Avengers: Doomsday test screening: Doom and Cyclops praised

A new report on the latest Avengers: Doomsday test screening says the reactions were positive across the board. According to insider Daniel Richtman, Doctor Doom is being called one of Marvel's best villains, on par with Thanos. The report also points to a runtime of 2 hours and 50 minutes, Cyclops as a standout, and at least one post-credits scene that is said to be important.

This comes after other reports in recent weeks suggested that higher-ups and top brass at Disney and Marvel watched an early cut of Avengers: Doomsday, maybe didn't understand the tone, and came away with what seemed like less than positive reviews. This latest update is all good. At the time of writing, the film is less than two months from theaters, and with several slightly different TV spots arriving, it's starting to feel like it.

Daniel Richtman's report comes with the usual test screening caveats

Richtman shares his updates on Twitter as DanielRPK. For anyone new to the Marvel news cycle, he's right up there with a couple of other sources as the most trusted when it comes to Marvel news. His track record speaks for itself, and he's been doing this for at least the last 8 to 10 years, about as long as I've been a YouTuber.

Still, as with any early reactions, early reviews and test screenings, especially when they come from unlabeled sources, there's no way of knowing anybody's biases going into a superhero movie, let alone an MCU one. The franchise has become so big that no matter who you are, you probably have an opinion on it whether you've watched the movies or not. We have no way of knowing who's actually delivering these test screening reactions.

So take all of this with a grain of salt. Don't let somebody else tell you how you're supposed to feel, and don't walk into Avengers: Doomsday with assumptions. It's okay to like something other people didn't, and it's okay to not like something other people did.

The Avengers: Doomsday cut being shown runs 2 hours and 50 minutes

Richtman's update puts the runtime at 2 hours and 50 minutes, plus a post-credits scene. That is at least what they're showing people now. Anthony Russo said recently that they are still actively editing the movie, which he described as "kneading the dough," and that they would keep doing so as long as they could.

That number is definitely subject to change. But for anyone hoping the film would come in somewhere close to the three hour mark, it will.

Doctor Doom is reportedly on par with Thanos, though I see reasons for caution

This next part is great to hear. Apparently, the film is receiving positive reviews across the board from everyone who saw it, and Doom is said to be one of Marvel's best villains, on par with Thanos. That's comforting. But if these are internal test screenings, the people in the room probably have some sort of stake in Avengers: Doomsday one way or another. There may be some pressure to say things about the film that they want to be true instead of what's actually true.

On the flip side, you don't pay Robert Downey Jr. all this money and decide to go that route without expecting him to absolutely kill it as Doctor Doom. I've also seen some of Kevin Feige's recent quotes pushing back on the criticism that Thanos had more lead-up than Doom.

Even so, I think it's a lot to assume they can catch us up on what kind of character Doom is and build his whole arc in a movie that also has to explain the multiverse collapse and send us into Secret Wars. That is a tall order, and it's probably why the movie is three hours long. If it were anyone less than the Russos and Kevin Feige, the team behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, there might be some cracks in building Doom's backstory.

But they've earned the benefit of the doubt at this point. If you can't put your trust in them, who else would you trust? I'm going with it. If the reviews are positive and say Doom is the villain we're expecting, the check marks seem to be going down the list, and we might actually get the Avengers: Doomsday we're all hoping for.

Cyclops is reportedly a standout, and that doesn't surprise me

The report also says Cyclops is reportedly a standout. Before this, we'd heard that the leaders in this film would include Thor, Steve Rogers and maybe even, on another level, Yelena Belova. Another quote from Kevin Feige implied that Yelena would have a huge and pivotal role in Avengers: Secret Wars.

As far as the X-Men team goes, I'm not surprised at all that they're giving Cyclops a chance to shine, especially now. He's an awesome character. We've all been waiting for him to show up in his comic accurate suit, and this is a real chance to write a love letter to the X-Men and the Fox universe by crossing them over into the MCU.

I was thinking about this recently. Doomsday could have gone many routes, and maybe it's a lot to ask to bring all these X-Men back from the Fox universe and put them in action scenes. But if it weren't for this film, when else would we ever have gotten this? After Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel has already said it's closing the door on the multiverse, at least for a while, and going forward with a single timeline. This is the opportunity to make that Avengers and X-Men movie, with all of them joining together to fight Sentinels and Doctor Doom. We'll get the X-Men again down the road with the rebooted cast in the MCU, but I think this is one of the most exciting routes they could have taken for Avengers: Doomsday.

If the story lands, the X-Men action needs no setup

If they nail the parts of the story they have to nail, they don't need to set up the X-Men, the Avengers, or Cyclops leading the charge against Sentinels. We've seen that enough times to know what it is, and it doesn't need an explainer. As long as they get the plot and the character arcs right, the parts that require the heavy lifting, I can't wait for the rest of the action.

You can't deny being a little hyped when you see that team come together in the leaked look at the film to face off against Doom and the Sentinels. Then there's talk of a possible third act where they all march on Latveria and fight Doombots. It sounds like it's going to be amazing.

At least one post-credits scene is said to be important

The last point in Richtman's report is that there's at least one post-credits scene being reported so far, and that "it's said to be an important one." I'm not sure about that wording. Any post-credits scene at the end of Avengers: Doomsday is going to be an important one, since it's the last thing we'll see before Avengers: Secret Wars.

I don't think he's saying the details are out there. I think people who were at the test screening are saying there is one post-credits scene. There may be an additional one, but for now, there is one. We've already heard a couple of reports about what it may be.

The Avengers: Doomsday hype is bringing back Infinity War and Endgame nostalgia

There are still a ton of Avengers: Doomsday theories that I think deserve special attention, and I suspect the promotion for the film is going to keep up this pace somewhat. This is a special time. I know that may sound corny, but I mean it. The way the hype for the MCU is building, and how exciting this is, is giving me a lot of nostalgia for Infinity War and Endgame.