Production of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars

Development

Background

Discussing the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company, which saw the return of the film rights of Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, Joe Russo—co-director of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) with his brother Anthony—said in April 2018 that it would be interesting to introduce those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) using a Secret Wars film that brings together different characters and realities. Secret Wars is the name of a 1984–85 comic book crossover event written by Jim Shooter and a 2015–16 comic book storyline written by Jonathan Hickman that both follow various Marvel characters who converge on the planet Battleworld. The next month, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Marvel Studios was focusing on new characters and franchises for the MCU following Endgame, but another Avengers film could happen eventually given the popularity of the previous films. In April 2019, Infinity War and Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said they would return to write a Secret Wars film if the Russo brothers were directing it. Joe Russo discussed the idea again in July 2020, saying "to execute something on the scale of Infinity War was directly related to the dream of Secret Wars, which is even larger in scale".

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in January 2021 that another Avengers film would happen eventually. In August 2021, Shooter said executives from Marvel had attempted to secure the rights to his Secret Wars storyline and he assumed they were planning a film adaptation, though Marvel would not confirm that. Discussing the future of the MCU for Variety in May 2022, Adam B. Vary said there was no sense yet of where the franchise was heading after Endgame but several of the MCU's Phase Four projects had featured the multiverse and some potential "Big Bads" such as Kang the Conqueror. Jonathan Majors had been cast as Kang in September 2020 for the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). He was introduced as an alternate universe "variant" of Kang named He Who Remains in the first season of the Disney+ series Loki (2021), which introduced the multiverse to the MCU. Kang was described by Loki creator Michael Waldron as a "time-traveling, multiversal adversary" and the MCU's "next big cross-movie villain". Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness called him a "top-tier, A-list Avengers villain". Additionally, the Phase Four film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), written by Waldron, introduces the idea of "incursions"—a key idea in the 2015 Secret Wars comic—where one universe destroys another within the multiverse. Waldron compared this to introducing Thanos to the MCU long before he became the main villain of "The Infinity Saga", which covers the MCU's Phases One, Two, and Three.

Announcement as The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars

In July 2022, the Russo brothers reiterated that they were fans of the Secret Wars comic books, but said there were no plans for them to direct a film version. The pair added that they would have to consider the implications of such a project because it would be a "massive undertaking" and making Infinity War and Endgame had already been very difficult. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) later that month, Feige announced the films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, to be released on May 2, 2025, and November 7, 2025, respectively. They were set to conclude Phase Six of the MCU and complete "The Multiverse Saga", which covers Phases Four, Five, and Six. The first film was inspired by "Kang Dynasty", a 2001–02 comic book storyline written by Kurt Busiek in which Kang the Conqueror travels through time to enslave humanity. Feige compared the films to Infinity War and Endgame concluding the Infinity Saga. He said a lot of the Phase Four projects had been building to the larger story of The Kang Dynasty and "The Multiverse Saga", and this would continue throughout Phases Five and Six. Feige added that Majors's role as multiple variants of Kang made him a different type of villain from Thanos, and said there was "nobody's shoulders I'd rather be putting the Multiverse Saga on" than Majors's. It was later reported that Marvel Studios had not initially been planning to have the next MCU saga revolve around Kang, but they decided to do so after seeing Majors's performance in the first season of Loki and in early footage from the filming of Quantumania. Feige confirmed that the Russo brothers would not be returning as directors from Infinity War and Endgame.

Destin Daniel Cretton was revealed to be directing The Kang Dynasty shortly after the SDCC announcement. He directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) for Marvel Studios, and signed an overall deal with them in December 2021 that included directing a sequel to that film and developing the Disney+ series Wonder Man (2025). Cretton was only hired to direct The Kang Dynasty, unlike how the Russo brothers directed both Infinity War and Endgame. Loveness was hired to write The Kang Dynasty in September 2022, and began work two weeks later. He was surprised to be considered for the film, thinking he would be "one and done" with Quantumania, and believed Marvel Studios asked him to pitch for The Kang Dynasty because they enjoyed his take on Kang and elements he included in Quantumania that he felt would be good setup for an Avengers film. A scene with more details about Kang's backstory and future was cut from Quantumania and Loveness thought those details were better suited to be revealed in the next Avengers film. Also in September, Marvel Studios met with potential writers for Secret Wars. Waldron was considered the frontrunner and was hired to write the film in October, when its release date was pushed back to May 1, 2026. In November, Simu Liu expressed interest in reprising his role as Xu Shang-Chi from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and working with Cretton again. Majors had discussed The Kang Dynasty with Cretton by then, and in January 2023 he was confirmed to be appearing in Secret Wars as well. Loveness said he wanted The Kang Dynasty to feel like a "generational struggle" that would take the MCU's new characters from Phase Four and "throw them into the fire". Shang-Chi was set to be one of the lead characters at that time. In March, Loveness said the Fantastic Four and the X-Men would not appear in the film due to their MCU introductions being "pretty far away". He and Waldron pitched a scene where the Young Avengers would have defeated a variant of Kang, specifically "the lizard Kang from the end of" Quantumania, only to find a card that says "be patient with him, it [is] his first day as a Kang".

Firing of Jonathan Majors and creative shifts

Following Majors's arrest in March 2023 and subsequent assault allegations, Marvel Studios had not yet discussed removing the actor from the MCU by the following month. He was still attached to star in both films, and was set to receive $20 million with back-end compensation for The Kang Dynasty. Disney was reportedly monitoring the situation. Joanna Robinson of The Ringer described the allegations against Majors as a "huge problem" for Marvel Studios that put them in an unusual position, since it was unprecedented for the studio to plan so much of the franchise on one character and actor; she argued that Majors had become a much more integral part of the Multiverse Saga than Robert Downey Jr. or Josh Brolin had been for the Infinity Saga as Tony Stark / Iron Man and Thanos, respectively. Robinson said there were conflicting reports on how the studio would proceed with the matter. By then, The Kang Dynasty was scheduled to begin filming in early 2024. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported in May that Loveness was no longer involved in the film and had exited before the start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike earlier that month. In June, the release dates for The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars were pushed back to May 1, 2026, and May 7, 2027, respectively, in part due to the scripts not being ready before the strike.

Tatiana Siegel at Variety reported in November 2023 that Marvel Studios executives had discussed potentially bringing back the original Avengers cast, including Downey as Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow after those characters died in Endgame. Feige later denied that they had discussed this. Siegel also reported that Marvel Studios executives had started discussing alternative plans for the Multiverse Saga due to Majors's legal issues, including pivoting to focus on another comic book antagonist such as Doctor Doom; that character was already expected to be a major antagonist, if not the primary antagonist, in Secret Wars. The studio reportedly started considering changes, including minimizing the role of Kang, following the disappointing box office performance of Quantumania. Siegel felt recasting Majors was an option given Marvel Studios had previously recast major roles in the MCU due to offscreen issues, and she reported that the final episode of Loki's second season (2023) would set-up the future role for Kang and his variants in a way that would be difficult for Marvel to change. However, when the episode was released soon after, several commentators opined that it actually downplayed Kang's future role and provided several possible solutions for Marvel, including having the Kang variants be handled by Loki's Time Variance Authority (TVA) offscreen and potentially replacing them with Loki variants.

New work as Doomsday and Secret Wars

Commentators noted that issue #5 of the 2015 Secret Wars comic book can be seen in a trailer for the Phase Five film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) that was released in February 2024. That film stars Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, and several other actors reprising their roles from 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series or other prior Marvel films, as part of a multiverse story that serves as a tribute to Fox's Marvel films. While completing work on Deadpool & Wolverine in mid-March, director Shawn Levy was quietly asked to direct Avengers 5. He turned down the offer due to scheduling concerns with his role as a director and executive producer on the fifth season of Stranger Things (2025). In April, filming for Avengers 5 was reported to be beginning in early 2025, after Marvel Studios delayed the production schedule by several months. The next month, Waldron turned in a new draft of the script that was given to Levy, who was still considered to be the studio's top choice to direct. Levy was in contention again following the production delay and began early discussions with the studio by the start of June. Other directors were still being considered, and Levy had yet to commit to the film due to his work on Stranger Things and the film Star Wars: Starfighter (2027).

Marvel Studios approached Downey about returning to the MCU to take on the new character of Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom. The actor had auditioned for that role in Fox's film Fantastic Four (2005) before he was cast as Iron Man in the MCU. Feige wanted Downey to return to the franchise and they discussed the idea of him playing Doctor Doom before the release of Quantumania in February 2023. Feige said the studio came to feel, even before Majors's legal issues, that Kang "wasn't big enough, wasn't Thanos", and the right character to serve as the main antagonist of the Multiverse Saga was Doctor Doom, whom they finally had access to following the Fox acquisition. He said casting Downey was a long-term plan to "take one of our greatest characters and utilize one of our greatest actors", and because the MCU was now exploring the multiverse, they could "do whatever the heck we want. He played the most iconic hero. Let's have him play the most iconic villain." The studio made repeated offers to the actor, but Downey said he would only return if the Russo brothers also returned as directors. Feige and Downey pitched the idea to the Russo brothers several times, but they were reluctant to return, feeling "creatively spent" by their previous MCU films. Joe Russo added that the process of filming, completing, and promoting multiple MCU films within a short time period had been intense and physically exhausting for the pair. After McFeely approached the Russos with an idea for the films that excited them, they entered early talks to direct both Avengers 5 and Secret Wars by mid-July 2024. It had become clear by then that Levy was not interested in returning to the MCU so soon after Deadpool & Wolverine. Matthew Belloni of Puck reported that talent agency Creative Artists Agency suggested Greg Berlanti and Noah Hawley to Marvel Studios as potential directors for both films, but they were turned down by Feige. Downey signed a deal to star as Doctor Doom by late July. Sneider reported that he would be introduced in the MCU film The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) before starring in the next Avengers films.

Writing

The Russo brothers confirmed in March 2025 that the 1984–85 Secret Wars event, which they grew up with, and the 2015–16 "Secret Wars" storyline would both serve as "loose inspiration" for the films. Feige said the films were also inspired by "Time Runs Out", the prelude storyline for the 2015–16 "Secret Wars". After several actors from Fox's X-Men film series were announced to be returning for Doomsday, there was speculation about whether the film would adapt elements from the 2012 comic book crossover event "Avengers vs. X-Men" written by Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, and Hickman as well as Jonathan Maberry's 2010 limited series Doomwar, which depicts Doctor Doom invading Wakanda and features the X-Men. Hickman consulted on Doomsday and Secret Wars for two and a half years, reading the scripts for the films. The Western film Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) was an additional inspiration the Russos had for Doomsday.

Acknowledging concerns about the growing size of the MCU, the Russo brothers said they had also struggled to keep up with the large number of projects that had been released since Endgame. They wanted to restore the franchise's focus on a central narrative, which had been important to them during the Infinity Saga. Joe Russo said there would be a natural progression from Endgame to Doomsday, in addition to the latter building on the stories of the Multiverse Saga, which is why they considered the September 2026 re-release of Endgame under the name Avengers Endgame: Encore to be "required viewing" for following the new film. The new scenes included in Encore, shot specifically to appear in the re-release, include clues hinting towards the larger Doomsday story. Joe Russo also said specific lines from the original release of Endgame would have an impact on, and be "paid off" in, Doomsday.

Doomsday features groups of heroes from three different universes—the Avengers, Wakandans, and New Avengers from Earth-616; the Fantastic Four from Earth-828; and the "original" X-Men from Earth-10005—converging amidst the collapse of the multiverse. Feige said they were using the Secret Wars idea of different universes colliding to unite cast members from different film franchises and bring together multiple generations of Marvel fans. He said it was a long-time dream for Marvel to bring the Fantastic Four and the X-Men into the MCU, and it was surreal for him to see these characters together after working on Marvel films for 25 years. Feige added that one of their goals for the two films was to give closure to Marvel storylines that pre-dated the MCU, including those of the Fox X-Men characters.

Pre-production

Casting

In June 2024, Deadline Hollywood described the first of the two films as more of an ensemble than the prior Avengers films, which mostly focused on a core group of Avengers. There was potential for more than 60 actors to reprise their MCU roles in the film, including established characters from the Infinity Saga alongside newer ones from the Multiverse Saga, though Feige cautioned that not all of the new Multiverse Saga characters would be able to appear in the two films. Similar to Infinity War and Endgame, magnetic baseball cards were used to track which characters and actors were available for the films.

Benedict Cumberbatch said in June 2024 that he would reprise his MCU role as Dr. Stephen Strange in the first film. The next month, Sneider reported that Jeremy Renner would reprise his MCU role as Clint Barton / Hawkeye in Doomsday, but Renner denied his involvement in October 2026. At SDCC later in July 2024, Robert Downey Jr.'s casting as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom for both films was announced. He discussed changing from Tony Stark / Iron Man to Doom, saying he enjoyed portraying complex characters and his role in the films was "new mask, same task". Different storylines within Marvel Comics have seen Stark and Doom swap bodies, and Doom takes on the Iron Man mantle in the 2016–17 Infamous Iron Man comic book series by Bendis and Alex Maleev. The announcement of Downey's casting led to speculation about whether he would be playing an alternate universe variant of Stark or if his recasting would be ignored in the films' story. Also at the convention, cast members from the MCU films Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were said to be reprising their roles in the next two Avengers films, including the main Fantastic Four actors: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing. Tom Holland, who was also expected to reprise his MCU role as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Doomsday, said he knew about Downey's casting as Doom before the SDCC announcement.

In November 2024, Feige said the studio was looking for ways to include Ryan Reynolds's Wade Wilson / Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Logan / Wolverine in future MCU projects following Deadpool & Wolverine. The next month, Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, and Hayley Atwell were reported to be in Doomsday, with Mackie and Atwell reprising their respective MCU roles as Sam Wilson / Captain America and Peggy Carter. It was unclear what Evans's role would be after he played Steve Rogers / Captain America in the Infinity Saga and a variant of Johnny Storm / Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine, reprising the latter role from Fox's films Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Sneider reported that Evans might play a version of Nomad, a mantle taken on by Rogers and other characters in the comics. Marvel attempted to develop a separate film with Evans and Atwell before deciding Doomsday would be a better film to revisit them in. Evans denied that he would be in the film, saying he was "happily retired" from Marvel. In January 2025, Sneider reported that Marvel Studios was casting an alternate version of T'Challa / Black Panther for multiple MCU projects starting with Doomsday. The character was originally portrayed in the MCU by Chadwick Boseman until his death in August 2020. Sneider said the studio offered the role to an actor in late 2024, but they declined and took on a different superhero role. He later said the casting was for T'Challa's son T'Challa II / Toussaint, who would become the new Black Panther. The character was introduced as a child in the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), portrayed by Divine Love Konadu-Sun. Cumberbatch said he would no longer appear in Doomsday following changes to the story after Majors's firing, but he soon said he had been mistaken and would appear in both films, with a central role in Secret Wars. Mackie said he would also be in both films.

Design

Gavin Bocquet was set as the production designer for Doomsday, reteaming with the Russo brothers after working on the second season of their television series Citadel (2023–present). Sets for the Baxter Building that Kasra Farahani designed for First Steps were reused, with some updates, for Doomsday. Doomsday features similar sets to those featured in the Fox X-Men films.

Costume designers Judianna Makovsky and Graham Churchyard returned for Doomsday and Secret Wars, respectively, from previous MCU films. The X-Men characters wear costumes based on designs from the comics. For example, Cyclops dons a comics-accurate yellow and blue suit based on Jim Lee's "classic" design, without the yellow trunks, while Xavier's grey jacket with a black-and-red X symbol is based on the design seen in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's New X-Men (2001–2004) comic book series. Namor also wears a comics-accurate black suit with shimmering blue scales and a high collar, reminiscent of the character's moisture suit first seen in Sub-Mariner vol. 1 #67 (November 1973). Additionally, the character no longer has the facial piercings he wore in Wakanda Forever. The Russo brothers said Doom's costume was their favorite to date, feeling the character and the costume "really, really fit" each other.

Filming plan

In October 2024, the Russo brothers said Doomsday and Secret Wars were being produced together in a similar way to Infinity War and Endgame, but they would not be filmed back-to-back like those films were; there were just four weeks between the end of filming for Infinity War and the start of filming for Endgame. Anthony said there would be around a year between the end of filming on Doomsday and the start of filming on Secret Wars. Joe later said the two films were being made "fairly back-to-back". In early 2025, filming for Doomsday was reported to be taking place from that March to August. Mackie said he would be splitting his time between filming Doomsday in London and filming the television series 12 12 12 in Budapest, and the Russos said filming would primarily occur on soundstages and specifically chosen locations to avoid set photos from leaking.

Filming

Production for the two films is based at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Some "pre-photography" filming for Doomsday occurred in April 2025, including the filming of the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene with the New Avengers cast. The Russos filmed the scene accompanied by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. The Russos also directed the mid-credits scene of First Steps and the new scenes featured in Endgame: Encore during production on Doomsday. Principal photography for Doomsday began on April 28, under the working title Apple Pie 1. Production was originally expected to begin in early 2024, but this was delayed due to Majors's firing and the films' creative shifts. Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel reteamed with the Russo brothers after working on Citadel and their film Cherry (2021). Due to the creative shifts, filming began without a finished script. The Russos suggested that they were not concerned about this since they usually change the scripts for their films during rehearsals with the actors.

By the end of May 2025, location filming was taking place in Bahrain. Four days of filming were set to occur at Windsor Great Park in mid-to-late June, where sets for a spaceship and a 1960s-style bungalow were built. The latter was referred to as the "Luke Cage house"; "Luke Cage" was the codename used for Evans in the script and by the production team to help keep his return for the film a secret. An additional day of filming was set to occur at Windsor Great Park in August, with a set being built that was referred to as "Annie Reynolds's house". By late July, the cast of First Steps had finished filming half of their scenes, and Romijn had filmed some scenes. She was unsure if she would have to film more because the script was still being written. Pascal and Cumming finished filming their scenes by early August. Cumming said his schedule for the series The Traitors (2023–present) meant he was not available when some of his Doomsday scenes were being shot, so all of his scenes were shot together using green screens and other techniques, alongside some "little scenes" where he acted with other people. Wright also confirmed she wrapped filming in late August. After he was injured on set, Tatum had to rely on his stunt double for action sequences. Filming also took place at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire, England. Filming for Doomsday wrapped on September 19.

Principal photography for Secret Wars is scheduled to begin in late 2026, around a year after filming for Doomsday was completed, and last for approximately six months. At the end of July 2026, Anthony Russo said filming would begin "soon". Moss-Bachrach was expected to begin filming in August 2026, after his run starring in the Broadway play Dog Day Afternoon (2026). Mackie planned to finish his filming for Secret Wars after his run starring in the 2027 Broadway production of Macbeth, which is scheduled to begin in late March or early April and run until July 2027.

Post-production

Editing

Jeffrey Ford and Matthew Schmidt are editing both films, after working on previous MCU media. In March 2025, the Russo brothers estimated that Doomsday would be approximately two-and-a-half hours long and Secret Wars would be approximately three hours long. With Doomsday's premium large format tickets going on sale in July 2026, a 165-minute runtime was set to allow for theaters to schedule showtimes, with The Hollywood Reporter noting the film's final cut was "unlikely to be locked this far in advance" and could only change within a small margin given showtimes were being scheduled against the 165-minute runtime. Shortly after, the Russos said they were "deep" in editing but had not finished the film and were continuing to shape it and find new moments, and that the runtime would be "substantial".

Additional photography

The Hollywood Reporter reported that there would be a "healthy" amount of additional photography for Doomsday, which was expected to take place in early 2026. Harbour said he was returning to London soon after February 2026 for the reshoots, and Duke confirmed in May that additional photography had been taking place. The next month, Harbour said reshoots with himself and other Avengers actors had been taking place at Pinewood in London.

Music

In April 2024, Alan Silvestri indicated that he could be composing the music for an upcoming MCU project after doing so for Infinity War, Endgame, and other MCU films. That July, he was confirmed to be returning for both Doomsday and Secret Wars.