rewatch - all of those MCU projects before Doctor Doom makes his presence felt on the multiverse. It's honestly the best kind of homework!
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026. It will be released in the UK two days earlier on December 16.
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