Avengers: Doomsday promo: why Steve Rogers' face changed

A new Avengers: Doomsday promo has arrived with several new shots. The thing I keep coming back to is that Steve Rogers' face has been changed again. Chris Evans' appearance in one shot looks different from the version shown in the July 20th trailer. The promo also shows Thor and someone who may or may not be Steve leaving Earth 616 on the Bifrost, and that raises a big question about where they're going.

The Russo brothers' film brings together heroes from three Marvel worlds against Doctor Doom. This promo also gives us new lines from Thor, Steve Rogers and Scott Lang, and a clearer picture of how many teams are really in play. Further down, I get into a test screening rumor, which needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Why I think the Avengers: Doomsday marketing is working

This promo follows the baseball promo that ran during game one of the MLB World Series. Watching that game reminded me that Marvel isn't only making this movie for us nerds. They're making it for everyone, and that includes the 15 million baseball fans who might not have followed everything Marvel has been doing since July.

I disagree with some of the professional movie news commentators who dismissed that promo. They know full well that Marvel and other major studios have done goofy promos and tie ins like this for years. Most recently, the Fantastic Four reacted as if they were rushing home to watch a 2025 NBA playoff game.

Yes, the Doomsday marketing has been unusual. But Marvel gave us two back to back trailers this summer, both of them now public on YouTube. There was also an Endgame re-release with a whole bunch of material added. Now a full marketing push is starting, with another trailer probably coming in two weeks. The movie is already breaking records in pre-sales, and it's going to make over $300 million in China. So who cares how they're selling it? I think some commentators are giving in to social media engagement by being down on Marvel, when in the real world this movie is going to make a fortune.

I think the baseball scene looks fun, especially because it shows that in Earth 828, the Brooklyn Dodgers stayed in New York. It isn't only a nod to the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, when Steve Rogers wakes up and hears a game at Ebbets Field on the radio. That broadcast was a lie Nick Fury and SHIELD used to make Steve think he was still in the 1940s.

Chris Evans' Steve Rogers looks different from the July trailer

I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but something odd is going on with the VFX on Chris Evans' face. I raised the same issue with a shot in the baseball promo. This new promo even altered the shot of Steve Rogers smirking after he catches Mjolnir. Compare the July 20th trailer version with the October promo and the differences show up.

In the earlier version, the light on the bridge of Steve's nose goes higher up, and his nose is more hooked. In the new version, the bridge of the nose between his eyes has been warped so the light stops short of the top. His hairline changed too. Before, Steve had a slightly more pronounced widow's peak, though you could hardly call it that, and he looked great. Now the hairline has been filled out along the top and the sides.

Why change this? I don't think it's a vanity thing on Chris Evans' part. But I join many of you in wondering whether everything about Steve's appearance in some of these shots is constructed with VFX, and whether the artists keep tweaking it to look more authentic. That's certainly the fan theory takeaway from many of these shots.

Other shots do look like Chris Evans to me, such as the "Let's go" closeup and the moment he turns to look at Scott in Avengers Tower. Only in certain shots might something fishy be happening. I don't know if that means they're really shots of Loki, or if Steve's face is badly scarred and these shots are hiding it. He could also be wearing a completely different suit in the film, like the Avengers: Endgame promo shots in the Whatever It Takes promo from March 2019. Or these shots may not even be in the movie.

The Kirby Crackle comes to live action in Doctor Doom's attack on Thor

I love that this promo includes the Kirby Crackle on Doctor Doom's attack on Thor. It also appeared in the Endgame encore promo telling audiences to silence their phones. In the comics, it's what comes off Doctor Doom's sorcery or any other character's cosmic power. Artist Jack Kirby used it when he wanted a negative contrast to shadow the supernatural glow of a character's light based powers.

It's very cool to see that in live action. I feel like the Russo brothers were influenced by Lord and Miller's use of Ben Day dots in the Into the Spider-Verse movies.

Avengers: Doomsday has far more than three teams

This promo leans on the idea of three teams. One would assume that means the Avengers of Earth 616, the X-Men of Earth 10005 and the Fantastic Four of Earth 828. In practice, the teams will be more mixed up. The Russo brothers have talked in interviews about "strange alchemy", mixing heroes and villains who aren't normally aligned to create interesting moments and conflicts.

Earth 616 alone has several groups. There are the original Avengers: Sam Wilson as Captain America, Scott Lang as Ant-Man, Joaquin Torres as Falcon, Shang-Chi, Thor, and I guess Steve Rogers, though Thor and Steve might be their own faction. There are the New Avengers, or Thunderbolts: Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Alexei Shostakov as Red Guardian, John Walker, Ava Starr as Ghost and Bob Reynolds as Sentry. Then there are the Wakandans, including Shuri as Black Panther, M'Baku and the Dora Milaje, and the Talokan, with Namor, Namora and Attuma.

Earth 616 also has wild cards normally grouped with the Avengers, though we don't know if they're in the film or what their status is: Peter Parker's Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Wong, Bruce Banner's Hulk and Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel. We already know Doctor Doom has collected Bruce, and that might have happened to Peter too.

From the footage so far, these groups seem to form different factions with different missions. Team one appears to be Yelena, Sam, Reed Richards, Shang-Chi and Alexei, all at the X-Mansion on Earth 10005. Team two seems to be Gambit, Mystique and potentially other X-Men there, fighting team one. That could include Cyclops, Magneto, Professor X, Nightcrawler and Beast if they're still alive when team one arrives. This team could merge with team one once everyone calms down.

Team three includes Shuri, M'Baku, Ben Grimm, Sue Storm, Bucky, Joaquin, Ava, John Walker and Namor, all in a desert region surrounded by water. That could be an early phase of Battleworld coming together, or part of a drained ocean floor. The reason I think teams one and two will merge is that another team doesn't appear in trailer shots at either location: Steve Rogers, Thor, Sentry and maybe Scott Lang. Scott could be in the X-Mansion shots or with the Wakandans. He might be shrunk down on an unknown mission, such as a heist where he sneaks into Cerebro.

Then there's maybe the most critical team: Team Doom, with Doctor Doom, his three witches and one or two more witches seen on the edges of the ScreenX trailer. It could also include heroes Doom has collected and forced to wear masks as witches, possibly Doctor Strange, Clea or even Wanda Maximoff. It may be easiest to sell the movie as three teams from three Marvel worlds, but I think far more than three factions will actually tackle the problem.

New lines from Thor, Scott Lang and John Walker

The promo gives us out of context lines, starting with Steve Rogers saying "Let's go." Then Thor's voice says, "Doom will tear this world apart." Thor is describing what Doctor Doom plans to do with the three colliding Earths: use his magic to tear them to pieces, then reassemble those pieces into a Battleworld.

We also get an expanded version of Scott Lang's Cap bit, starting with Scott asking, "Then it's settled, right, Cap?" Between those who think something fishy is going on with Chris Evans and the people still fighting over who deserves the Captain America title, it seems they included the version where John Walker reminds us he also briefly held the title. That was before he was dishonorably discharged for using the shield to bash in the face of a Flag Smasher who killed his friend Lemar Hoskins.

In this shot of Steve Rogers, Ben Grimm is to his left. But in the wide group shot from past trailers, no one seems to stand between Scott and Sam, with Ben behind them. That suggests Chris Evans might have been removed from that shot with VFX. These new promos are also doing what past ones haven't: using humor to sell the film. We forget that the Russos come from a comedy background, and every Marvel movie they've directed has humor in it.

Where are Thor and Steve Rogers going on the Bifrost?

The last clip features the exchange "This doesn't bother you, does it?" and "You know it does." The baseball promo showed Steve and Thor on a Quinjet landing pad at the new Avengers Tower on Earth 616. Now we see them take off on the Bifrost, which Stormbreaker alone allows someone to do. The sky doesn't look red, and from what I can see it doesn't seem affected by an incursion. But VFX can hide anything.

We also don't know for sure if this is Thor and Steve, Thor and Loki, or something else entirely. But Thor is clearly leaving Earth 616 with someone. Is he heading to one of the approaching Earths? Could he be going to the TVA? Can Stormbreaker even reach the TVA, or could it if he had Loki, the God of Stories, with him? We know Thor will be in the TVA because Chris Hemsworth's stunt double appeared in an Instagram post from the TVA set. We also know Doom will attack the TVA, because the Marvel Studios walkthrough experience at D23 made that very clear.

I wonder if Loki may be among these characters, with Thor and Loki heading back to the TVA after Doom has already attacked it. Maybe what we're seeing with Chris Evans is a double fake. In the movie, it could be Tom Hiddleston's Loki with Thor in these scenes. Then, back at the TVA, Thor could realize that his Loki was really Doctor Doom in Loki's form, after Doom has killed Loki.

Sandra Hüller's casting and lines teased by Pedro Pascal and David Harbour

I've reported that Sandra Hüller has been cast in the film, with many of us thinking she'll play Doctor Doom's wife. Pedro Pascal also shared a line he says Reed Richards has in the movie: "It's good to see you again."

Not to be outdone, David Harbour offered a Red Guardian line, saying he was spoiling it and mentioning Kevin Feige: "5 4 3 2 1." Is Alexei counting down to the moment the three Earths collide? The group shot from the July 20th trailer has a countdown clock on a screen.

Avengers: Doomsday test screening rumors

Finally, there are rumors of an Avengers: Doomsday test screening, according to DanielRPK, and these should be taken with a grain of salt. Apparently, someone claiming to have seen the film said Cyclops is a standout. The rumors also say the film is getting generally positive reactions, runs around 2 hours and 50 minutes and currently has one important post credits scene. Doctor Doom is said to be one of Marvel's best villains, on par with Thanos.

Again, this is a reported test screening that was probably passed from person to person, then to DanielRPK, then to me, and now to you. So take it with a grain of salt.