Doomsday’s Horrible Trailer Rollout Plan Is the Wake-Up Call Disney Needs

In March 2025, the internet witnessed Marvel Studios announcing the cast of “Avengers: Doomsday” with a comically long livestream of chairs with the actors’ names on them. Not much has changed when it comes to the marketing of the upcoming crossover film, with the four theatrical-exclusive trailers doing little other than letting people know which characters are coming back. It’s been difficult to generate any enthusiasm for “Doomsday” because it smacks of desperation, especially with the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. The teasers themselves also didn’t do much to shake things up, which seems like a tall order to overcome.

Our first look at the Steve Rogers teaser only let us know that Chris Evans was in the movie (even though I didn’t have a chair at the start) and that the old Cape’s peaceful new life will most likely be turned upside down. It also doesn’t help that it looks like a pharmaceutical ad, which X (formerly Twitter) user Josh Billinson hilariously updated. The “Doomsday” hype train was then followed by a recording on Thor (Chris Hemsworth)praying to all fathers that he can presumably survive the next battle against Doom. The latest teaser is by far the most nostalgic of the bunch, as we see Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and James Marsden’s incarnations of their The characters in “X-Men” grapple with the possibility of death. It’s admittedly pretty funny considering we’ve been saying goodbye to these actors since “X-Men: The Last Stand” and they keep finding ways to come back for one “final” encore.

Marvel’s strategic release model of making these disappointing teasers theatrical-exclusive has proven to backfire for a number of reasons, two of the biggest being leeway for online leaks and AI fakes.

It used to be that people had to buy a ticket to see theater-exclusive trailers for highly anticipated films, but the age of social media has made that experience virtually impossible to relive. Every preview of “Doomsday” immediately leaked online thanks to blurry camera captures taken on someone’s phone. Like clockwork, it has already happened with the fourth teaser which has already circulated on the web. This isn’t a completely new problem due to leaks at conventions, but it’s a bad way to make a first impression. What’s even worse about Disney not being in charge of rolling out “Doomsday” teasers is the glut of garish AI-generated videos filling the void.

YouTube, in particular, has been a breeding ground for cowardly opportunists who have chosen to get their piece of the pie with these fake teasers. They are often sandwiched between official reality videos. I can’t tell you how many family members have sent me links to AI-generated YouTube clips thinking they were real. The increase in AI-generated content in recent years has made it even more difficult to shut them down. Disney didn’t really help their cause, considering they recently reached a billion-dollar deal with OpenAI so that Sora can use his characters on the platform. This is an active threat to the company, in which their properties are given away to people who can make them say and/or do unspeakable things. “South Park” even ridiculed how AI deepfakes can spiral out of control very quickly. The influx of fake “Doomsday” trailers is the wake-up call Disney desperately needs. They will likely continue to sleep during this time.

“Avengers: Doomsday” is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on December 18, 2026.