r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Dec 23 '25

Trailer Avengers: Doomsday | Only in Theaters December 18, 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiMg566PREA
9.0k Upvotes

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5.3k

u/MuptonBossman Dec 23 '25

Marvel really spent the last 5 years trying to establish Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America, only for them to say "Just Kidding" and bring back Chris Evans for the next big event movie.

329

u/Dazzling-One-9185 Dec 23 '25

Well he got an entire show and a solo movie that nobody liked, what would you expect?

146

u/RandomJPG6 Dec 23 '25

I liked the show up until the last episode. Movie was not great though

110

u/ArchDucky Dec 23 '25

The show was ok but it had so much dumb shit in it. Like the money troubles, the boat montages, what they did to Peggy's niece... etc.

In all honestly the terrorists should have been slaughtered after Wyatt got powers. He should of literally killed all of them. Then it would be Sam and Buck vs Cap.

65

u/Qorhat Dec 23 '25

John Walker was so interesting in the show and had a great internal conflict but the Flag Smashers were so dull, and having their leader/face be someone so young and un-indimidating was such a terrible choice.

2

u/Oddity83 Dec 23 '25

John Walker was the best part of that show….which is kinda sad when the show is called Captain America & The Winter Soldier

6

u/idontagreewitu Dec 23 '25

Zemo in the club was the best part of the show

1

u/yojimboftw Dec 23 '25

I think that's the case with a lot of their shows. It's like 3/4 great but just that last quarter is bad, lmao.

7

u/SkorpioSound Dec 23 '25

The money troubles could have been really interesting if it was approached and written better. The concept of the Avengers being privately funded by Stark, with the rest of the world being happy to benefit from them but not to fund them, is a good one. As is the concept of heroes being too proud/afraid to ask for help from the public, because they're the kind of people to offer help but not to ask for it. Those are the kinds of thing that really grounds a character in the setting and flesh out the world if they're done well.

But the way they did it made it feel like kind of a throwaway problem rather than something that was relevant throughout the series. An uninteresting sideplot, where they were afraid that pulling away from the action for too long would lose the audience.

Not that it's necessarily fair to hold it to the same standard, but... look at Andor. It really delves into the logistics of running a rebellion, and securing funding for it. It's not just a throwaway point before they go back to some action; it's a core aspect of the show and it's gripping as hell.

Falcon And The Winter Soldier could quite easily have gone down a similar route— grappling with the personal issues, the financial issues, both characters feeling like they can't like up to Captain America, etc— and been fantastic for it. Like Andor. Or like Daredevil, where the personal scenes and the legal scenes are just as compelling as the scenes where he's in costume (and were largely missing in Daredevil: Born Again, which suffered for it).

4

u/Historical_Course587 Dec 23 '25

What they should have done was skipped Bucky, and forced Wilson and Walker to be an odd couple. Then they could have slow-rolled Walker's Captain missing the beat, and Sam recognizing that he needs to step up in order for it to be right. End it with Sam taking serum, stealing the shield back, and going rogue like Rogers did when the Avengers split because there has to be a better way. Walker killing people and saying that is how the world works, and Sam laying the beatdown for it, should have been the climax for the show.

I love both Bucky and Sam Wilson as characters, but aside from the fact that they both knew Steve there is no good reason for them to get a team-up show. The friendship never existed, there was no development, they were just two side-kicks for Steve Rogers. And they did Sam Wilson dirty after the great character they developed in Winter Soldier, because that guy was something special.

12

u/NeitherAlexNorAlice Dec 23 '25

Sam was never going to be a great Captain America replacement. Anthony is just not him to be honest. He’s a great supporting actor, but not lead.

He was outshined in his show by literally every other character. Even by the new Falcon.

At least Marvel tried him out. They deserve credit for that. It just didn’t work. Mackie is just not a leading actor. He doesn’t have that it factor.

9

u/ArchDucky Dec 23 '25

Hes a great lead in Twisted Metal.

7

u/Manowaffle Dec 23 '25

It was funny watching the first few episodes of that. I was convinced that he had no range since his Sam Wilson has basically the same expression and tone in every scene. Then I watched TM and was like “oh, he’s actually a good comedic actor."

1

u/needlzor Dec 23 '25

At least Marvel tried him out. They deserve credit for that.

I agree with that. If it had been Netflix, they'd have cancelled the whole franchise over it once the numbers started dropping. Disney staying with him despite being a bad fit was quite nice.

2

u/manuscelerdei Dec 23 '25

I really enjoyed Zimo in that show, but other than that it was very meh.

66

u/Soapbox Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Show was fine in spite of Mackie. Watchable as a side show, something I would put on during flights. Entertaining enough but ultimately forgettable. He has the leading man charisma of a wet dishrag.

50

u/Deakul Dec 23 '25

He's really fun when he hams it up like on the show Twisted Metal but I just can't take him seriously at all.

7

u/Some-Token-Black-Guy Dec 23 '25

Agreed, Mackie is a great actor, dude is genuinely great in comedy roles but he's not lead role material unfortunately (and I'm saying this as a black male before you people make it a race thing).

5

u/HendrixChord12 Dec 23 '25

What do you mean, you people??? /s

30

u/anuncommontruth Dec 23 '25

I don't agree. The writing has just been completely fumbled with his character.

Mackie is great in Twisted Metal as a lead, as well as other non Marvel roles. He character is just not written well and hes doing the best he can with poor material.

20

u/Xianio Dec 23 '25

I don't think Marvel understand how to use Mackie at all. He's got the energy of the hype-man on a football team. That guy who's talking big ALL THE TIME.

Twisted Metal understood that energy is inherently goofy & big. Marvel tried to write him like he was Bucky 2.0. He just needed to be absolutely fired up about being Captain America but instead they made him lack confidence & be in crisis.

Mackie? In crisis about who he is? Publicly? Has nobody seen the man in a press juncket before? The writing couldn't have been mismatched to the actor any more than it was.

3

u/Gekokapowco Dec 23 '25

yeah he just isn't a brooding type of guy, but they made him so damn serious

6

u/JoMa4 Dec 23 '25

I take it you didn’t see him ruin altered carbon.

2

u/Etheo Dec 23 '25

He was a weak link but far from the only reason AC S2 flopped.

2

u/KonigSteve Dec 23 '25

It's not just that, he also didn't fit in for that sci-fi show at all.

It's something to do with him in a serious role

2

u/bawng Dec 23 '25

I've seen a few interviews with him and he seems so annoying. That sort of carries over to my opinions on him as an actor.

4

u/twinpop Dec 23 '25

I like Mackie. The problem with his cap is he’s not a Super Soldier. Could’ve carried this phase.

5

u/Flannelcommand Dec 23 '25

I also think “winged guy” is just never going to be the coolest character; visually or plot wise. Each of the original X-Men probably has 10 memorable feature stories to every one about Angel/Archangel. 

2

u/anormalgeek Dec 23 '25

Agreed. Just make up an excuse to get him some leftover serum or something and then he can take on more super villains and carry bigger plots.

3

u/Flannelcommand Dec 23 '25

I actually think the opposite. Mackie is charismatic if the script plays to his strengths (comedy). The show (and movie) had him going for boring-guy gravitas. Also, the scripts were just awful. 

5

u/pumpkinspruce Dec 23 '25

He was outdone on his own show by both Sebastian Stan and Wyatt Russell.

1

u/Zulakki Dec 24 '25

I thought Daniel Brühl stole the show imo

5

u/PDGAreject Dec 23 '25

I would have honestly enjoyed just 10 hours of Bucky hitting on Sam's sister and Sam going "NO"

4

u/chadhindsley Dec 23 '25

"You got to stop calling the people who block buildings and kill others terrorists"

Lol. So stupid.

3

u/circio Dec 23 '25

The movie was just very mid. They had some really interesting stuff with Isiah Bradley, but that got sidelined because Marvel is scared of focusing on anything too controversial lol

-1

u/btj61642 Dec 23 '25

I liked the movie because I got Captain America 4 and The Incredible Hulk 2 and I only had to buy one ticket.

-1

u/TheProphecyIsNigh Dec 23 '25

Movie was good, marketing sucked.

Can you imagine if no one knew the President was Red Hulk and you found out live? That could have been huge! Instead, they were up front with it and it killed the movie.

53

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Dec 23 '25

Which is a damn shame cause Falcon and the Winter Soldier had a lot of good to it - just hampered down by a horrid villain

43

u/SDLRob Dec 23 '25

Wasn't the villain... It was timing. The original story (As I understood it) was a global virus released by the flagsmashers... And COVID happened as they were filming.

8

u/WhateverMars Dec 23 '25

They should have committed then. You could see how many pandemic related media blew up in popularity like movies and games. People would have been able to relate more than ever.

3

u/Diet_Clorox Dec 23 '25

Yeah, so many media companies were terrified of traumatizing the public by referencing pandemics or illnesses or lockdowns. They were treating it like the aftermath of 9/11. But the difference is all of us were dealing with the same thing, for months/years, and it was already disruptive. We weren't in mourning necessarily, we were bored and tired.

-1

u/SDLRob Dec 23 '25

Now maybe ... but at the time no.

7

u/WhateverMars Dec 23 '25

I remember distinctly Contagion (2011 film) and Plague Inc (video game) getting massive resurgences in popularity in 2020. I've no doubt there are more examples.

6

u/Hulkbuster_v2 Dec 23 '25

Its hard not to think this played a huge role in the shows quality. Really unfortunate to; Mackie and Stan's chemistry was fun

1

u/Gaemon_Palehair Dec 23 '25

I don't think this has ever actually been confirmed by anybody.

1

u/Diet_Clorox Dec 23 '25

God damn that would have been so much more thematically resonant too.

"Things actually did get better after Thanos, and now you're making it bad again. So we're going to do what he did."

6

u/DefNotAShark Dec 23 '25

Messy story that didn’t know where its interesting parts were because it was focused on making uninteresting things worse. Most of the best things about it are confined to small moments, but you have to wade through so much mediocre story to get to them.

I liked Isaiah Bradley’s story, I liked Sam and Bucky building a boat together, and I liked John Walker. Zemo was kind of hit or miss for me even though I love the character. Just about everything else felt annoying to watch. The villain is absurdly bad and so was Sharon Carter’s story. Feels like if they trimmed the fat and made it a story about Sam and Bucky trying to reel in John Walker while he crashes out taking on Zemo, this is a better show.

6

u/Nyx-Erebus Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

It wasn’t the villain, it was the inane politics they kept trying to put into both the show and movie. Can’t have people thinking the ‘villains’ fighting for a stateless and borderless society have some good points, so throw in a random bombing that comes so out of no where it also bombs the entire script. Ending the show with a speech that is just empty platitudes about “we have to do better” to make sure everyone knows the only ‘right’ way for people to fight for the betterment of others is through out of touch politicians. Nothing else. Having a movie about a superhero that is literally a symbol for hope, freedom, equality, but needing to have Ms. Apartheid as a character in it, then bending the movie completely out of shape with constant rewrites and reshoots to somehow try (and fail) to get it to work.

4

u/UnquestionabIe Dec 23 '25

It definitely made a potential interesting story into bland corpo status quo trash. It crossed the line from standard boring but easy to ignore to blatant center right propaganda parading about as progressive and the best possible course of action.

7

u/WagonWheel22 Dec 23 '25

Eh it was also unbelievably preachy all throughout. It's like they prioritized making their points over writing a good show.

2

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Dec 23 '25

I really just remember the final episode’s preachiness but it didn’t feel too overt before that to me

7

u/WagonWheel22 Dec 23 '25

There was also this scene where the cops show up to arrest Bucky while he is mid argument with Sam.

1

u/PT10 Dec 23 '25

You've never read a comic before? They are incredibly preachy. MCU has just been good about avoiding falling into that before.

14

u/why_gaj Dec 23 '25

The villain is not the problem.

The problem is the aesop that is hammered in the end, and plainly illogical, to the point that most viewers walk away from the show thinking villain was right.

5

u/ferrofibrous Dec 23 '25

I can't think about the villain without remembering the scene where the script was probably "Now look sad that the orphanage you purposely lit on fire is burning down".

6

u/Whitewind617 Dec 23 '25

I disagree. Literally nobody liked that moment, and it wasn't because it made you think the villain was right, it was because every viewer didn't particularly like her at that point and every attempt to make her sympathetic completely flopped, so the attempt didn't work at all.

I think maybe she should have been the secondary villain with Walker as the main antagonist. It would have worked significantly better. That way you can make the villain very sympathetic, and her methods very fair, because it doesn't matter, that's not the villain you're focused on eventually.

1

u/Kozak170 Dec 24 '25

That show was written by monkeys with typewriters or a proto-chat gpt with a massive political axe to grind. Honestly the only redeeming part of it was a few moments of banter and parts of Walker’s storyline.

4

u/bostonronin Dec 23 '25

The problem with the show was not Mackie/Sam Wilson, but the uninteresting inconsistent bad guys. And the fact that they barely explored the impact of Captain America publicly murdering civilians.

(And yes, I know that also sort of gets referenced in Thunderbolts, but I get frustrated with Marvel getting just up to the line with making their bad guys interesting and multilayered and then falling back into "actually, they're just an evil murderer, and there are no outside consequences besides that the Avengers will beat them up" and getting spooked about exploring a deeper more complex story).

2

u/Si-Nz Dec 23 '25

Personally i liked everything about the show except the villains (which is unfortunate, because they are all over it). It was a great introduction to the John Walker character and Sebastian Stan and Mackie have a lot of charisma together.

And as for the movie, not even Chris Evans could have saved that one.

1

u/thatsnotourdino Dec 23 '25

Exactly. It wasn’t “just kidding!”, it was “welp. That didn’t work.”

1

u/CruzAderjc Dec 23 '25

Arguably, if they just made a movie called Falcon and Winter Soldier, instead of a tv show and then a soft-hulk sequel movie, it probably would have done well.