Marvel's Kevin Feige Knows How Fans Will React To The Ending Of Avengers: Doomsday

• Movies
• Superhero Movies

Can the Marvel Cinematic Universe get its mojo back? "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" just earned positive reviews and broke all sorts of box office records, because audiences really like Spider-Man. But a bigger test for the MCU will arrive in December when "Avengers: Doomsday" hits theaters. The Marvel machine has a lot riding on this film, which brings back Chris Evans' Steve Rogers/Captain America and also returns Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU in a new role (he's playing Doctor Doom this time instead of Tony Stark/Iron Man).

Once upon a time, it felt like the MCU was too big to fail. But after "Avengers: Endgame," the studio has struggled to maintain its grasp on the cultural zeitgeist. But hype for "Doomsday" seems to be pretty darn high (although the official trailer they recently released left me feeling mighty underwhelmed). And not only is "Doomsday" the next big MCU movie, it's set to end on some sort of cliffhanger leading into the next movie, 2027's "Avengers: Secret Wars." That's a lot of pressure, but Marvel boss Kevin Feige doesn't seem worried. During a recent interview at Comic-Con, the mega producer dropped some vague-but-positive hints about how fans are going to react to the "Doomsday" ending.

Avengers: Doomsday will have fans wanting more

Needless to say, Feige isn't giving away any spoilers. However, he seems pretty confident that the "Avengers: Doomsday" ending is going to deliver. "I don't want to spoil anything, but I think [fans] will be incredibly satisfied and yet incredibly surprised of where it's headed, and then we'll have a hard time waiting a year for ['Secret Wars']," Feige said while at Comic-Con.

Of course, any statement like this should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, Feige is someone who has a major investment in the success of "Doomsday," so it's not like he's going to get in front of a camera and say, "I think the ending absolutely stinks and everyone is going to hate it!" Still, I'm sure Feige really is hopeful that this will be the legitimate result: fans will love what they see and be clamoring for more.

Then again, "Doomsday" has some pretty big shoes to fill. Marvel tried this big cliffhanger approach before, ending "Infinity War" with the shocking moment Thanos snapped half the universe out of existence ("Brand New Day" has a scene playfully poking fun at this moment). Can "Doomsday" top that, and then can "Secret Wars" deliver a conclusion as satisfying as "Endgame"? I guess we'll see.

"Avengers: Doomsday" opens in theaters on December 18, 2026.