Marvel's Fourth Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Unites Black Panther & Fantastic Four Characters
If the main goal of these "Avengers: Doomsday" teasers is to get audiences pumped for the beginning of the end of Marvel Studios' wildly uneven Multiverse Saga, then there are certainly worse ways to go about doing that than this. The fourth and, supposedly, final short promo for this year's incoming Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover extravaganza has officially dropped online following its exclusive theatrical run, though it's likely many of you reading this have already seen the leaked version in what should really be a wake-up call to Disney. Refreshingly, however, this particular preview is more about looking to the future rather than the past, placing an emphasis on two of the better-received chapters in the Multiverse Saga to date.
Indeed, where the previous teasers played the nostalgia card by highlighting familiar faces like Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth), and the actors from 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" movies, this fourth teaser has the MCU's Fantastic Four — fresh off their franchise debut with last year's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" — coming face to face with the leaders of Wakanda, including Shuri, aka the property's new Black Panther (Letitia Wright). More specifically, it sees our beloved big boys M'Baku (Winston Duke) and Ben Grimm, aka the Thing to his friends (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), crossing paths for the first time.
Check out the latest "Avengers: Doomsday" teaser above!
Wakanda will have a new king in Avengers: Doomsday
My apologies, make that King M'Baku. For those who need a refresher, the sequel "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (which came out all the way back in November 2022 — so, basically, a lifetime ago) not only had Shuri take up the mantle of Wakanda's defender in the wake of the tragic death of her brother, T'Challa (the late, great Chadwick Boseman), but it also ended with M'Baku issuing a challenge for the Wakandan throne while Shuri was away grieving her sibling and growing more heart-shaped herbs to ensure her country's future. Well, it would seem that this ploy worked out for everyone's favorite Jabari warrior, as the latest "Avengers: Doomsday" trailer has him introducing himself to Ben as the one and only "King M'Baku of Wakanda."
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown and all that jazz, though. As this teaser quietly reminds us, "Wakanda Forever" saw Wakanda striking an alliance with the underwater kingdom of Talokan and its own ruler, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), but who knows how long this all-too-fragile peace will last between the two civilizations. On the other hand, the impending multiversal threat of Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom (who has yet to make his proper entrance despite being glimpsed from behind in the post-credits scene for "First Steps") may be enough to ensure that cooler heads prevail for the time being when it comes to Wakanda and Talokan.
As for how, exactly, the Fantastic Four find their way from their corner of the multiverse to Earth-616 for this meeting with the Wakandans (as was previously hinted at during the credits for "Thunderbolts*")? That mystery will have to be unraveled another day as the countdown continues to "Avengers: Doomsday" hitting theaters on December 18, 2026.