Avengers: Doomsday Adds Spider-Man Writers as Kevin Feige Teases a Surprising Ending

Marvel Studios has added new writers to Avengers: Doomsday, and I think this elevates the film even more than we were already expecting. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who recently wrote Spider-Man: Brand New Day and have written the MCU Spider-Man films, are now confirmed to be involved with the project.

Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers Join the Avengers: Doomsday Writing Team

Depending on how someone feels about the MCU Spider-Man films, this news could land as great, meh, or bad, but I personally think this is great news. McKenna and Sommers confirmed their involvement to The Wrap, saying, "We're happy to say we are involved with the Avengers. We can't really say much more than that." They added, "We love working with Marvel and we have a relationship with the Russos and it's a pleasure, a real pleasure."

This could hint at Tom Holland's Spider-Man having some involvement in Avengers: Doomsday. Reshoots are reportedly happening right now, at least from what we've been hearing, and it's possible they are rewriting parts of the film, maybe to include Tom Holland's Spider-Man, maybe for post-credit material, which is something that has also come up recently. Overall, I think it's great that they're bringing these two into the fold.

Stephen McFeely and Michael Waldron Already Shaping the Script

Right now the writing team also includes Stephen McFeely, who wrote Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame, and Michael Waldron, who wrote Loki season one, which I think is phenomenal, along with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I know some people don't like the writing in that movie, though I've seen it get a lot of love recently, which I really like.

Waldron came in to work on a Doctor Strange sequel that already had a script written for a completely different direction under Scott Derrickson, who dropped out due to creative differences with Kevin Feige. Sam Raimi and then Waldron came in afterward and had to work with what had already been written. I think they did the best they could with the situation they were given.

I personally really like having Stephen McFeely, Michael Waldron, and now Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers as our writers. They could have been involved in the writing process the entire time; we're unsure at this point. But I think this combination is perfect, especially since Waldron has written some really important things for the multiverse saga, including introducing the concept of incursions in Doctor Strange 2.

Kevin Feige Teases a Surprising Doomsday Ending

Kevin Feige also spoke about the ending of Avengers: Doomsday in an interview with themoviereport.com, and I think what he said is really awesome. He stated, "I don't want to spoil anything, but I think fans will be incredibly satisfied and yet incredibly surprised of where it's headed, and then we'll have a hard time waiting a year for Secret Wars."

Hopefully that means they throw us a curveball and do something completely out of left field that blows our minds heading into Secret Wars.

Kevin Feige Calls Doctor Doom the Proto-Villain for All Supervillains

When Feige spoke about Doctor Doom, I really loved what he had to say, and it makes me feel like they're doing Doom right. He says that Doom is the proto-villain for all supervillains, meaning other top supervillains could have been based off him. He even joked that perhaps Darth Vader was inspired by Doctor Doom, saying he doesn't know, but perhaps he was.

Feige said it's not just the iconic look and mask that makes Doom work, but who he is inside: "his flaws, his hubris, his genius, and his warmth." And the big part, according to Feige, is Doom's "true belief that he is the hero, and he will save us all." That lines up with what many of us have been thinking for a long time about how the character will be portrayed.

Doctor Doom's Twisted Vision of Saving Everyone

We know Doom is going to be the villain of the movie and that he's going to be tricking people, but he's not simply out for revenge, even though revenge is part of it. That revenge is reportedly tied to Steve Rogers causing an incursion that led to the death of Doom's family, which has been confirmed through the official poster for Avengers: Doomsday, showing a tribute to a woman and child confirmed to be his former wife and son who passed away.

Despite that, Doom genuinely views himself as the hero and truly believes he will save everybody. The catch is that what he thinks saving everybody means is different from what everyone else thinks it means. When Doom saves everyone, he creates one world under his rule, and it seems like everyone's memories will be erased so nobody remembers the past, leaving them to believe Doom is literally their god because he created the world they're on.

I really like what Feige said here. It seems clear that the movie is going to portray all the great things about Doctor Doom, including that sometimes he can be a little arrogant in how he thinks things should actually go.

Russo Brothers Tease a "Substantial" Runtime

Shortly after San Diego Comic-Con, the Russo brothers gave an update on the runtime for Avengers: Doomsday. They said it's too early to say exactly what it is, but that it's "substantial" and hopefully will make fans happy. I really like that word choice.

Substantial doesn't just mean decently long to me. I'm thinking it has to be at least two and a half hours, and personally I'm leaning toward closer to three hours, which I think would actually be a pretty good runtime for this movie. I'd like to know what others think substantial means and whether three hours sounds right, or if they'd prefer more or less.

Reports Point to an Incursion Opening Tied to the Avengers: Endgame Encore

There has been a lot of talk lately about a specific opening scene for Avengers: Doomsday connected to the new footage being added for the Avengers: Endgame theatrical encore. From what we understand, the film opens with a big incursion, worlds and universes colliding, trillions of people dying as a universe is destroyed. It's a big way to start things off.

The reports and rumors say that incursion involves the X-Men traveling to Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man universe and setting off a bomb, which is reportedly what Professor Xavier is looking at in the distance when we see Earth on fire in that universe on the poster. Destroying that universe saves theirs. I hope that rumor is accurate because I think it would be incredible.

After that big opening, it reportedly moves into the Avengers: Endgame title card and back to Tony Stark's funeral, where Steve Rogers returns the stones and Loki approaches him and Peggy with their son to get them out of a situation they're not supposed to be causing. According to James McAvoy, this sequence is reportedly going to feature new perspectives and additional moments involving characters who attended the funeral rather than simply replaying the original Endgame sequence, so the encore will show a bit of this before Doomsday expands on it further.

That raises a question about Steve Rogers, since he's the one who stays back in time and eventually returns to give Sam the shield: has he already been through the events of Doomsday, or does this material negate that ending entirely? Based on everything we're hearing so far, including the leaked trailer footage from San Diego Comic-Con, I think Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be a win, though it still has to deliver once we actually see how it all flows together.

Would it bother you if this new footage changes what we thought we knew about Steve Rogers' ending in Endgame, or would you rather see it play out that way?