Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Was Reportedly Headed to SDCC Hall H, With a Doom Chess Poster Rumoured First

In mid July 2026, the week ahead looked enormous for Marvel Studios: Avengers: Doomsday tickets were reportedly going on sale on Monday, and the official trailer was reportedly set to debut at Marvel Studios' Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con that Saturday. On top of that, insiders were pointing to a Doctor Doom chessboard poster arriving alongside the ticket announcement, and Marvel had promised a glimpse into the future of the MCU.

At the time I was hoping the week would be pretty legendary. I was also hearing from insider reports about what exactly might happen at SDCC, and I will get to the X-Men side of that further down.

Avengers: Doomsday showtimes appeared early with a 2 hour 45 minute runtime

The reported date for tickets was Monday, and some theater websites were already showing listings before any announcement. Showtimes were up, and so was the runtime. You could literally see movie times. Seeing that just made me more excited for the movie. The tickets were not on sale yet, but many of the listings said coming soon. Now that times were already up with that label, it looked to me like the Monday date was 100%.

The listings put the runtime at 2 hours and 45 minutes. There is a little wiggle room in a listing like that. Since it had already been listed at 2:45, though, I thought the most the movie could probably run was 3 hours, because they cannot really go too far off from that figure. A lot of people thought it was actually a pretty decent runtime.

A poster of Doom playing chess with Avengers pieces was rumoured for ticket day

The rumours suggested Monday would bring more than tickets. This was not confirmed, but what we were hearing was that it would be some type of poster. Specifically, it was apparently going to show Doom playing chess with Avengers pieces. That image goes back to the leak a while earlier, when something like 500 photos got out. Those photos have since been confirmed to be real. Many of them showed Doom playing chess with Avengers pieces. I thought that was actually really, really cool, and it looked like Marvel Studios thought so too.

One insider said: "Earlier today I was told that there will be a poster for Avengers Doomsday on Monday alongside the tickets on sale announcement." That insider argued Marvel would not let the ticket launch pass quietly and would, at the very least, announce it. I agree. I did not think they would just put tickets on sale and leave it there. To me it was going to be a decent size event. The same insider found it unusual that showtimes began going live nationwide before any announcement, and said that made them think the poster tip was true.

That insider then reached out to a second insider and asked whether he had heard about a poster on Monday. He said yes, and claimed he was told it was the Doctor Doom chessboard image that had been talked about several times before. I had also heard about a poster, though not specifically the chess one. So it looked to me like something was coming that Monday. I was really excited to see whatever arrived, even if it was just a poster.

Why I expected Marvel to give fans something before the trailer

I did think we were going to get something from Marvel Studios with the ticket announcement, because announcing tickets is a pretty big deal. It really sounded like there would be no trailer on Monday, with that saved for SDCC on Saturday. If so, I felt Marvel had to give fans and the general audience a little something, since people do not usually want to buy tickets without seeing a trailer.

Marvel films, and the Avengers films in particular, are pretty different, though. I was sure a lot of people would buy tickets without seeing a trailer. "I'm definitely one of those people."

The Avengers: Doomsday trailer was reportedly set to go public at SDCC

The poster, in my view, meant Marvel was prepping us for SDCC. Many outlets and insiders reported that was where we would get the official Avengers: Doomsday trailer. It was not confirmed, but it just made sense to me. The reports also said the trailer would go online publicly at the same time it was shown to the Hall H audience. I stress the public part because Marvel has shown trailers at San Diego Comic-Con before without releasing them publicly. Spider-Man also had its own Hall H panel, so I expected some cool things from that as well.

SDCC is the biggest pop culture event of the year. For Marvel it has always been the biggest event of the year too, and it is where they have revealed their phase slates and the future of the MCU. I think back to 2019, when we got Blade and Kevin Feige said, "Hey, we haven't even talked about the X-Men and the Fantastic Four." That was years ago now. Marvel Studios also missed Hall H the previous year, so I thought this year's panel should be pretty big. Marvel had already put out articles and statements saying we would get a glimpse into the future of the MCU.

Casting rumours and talk of deliberate Marvel misinformation

One possibility for that glimpse was cast reveals. There had been plenty of rumours and reports about different castings, with Adam Driver linked one moment to Magneto, the next to Mister Sinister, and then to William Stryker. What we were hearing was that Marvel was intentionally putting misinformation out there. I totally think that was the real thing going on. I really think Marvel was doing it so we would not know what was actually happening, though we would have to wait and see.

According to some insiders, something was expected at SDCC based on what they were hearing. According to one insider, it could be the reveal of the title Marvel wanted for the X-Men film. That might be Astonishing, Uncanny, just X-Men, or even X-Men: First Class. That last title was used for a Fox X-Men film. We were pretty much getting a first class team, so a reuse would not have surprised me. Since the name has been used, though, Marvel probably wants to steer clear just a little bit.

A new slate, and the X-Men film as the next step after Secret Wars

We could also have been getting a new slate. Some films were already known to be coming: Black Panther 3, The Midnight Sons, Shang-Chi 2, and the X-Men. In fact, Kevin Feige said at the Shanghai Expo, "After Avengers Secret Wars comes the X-Men." I did not know if he was speaking generally. He did talk about Spider-Man, Doomsday, Secret Wars and then the X-Men, which led us to believe the next film after Secret Wars truly was the X-Men film.

We had also heard the X-Men film would go into preproduction in 2027. As I understood it, Marvel would finish Secret Wars, wrap filming and enter the final stages of production, then start production on the X-Men. As I said on my podcast, I think they have people locked down already for the X-Men. If they truly had a Cyclops locked down, maybe a Beast, I thought they could reveal those characters. If not, they obviously would not. But if Marvel Studios really wanted a big SDCC announcement, I thought new X-Men characters were something they could announce.

Why I thought SDCC would split between Doomsday and the future

With the trailer coming, I thought half of SDCC would be about the future. The other half, I expected, would be about Avengers: Doomsday, bringing out some of the cast and then the trailer. Marvel can tease the future, but it cannot tease too much for Doomsday and Secret Wars.

We already know a soft reboot is coming, so teasing things after Secret Wars is not that big a deal, especially with the X-Men film already announced. Teasing the X-Men film does not give anything away for Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars. It just does not.

Sadie Sink's character and the Jean Grey question

We had heard that some of the new X-Men might appear in Secret Wars. Maybe the reports were simply about Sadie Sink's character as Jean Grey. After all the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailers and TV spots, I became 100% convinced she is Jean Grey. There was not really any doubt in my mind, but it had not been confirmed, so we could not call it confirmed.

There were also recent reports that Jean Grey would fight in Secret Wars alongside other heroes who survived the incursions and maybe went to the void or the quantum realm. I thought that made a lot of sense. We were hearing the Spider-Man post credit scene would involve him being off planet, in space, in another universe, or maybe in the void or quantum realm. Maybe Sadie Sink's character gets taken with him. Maybe the Hulk is there too.

Even if Marvel revealed a new Cyclops at SDCC, I did not think they would reveal Sadie Sink as Jean Grey there. I thought we would wait until the movie. Some people thought Brand New Day might not even state who she is, but I thought Marvel would give us that, because I think they want it to be a big deal with the X-Men coming up.

Do you think Marvel really was spreading casting misinformation to keep its X-Men plans hidden?