It's been seven years since Earth's Mightiest Heroes last teamed up in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," which felt like a closing chapter for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the time. However, a few members of the old gang (along with a whole lot of newcomers who've been introduced to the MCU since then) will join forces for a multiversal adventure in "Avengers: Doomsday," which once again features directors Joe and Anthony Russo at the helm. Marvel Studios has already unveiled a handful of previews for the film, including a trailer featuring out first proper look at Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Now, to further whet our appetites, the House of Ideas has played a trailer at the 2026 D23 Expo and released it online, as you can see above.

Among the characters slated to appear in "Doomsday" are (here we go!) Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, and Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther. The film will also feature the MCU's Fantastic Four (Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bacharach as Ben Grimm), the Thunderbolts, aka the New Avengers (led by Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow), and several actors reprising their roles from Fox's "X-Men" movies, along with many, many others. On top of all that, the movie will further set the stage for next year's "Avengers: Secret Wars" ... and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is hinting that "Doomsday" will have quite the cliffhanger ending to tee up the conclusion to the MCU's Multiverse Saga.

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Well, that answers that. Although we've known that the upcoming "Avengers" movie would pit our superhero team (okay, multiple of them) against Robert Downey Jr.'s masked Doctor Victor Von Doom, we've been left to infer exactly why he's so peeved at ... well, everyone. While the latest trailer doesn't exactly give away much of the plot for "Doomsday," the implications are getting pretty darn impossible to ignore. If the repeated imagery of our remaining Avengers and their closest loved ones didn't give it away, perhaps all the handwringing over Doom losing his way and the visuals of him staring up mournfully at a portrait of what appears to be a wife and child clinches it.

Yes, "Doomsday" appears to be going with the villainous origin story that Doom loses his family and breaks bad — a possibility suggested by the surprise reveal of the good bad doctor's second outfit, on display at the D23 expo. There's certainly comic book precedent for Doom initially starting out as something of a good guy, until an unspeakable tragedy befalls him and causes him to turn his back on the side of the angels. That would line up with the Fantastic Four's angry, almost heartbroken pleas to Doom throughout the footage, hinting at a shared history between them that predates the events of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."

How hard will "Doomsday" lean into the epic family melodrama of it all? And how exactly will the circumstances behind the loss of his family cause Marvel's biggest drama queen to take it out on the Avengers, the X-Men, and the multiverse at large? We have our suspicions, but we can't wait to finally find out for good.