Marvel Studios is placing an unusually large bet on its next two Avengers films — and Kevin Feige knows it. With Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) positioned as back-to-back tentpoles, the studio’s long-term credibility is increasingly tied to whether these projects can restore confidence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Behind the scenes, that pressure has reshaped priorities. After years of expansion and experimentation, Marvel appears to be narrowing its focus, betting that scale, legacy characters, and spectacle can stabilize a franchise navigating audience fatigue and shifting theatrical expectations.
That recalibration comes after a turbulent stretch. Disney+ series multiplied faster than cultural momentum could sustain them, and the Multiverse Saga struggled to maintain urgency. What once felt interconnected now often feels optional, eroding the sense that each release was required viewing.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Reaches a Critical Junction
Pressure has been steadily building on Avengers: Doomsday. It will be the first full Avengers team-up since Avengers: Endgame (2019), a film that closed an era and reset expectations for what a Marvel event should deliver.
Since then, the MCU’s output has been uneven. Disney+ releases diluted anticipation, superhero fatigue set in, and audiences became increasingly selective. Once-reliable Marvel releases now carry franchise-level consequences instead of gradually building momentum.
Recent box office performance has only heightened the stakes. Thunderbolts* (2025) struggled to break through commercially despite a strong critical response. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) also underperformed, raising fresh questions about audience appetite for reintroductions and reboots.
Against that backdrop, Avengers: Doomsday is being positioned as a corrective. Marvel is leaning heavily into nostalgia, star power, and cross-franchise spectacle in an effort to replicate the cultural gravity of its Infinity Saga peak.
Robert Downey Jr. is returning to play Doctor Doom. Chris Evans is reprising his role as Steve Rogers. Characters from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films are expected to appear, collapsing eras of Marvel storytelling into a single, multiversal event.
Behind the camera, Anthony and Joe Russo are back as directors. Their return signals a deliberate attempt to recreate the creative leadership that guided Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame. The strategy is unmistakable.
Marvel insiders describe Doomsday as an all-consuming production. The studio understands that spectacle alone is no longer enough. The film must reassert Marvel’s relevance while justifying the broader direction of the MCU.
Kevin Feige’s Narrowed Focus, Explained
That urgency helps explain why Kevin Feige appears singularly focused on the Avengers franchise. According to Deadline Senior Film Reporter Justin Kroll, the Marvel president has effectively pressed pause on other priorities.
“[Kevin Feige] has been solely focused on this and Secret Wars for like a year,” Kroll said during a recent appearance on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox. He added that Feige has spent much of that time in London, where the Avengers films are shooting.
Kroll noted only two exceptions to that focus. One was selecting Jake Schreier to direct the next X-Men movie. The other involved casting Stranger Things star Sadie Sink in her still-undisclosed role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026).
On the latter project, Kroll claimed Feige has largely stepped back. Day-to-day oversight of Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man installment is reportedly being handled by longtime producer Amy Pascal.
Fan reaction to that revelation was blunt rather than surprised. “He has to because he knows the Multiverse phase was not his best work,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The closing of this phase will make or break his legacy as a producer in the industry. Once Iger leaves, we’ll see what happens.”
Another echoed that sentiment more sharply. “Of course he is. He needs these to be good so they make all his fuck ups and mistakes in this phase lmfao.”
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to arrive several months before Avengers: Doomsday. Peter Parker is not expected to appear in Doomsday, though he is widely rumored to play a major role in Avengers: Secret Wars.
Spider-Man remains one of Marvel’s most reliable brands. When combining the box office totals of Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man films, the character ranks as the second-highest-grossing superhero franchise of all time, behind only the MCU itself.
That stability likely explains Feige’s confidence. With Pascal producing, Holland firmly established as Peter Parker, and Destin Daniel Cretton directing after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Spider-Man feels like a known quantity.
Avengers: Doomsday, by contrast, carries heavier existential weight. It must unify fractured storytelling, reenergize audiences, and reassert Marvel’s place atop Hollywood’s blockbuster hierarchy. For Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, the margin for failure has rarely been slimmer.
