Avengers: Doomsday Reportedly Opens With Action and Has No Slow Start

A report from Murphy's Multiverse said Avengers: Doomsday would open with large scale action from its first moments and never let up. For me, it went a long way toward easing any doubts that the Russo brothers and Marvel Studios had lost a step with the Avengers franchise. If the rumors and reports about the opening scene are true, it seems like Marvel Studios is on pace to do what I thought it couldn't. It may even one up Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, both at the box office and in how the fandom feels about the film.

Doomsday and Secret Wars may have faced impossible expectations

I've been saying that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars might be in an impossible spot. Even if Marvel had been hitting on all cylinders, there would have been an expectation for both films to be bigger and go further than Infinity War and Endgame.

But Marvel hasn't been hitting on all cylinders over the course of the Multiverse Saga. That adds even more pressure to nail these movies, in the face of a fandom that doubts the studio can top the success Infinity War and Endgame had with fans and at the box office. The Avengers franchise has become a behemoth in its own right across popular fandom, so the pressure was always going to be there. I think this film may have unnecessary pressure on it, if that's even possible.

Murphy's Multiverse called Doomsday the most action intensive project in Marvel history

The rumors had been circulating for a couple of days before Murphy's Multiverse, the outlet run by industry insider Charles Murphy, published its article. Murphy has been in the game for the better part of a decade with a proven track record. His report was headlined: "New details indicate Avengers Doomsday will be the most action-intensive project in Marvel history."

Murphy wrote that after accumulating over 1 billion views, the four short teasers for Doomsday seemed to have generated true excitement for the film, which was then set to hit theaters in December. Despite hand wringing over Steve Rogers' central role, and concerns that the film would just be a fan service mashup, he argued the project already had the attention of the masses and that the new details might move the needle even more.

With the Russos back to direct, Murphy noted, big action seemed a certainty. The pair directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which he said may remain the MCU's exemplar for action excellence, as well as Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame, each of which featured memorable large scale battles. His read was that the Russos set about the task of outdoing all of those projects with Doomsday.

John Campea's source says the action will eclipse everything Marvel has done

The core of the update came from YouTuber John Campea, who said a person had indicated to him that "the sheer volume of the action is going to eclipse everything else Marvel has ever done." According to Campea, his source said the film shoots you out like a cannon right out of the gate, with massive action that doesn't let up.

The quote Campea shared from that source went further: "People are going to lose their minds. The movie starts with its foot through the floor and shoots like a cannon out of the gate. There's no slow start. It's massive action right from the beginning. The scale is insane and it doesn't let up."

Skipping the exposition dump avoids a trap Doomsday could have fallen into

It sounds like the Russos' recipe is exactly what it needed to be. Many diehard fans and casual fans don't need enormous exposition dumps where everyone stands around a room while Reed Richards explains the multiverse to one hero, who explains it to Beast, who explains it to everybody else. That's a huge trap Doomsday potentially could have fallen into, because many directors and studios want to hold your hand and tell you what's going on with the plot.

I thought it was very insightful when Matt Damon, or maybe it was Ben Affleck, said on Joe Rogan's podcast that you need to reiterate the plot in the first 15 minutes of a Netflix film because everybody's on their phone anyway. There's that same urge at Marvel to keep everything handheld. I think that was one of the major offenses in what I otherwise thought was a pretty awesome Captain America: Brave New World. There was a lot of handholding.

The Russos don't need to do that at all. If they had chosen to spend 30 minutes explaining what's going on in the film, they were in real danger of the movie not living up to the expectations they're setting.

The Doomsday teasers were the calm before the storm

I think that's why the first four teasers were the calm before the storm, pun totally intended, with Thor, Storm and the X-Men. They were supposed to set a tone that something really bad is coming, that Doomsday is going to live up to its name, and that everyone is preparing for this to be the end.

So hearing that the film starts with action right out of the gate, and that it's trying to establish itself as a breakthrough film and beat Infinity War and Endgame, tells me two things. First, that's amazing. It's what we all wanted, what we all expected and what we're all going there to see. Second, it tells you there's a clear plan not to redo Infinity War and Endgame.

The Russos had to avoid remaking Infinity War and Endgame

Ever since the Russos were announced to come back and direct, I've been saying you've got to imagine the mandate from day one was that they couldn't just do Infinity War and Endgame over again. Those movies are what they are. With circular storytelling in huge franchises like this, there are always going to be story beats that replicate others, and some similarity between the films. They are superhero movies. But you can't have the beats line up in parallel with Infinity War and Endgame and expect fans won't notice and be bored.

A ton of pitfalls were lining up: exposition dumps explaining who the characters were, all the characters meeting each other, not enough action, and the movies feeling like a rehash of Infinity War and Endgame. It seems like the Russos had already problem solved for that when they agreed to come back, by asking what story makes sense to come back and tell, and how to make sure these movies are absolutely different.

Don't get me wrong, Infinity War had a ton of action. By any other action movie's standards, its first act probably had another action beat and a half beyond what you'd ever expect in a first act, including Spider-Man and Iron Man teaming up to fight in Central Park. I'm not saying Infinity War didn't have action. What I'm saying is that the Russos are taking the best parts of their filmmaking, seeing what worked with the other Avengers and Captain America films, and trying to maintain that all the way through the new Avengers films. For me, that's exciting in its own right: Doomsday opens wild and stays wild.

Rumors had Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man in the opening

I've also covered rumors that Tobey Maguire's universe may be first up, with the film opening on his Spider-Man. The rumored outcomes varied. One was Tobey's timeline being destroyed. Another was Tobey being sucked into the void and entering Battleworld, not to be seen again until Secret Wars, at least according to industry insiders like Daniel RPK. A third possibility was Tobey being killed, with his Spider-Man losing at the hands of Doctor Doom.

If anyone gets the benefit of the doubt on Avengers films, it's the Russos

I'm so excited for this update in its own right, but even more so because it sounds like they're going to avoid much of what I thought could trip them up as they attempt to one up Infinity War and Endgame, which shouldn't even seem possible. But in the face of everything that's happened, who else could you have brought back to do it?

I've always said that if you can't give the Russos, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Avengers films, then who can you give it to in the film industry? These are the guys who did it. They nailed it. If it were anyone else, I think a lot of doubt could creep in about whether they could handle a movie this size, with this many characters and this much pressure at this point in the MCU's history. So let's give them room to breathe.

If you're pessimistic about the future of the MCU, I'd say you've earned the right to be. Marvel Studios has earned the right to have people be pessimistic about it, and there's a lot to be worried about. But reports like this go a long way toward making me feel much better that these are the guys to do this, and that they might actually pull it off.