Avengers Doomsday "Leak" Claims Are Spreading, But I Don't Buy It Yet

There is a big story going around Marvel news circles this morning: according to multiple sources, some of which are Twitter scoopsters I cover regularly, a leaked version of Avengers Doomsday is making its rounds on the internet. This comes after earlier claims this year that hackers had seized the whole movie. There are also multiple AI repurposed images and clips circulating that look like they're from the film. I'm going to break down what this leak actually is claimed to be, and I'll give you my personal take on it, which may surprise you.

The Claim: A 2160p Cut With No Audio

The claim this morning, seemingly corroborated by multiple sources, is that there is a leaked version of Avengers Doomsday in 2160p, so not full 4K but not pixelated either, making its rounds right now. It reportedly has no audio at all. For anyone who understands how these files work, that would actually be pretty common, since video and audio are sometimes sourced from two different places and mirrored together afterward. Getting your hands on the footage doesn't necessarily mean you also get the audio, especially if the two haven't been combined yet.

Some of these sources have claimed to have actually seen the footage themselves. I'm not going to include any of the images being posted online in this piece, even though other creators feel comfortable doing that, because it is obviously an AI rendering. If it's an actual leak, I try to absolutely avoid posting that material. I will describe what I've seen in case it gets taken down, but it's largely shots we've already seen from the film.

What's Reportedly In the Footage

The circulating material reportedly includes Doom raising the Sentinels, floating in the middle, and turning around slowly, shots we've already seen in trailers. The difference is that all of these shots now supposedly have a red tinted sky in the background, almost as if Marvel Studios CGIed out the red tint from the impending incursions for the trailer cut. That red sky is how it played out in Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars, and a lot of the trailer footage we've seen has actually been under that same tint before being changed for marketing. This wouldn't be the first time Marvel Studios has done that.

There are also reportedly scenes circulating of the X-Men and Avengers fighting the Sentinels, running around what looks like the courtyard of the X-mansion and getting blasted.

Screenshots From Inside Castle Doom

Beyond the Sentinel battle, there are reportedly screenshots from inside Castle Doom showing Doom talking to Steve Rogers. There's a shot of Wanda as the green witch variant, a close-up of Doom's eyes, and three witches standing in a line, one in a gold cloak, one in a purple cloak, and one in a green cloak. There's also another shot of Wanda walking through the castle, this time in a dark green robe with a hood, though not exactly the same one as the green witch look we've seen in leaked promo material.

Why There's Some Precedent to Take This Seriously

Some of the sources claiming to have seen this footage are ones with a proven track record. That includes earlier in the year, when a highly pixelated leaked scene of Doom, the Avengers, and the X-Men fighting the Sentinels surfaced. Only weeks later, Marvel Studios included a couple of those scenes in an official trailer, confirming they were real on some level, whether or not they had since been repurposed by AI. Alongside those leaks were rumors that hackers had seized the whole film, so there is some precedent, or at least plausible deniability, against the idea that someone has simply generated a full AI version of this movie.

My Skepticism: Why I Don't Think This Leak Exists

Here's my take: I do not believe that this leaked version actually exists. It has felt like, in the absence of real updates, some of these Twitter scoopers have started spitting out claims when it's convenient for them, and the use of AI to repurpose what they're describing into actual hard images makes it seem a lot more real than it is. I've got two reasons for this.

First, it's hard for me to believe that any seized version of the film from earlier in the year, even a picture locked version, would resemble anything like the finished Avengers Doomsday. Marvel will be working on that movie, refining the CGI, changing plot beats and scenes, cutting and adding footage, right up until they can't anymore. That's just the nature of these productions, and with three months left until release, you know they're going to keep working on it right up until they have to send the final cut to theaters.

We've heard about internal test screenings throughout the year, but those are strictly for Marvel's top brass, not external pre-screenings, because the risk of someone throwing out an NDA and posting leaks would be far too high. There may be a cut of the film that executives were able to watch, but I'd expect it still has previs in it, meaning no finished graphics or effects and visible wires. Marvel only just finished additional photography within the last 30 days, and those scenes still need to be worked on with CGI and interpolated in. So there may be a cut out there, but it would be a rough, unfinished one, not the final cut these scoopsters are describing, which I have to assume doesn't even exist yet.

No Audio, No Sign of an Actual File

The second issue is that the file itself doesn't seem to exist anywhere. A look at Reddit turns up no file floating around called Avengers Doomsday, current version or otherwise, without audio. I'm not calling anyone a liar, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist. It may still work its way online. But when there's a leak of this magnitude, there's almost no chance it stays completely hidden, or that everyone it's shared with keeps it to themselves. If some version of this film is circulating, I'd expect it to be disseminated quickly and widely in the form of clips or screenshots.

As we get later into the day on Sunday, September 20th, and we're not seeing any shots or clips beyond the clearly AI-generated ones, that tells me something. In my experience over the last ten years covering this, if it were real, it would already be everywhere, all over social media. As of right now, it just isn't.

Claims of a Three Hour Cut Don't Add Up

Some of these scoopers have claimed to have watched the whole film, saying it's three hours long, that the second act runs right up to the end of the second hour, and that the final act is the last hour and features a major, insane battle. I'm not seeing anything to back that up. It doesn't mean it isn't true, but given the timeline of how they've been working on Doomsday, and knowing there was additional principal photography running right up until recently that hasn't been interpolated into the film yet, any picture locked version they had would still include previs. That means no graphics on top, no special effects, and you can literally still see wires. That's not a version people would describe as a leaked, finished movie, but that's exactly how it's being talked about.

The Marvel Scoop Hierarchy, and Why I Still Trust Leaks Generally

I want to get a little meta for a minute about leaks and spoilers, because there's a whole hierarchy within the Marvel scoop world. At the top are the Hollywood trades, the Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and Variety, which work with Marvel Studios and Disney on some level, so their news is often Marvel controlled. But they've also broken huge stories Marvel didn't want out, like Steve Rogers returning as Nomad years ago, which ended up being true.

Below that are industry insiders like Charles Murphy and Daniel RPK, who have been in the game a long time and built track records of getting things right. Cryptic HD Quality, whose main platform is Twitter, also works into that source level. Then there are Twitter scoopsters like My Time to Shine Hello or James Mack who've been around for a while and have gotten things right along the way. We've even had major leaks for Avengers Doomsday already this year. The reason the Marvel news cycle runs as hard as it does is that it's not all false, not all unreal, not all AI. The leaks are out there, just not, in my view, this specific one.

Final Verdict

I find it very hard to believe that a picture locked version of anything resembling the finished Avengers Doomsday exists yet, let alone that it's been leaked online without audio. I'll also say honestly, watching an early copy of this film with no sound at all, just soundless pictures with no context and no dialogue, sounds like a miserable experience, far less satisfying than seeing a leaked trailer or hearing descriptions of it secondhand.

I have my skepticism on this one, but only time will tell over the next 48 hours. If we see a flood of these images getting out across the internet, there might be some truth to it, and I'd revisit the story if that happens. In the meantime, has anyone actually seen this footage themselves?