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Does anyone else remember how high the stakes were when Avengers: Endgame came out, and Marvel fans everywhere were trying to avoid spoilers? The film was so highly anticipated that Marvel Studios created a campaign to discourage people from spoiling the events of the movie for others called #DontSpoilTheEndgame. They enlisted their roster of Avengers actors in short videos that drove the point home.

But now, as Marvel Studios builds hype for Avengers: Doomsday nearly a year out from the film's theatrical release date, they're taking a much different approach, evident in the teasers they've been dropping these past few weeks. In the film's latest teaser (as of writing), which dropped January 13 on YouTube, we see Shuri and M'Baku meet the CEO of Clobberin' himself, Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing from the Fantastic Four. Also visible in the teaser are Namor and Namora, looking concerned by their desert environment. 

Listen, I'm a simple man: if you put footage of The Thing and M'Baku interacting in front of my eyeballs, I get a rush of dopamine. But what's curious about this teaser is that Marvel Studios, at this point, is just showing us scenes from Avengers: Doomsday, at least that's what it appears to be. This is the exact opposite of what they did leading up to Endgame's release. 

Now, it's worth noting that we're in a much different time now in 2026 than we were in 2019 when Endgame came out. The COVID-19 pandemic showed movie studios that people really, really like staying home and watching movies on streaming services. Theatrical windows have narrowed, too. In 2019, in contrast, the release of Endgame bumped up the box office returns of Captain Marvel, which had come out in early March and was still in theaters by the time Endgame came out in late April. Today, that feels unfathomable. 

The question now is, will any of this work? Since Thunderbolts* underperformed last year, the MCU has been in great need of a hit. Perhaps rejecting their tried-and-true strategies is what will turn things around for Marvel Studios. 

Avengers: Doomsday will be in theaters December 18.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters