The First True Marvel Movie Will Finally Be Released In Theaters

In just a handful of months, the first true Marvel movie will hit theaters. It’s an odd thought, considering the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating the global box office for the better part of two decades. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, and beyond, in all their variations, have been some of the most anticipated films of the 2020s, and they’ve often lived up to comic fans’ hopes and dreams. However, every single MCU project was limited in ways the franchise’s upcoming film won’t be.

Marvel Studios has only ever been able to adapt stories it has the film and TV rights to, and this required a lot of maneuvering over the years. It’s for this reason that X-Men characters couldn’t be on screen together with Spider-Man or Iron Man. 21st Century Fox had thorough possession of X-Men (and other Marvel comics and characters), so the MCU had to work around the various ways these mutants connect to its own stories. This began to change in 2019 when Walt Disney Co. acquired 21st Century Fox.

Disney’s acquisition of Fox essentially means that the MCU can now use nearly every Marvel comic series and its characters in nearly any way it chooses (with only a few nuanced exceptions). This will be an absolute game-changer for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. For the first time, nothing is holding Marvel Studios and the Russo Brothers back from making a comic-faithful adaptation. So, this new Avengers project will be the first true theatrical Marvel movie.

Why Avengers: Doomsday Will Be So Different From Other MCU Movies

Professor X sitting forward in his wheelchair in Avengers_ Doomsday

While Marvel Studios has released new projects since Disney’s 2019 acquisition of Fox, a variety of complex legal issues meant it couldn’t use all these characters freely. This is why the MCU essentially had to soft-launch X-Men elements and characters through references and cameos in WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and, of course, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (among others). Work had to be done to line up these universes, but Sir Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, for example, couldn’t yet take on more than a cameo role.

Going into Avengers: Doomsday, this is no longer the case. Virtually all featured Marvel Comics characters are expected to have their time to shine rather than only getting quick cameos, and that’s officially confirmed to include Stewart’s Prof. X, James Marsen’s Cyclops, Sir Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, and Channing Tatum’s Gambit.

The newly opened gates (legally speaking) will combine with the expiration of the necessity for origins and expositions to allow Avengers: Doomsday to take on a different tone and focus than its MCU predecessors. There will be no solo-film buildup. Instead, Doomsday will act as a chaotic collision point—a true representation of what Marvel Comics has always been.

What The Future Of The MCU Looks Like After Doomsday

Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron

Something that has been very clear ever since Disney acquired Fox and Avengers: Doomsday was confirmed is that we are entering a new era of the MCU. The previous model and formula were a massive success, but they are showing signs of wear. Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine set the stage for all those screen-rights complications to make some sense in-world. The convenient chaos of the comics’ Time Runs Out and Secret Wars arcs provides an opportunity to merge the multiverse and further streamline things.

After Avengers: Doomsday, the MCU will continue with Avengers: Secret Wars, and the idea is that viewers can take this opportunity to hop on board, regardless of whether they have seen a Marvel movie before. The studio divisions of the past will be out of the way, and Marvel Comics’ future can be more cohesive with the MCU’s. The potential is limitless, making this the most exciting development for the franchise in years.