- Primary Subject: Avengers: Doomsday
- Key Update: Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo brothers have promised a mature, emotionally complex narrative designed to defy expectations and prevent the film from being a letdown after Avengers: Endgame.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: June 17, 2026
- Quick Answer: Avengers: Doomsday intends to match Endgame by using a highly mature, emotionally complex story structured to reinvent the franchise and surprise long-time Marvel fans.
There’s no denying that Avengers: Doomsday is one of the highly anticipated Marvel movies of the year, but can it top the success of its predecessor, Avengers: Endgame?
Endgame remains the highest-grossing Avengers film, not to mention one of Marvel’s biggest movies, with an incredible $2.799 billion at the worldwide box office.
As Robert Downey Jr. returns to play the antagonist Doctor Doom this time, he shared his verdict on the potential success of Doomsday.
Can Doomsday Match the Success of Endgame?
With the success of Avengers: Endgame and other Avengers films before it, including Infinity War, Doomsday has big shoes to fill.
In addition to the film itself, it will also see the return of some of the original Avengers stars like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth, alongside iconic X-Men actors such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, among others.
So, with such high expectations, can Doomsday live up to the hype and match the success of Endgame and its predecessors?
“There are so many big shoes to step into that just have to go, ‘What hasn’t been done as well as it can be done yet?’ We’re always looking for that opportunity,” Downey Jr. told CBR. “And a lot of it has been… there’s some experimentation. We’ve had our moments of, ‘Let’s shift here.’ But we landed in a place that I think will more than suffice.”
The 61-year-old actor added that his performance alone is not what determines how successful the movie becomes, emphasizing that it depends on how the story is structured as a whole and how other characters are written and utilized.
“There’s something going on in Doomsday and forward that is literally the only antidote to, ‘How do you not have these films be a letdown after an Infinity War and an Endgame?’” he continued. “And boy, have we labored long and hard to bring that down.”
How will the Russo Brothers Top Avengers: Endgame?
Major details about Avengers: Doomsday remain under lock and key. In fact, despite the number of stars announced to join the highly anticipated crossover movie, many more are said to appear.
That said, directors the Russo Brothers, Joe and Anthony, revealed that there will be plenty more surprises once the film hits the big screen. But beyond the major revelations, they also ensure that the film will remain emotionally complex.
“[Doomsday and Secret Wars have] obviously been harder than the other ones, for that reason. The stakes keep going up,” the Russos told CBR. “But emotional complexity is always the answer.”
Russo believes that incorporating “emotional complexity” into any story enriches it, giving audiences a fuller experience when they watch Doomsday.
“It surprises you. There are a lot of surprises in this,” he added. “And I think [Doomsday is] the most emotionally complex of all of them. And in a lot of ways, the most mature of all of them.”
By the looks of it, only time will tell if Doomsday will manage to match or even surpass Endgame and its predecessors when it hits cinemas on December 18, 2026.
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