Avengers: Doomsday India Release Date, Cast and What to Watch First

Avengers: Doomsday is the next big Marvel team-up, and it is now less than two months away. Robert Downey Jr. is back in the MCU, this time as the villain Doctor Doom, and Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of Infinity War and Endgame, are back behind the camera. Here is the India date, the confirmed cast, what the trailer shows, the runtime, the box office clash and what to watch first.

Avengers: Doomsday release date in India

Avengers: Doomsday is set to open in Indian cinemas on Friday, 18 December 2026, the same day as its worldwide release. It will be released in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, according to Siasat and Filmibeat. It is a theatrical release only, and no OTT date has been announced.

One note: Gulte has reported the Indian release as 17 December, with the same four languages. Most reports say 18 December. Check your local cinema's listings when bookings open.

Marvel has been building up to the release in India too. The Doomsday trailer played before Spider-Man: Brand New Day in every language, and the Avengers: Endgame re-release in September came with a short Doomsday preview, according to DT Next and Filmibeat. For that film, see our Spider-Man: Brand New Day guide.

Confirmed cast of Avengers: Doomsday

Marvel revealed most of the cast in a five-hour livestream in March 2025. It showed one chair at a time with an actor's name on the back, and Downey walked out at the end. The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone UK covered the announcement. The main names, grouped by team:

• The villain: Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom
• Returning Avengers: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson's Captain America), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), and Chris Evans, whose Steve Rogers appears in the trailer
• The New Avengers / Thunderbolts: Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Lewis Pullman (Bob)
• Wakanda and Talokan: Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor)
• The Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm)
• The X-Men: Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), and Channing Tatum as Gambit

Danny Ramirez, who plays the new Falcon, and Kathryn Newton (Cassie Lang) also appear in the trailer. We have listed only actors confirmed by Marvel or seen in its footage.

What the trailer shows

Marvel released the full trailer on 20 July 2026. Gizmodo's and Den of Geek's scene-by-scene breakdowns agree on these moments:

• Doom speaks first. We hear Downey's Doom before we see much of him, warning that something is coming.
• Xavier's school in ruins. Patrick Stewart's Professor X looks up at a bright light in the sky above a damaged X-Mansion. Later he and Magneto clasp hands.
• The heroes gather. Thor brings the Fantastic Four to meet Sam Wilson, Bucky and Ant-Man, while Shuri, M'Baku and the Wakandans face Namor in Talokan.
• The teams fight each other. Gambit fights Shang-Chi, and Mystique turns into a copy of Yelena in the middle of a fight.
• Thor against Doom. Thor swings Stormbreaker at Doom, who stops it with two fingers.
• Steve Rogers returns. A bearded Steve Rogers appears and takes hold of Mjolnir. Loki is also seen holding a TVA ID card.

The trailer does not explain why Doom is gathering heroes, or which Steve Rogers this is. Den of Geek and others link it to the "incursions" (universes colliding) first mentioned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but Marvel has not confirmed the plot.

Reported runtime

The film is reported to run about 165 minutes (2 hours 45 minutes), according to Outlook India and The Hollywood Reporter, as cited by ComicBookMovie. In early October, co-director Anthony Russo told Fandango it is a "two-and-a-half-hour movie, or so", as reported by ComicBook.com.

Box office clash: Dune: Part Three on the same day

Doomsday will not have 18 December to itself. Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three is set for the same date, and Variety India and Gulte have both covered the "Dunesday" clash. Neither studio has moved its film so far.

In India the holiday window is even busier. Shah Rukh Khan's King is set for 24 December, a week later. Speaking to Variety India in March, trade analyst Taran Adarsh said King is "a far bigger movie than any Hollywood film" in India. Chennai tracker Ramesh Bala said the 18 December clash would squeeze premium screens in its opening week. More on the SRK film in our King teaser and release date guide.

MCU movies to watch before Avengers: Doomsday

Disney has put out an official list of 15 titles to watch before Doomsday, as reported by SlashFilm and Gulf News. Here it is in Disney's order. The first two are the old Fox X-Men films, because their stars return. Loki is the only series on the list.

1. X-Men (2000): the original Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops and Mystique
2. X2 (2003): adds Nightcrawler
3. Captain America: The First Avenger: the start of Steve Rogers' story
4. The Avengers: the first team-up, with Loki as the villain
5. Avengers: Infinity War
6. Avengers: Endgame: Steve passes the shield to Sam
7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
8. Spider-Man: No Way Home: the multiverse breaks open
9. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Shuri, M'Baku and Namor
10. Captain America: Brave New World: Sam as Captain America
11. Deadpool & Wolverine
12. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: introduces incursions
13. Thunderbolts*: Yelena, Bucky and the team that becomes the New Avengers
14. The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Marvel's first family
15. Loki (two seasons): the TVA and the multiverse

Gulf News worked out that the full list takes nearly two days of viewing. If you are short on time, start with Endgame, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Loki. English movie channels such as Star Movies HD and Sony Pix HD show superhero films regularly. Our movies section has more to catch up on.

Read next

• Spider-Man: Brand New Day: where to watch online, story and cast
• Clayface: release date in India, cast and how it fits the DCU
• Lanterns: where to watch the Green Lantern show online
• More watch orders: John Wick movies in order

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