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It’s a Tuesday morning, and Avatar: Fire and Ash is still playing in theaters, so you know what that means: it’s time to sit down and watch a much nicer quality version of an Avengers: Doomsday trailer you already saw a camrip of on social media a week ago.
At least this time, whether or not you saw the leaks that have heralded every delayed online release rolling out Marvel’s Doomsday marketing plan, there is a surprisingly novel element to this latest one: it shows a new team-up for the latest entry in a superhero team-up movie. Imagine that!
The fourth Doomsday teaser jukes perhaps where many would’ve expected it to jive. After last week’s action-packed X-Men tease, things are back to a bit more of a calm, yet dire portent as we catch up with the worlds of Wakanda and Talokan after the events of Wakanda Forever. With Shuri mourning the loss of much of her family and Namor ever-vigilant for things that go bump in the ocean, it’s an intriguing figure we see when Shuri and M’Baku meet to disrupt that contemplation: none other than Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four.
After their brief appearance arriving into the primary MCU timeline during Thunderbolts‘ post-credit scene, this is our first proper glimpse of the Fantastic Four joining up with the rest of the MCU, which is a fun little treat. It’s especially nice considering that Namor himself has a long history in the comics with the group, so even if he’s not present for this welcoming, it’s nice to at least put these two corners of the Marvel universe in each other’s paths like this.
But it’s also an intriguing choice for one of these teasers. The past three have focused on some big familiar heavy hitters making their comebacks for Doomsday—the “surprise” return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, another original Avenger (and Hollywood Chris) in Thor, and then of course the invocation of the Fox X-Men films. In contrast, this feels a bit more interestingly muted… and, of course, it continues to kick the can of whether or not one of these teasers will give us a proper look at Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. At least we’re inching ever closer to that possibility with the arrival of a Fantastic Four member on the scene.
Time will tell if this is all we’ll be getting from Doomsday for now—early rumors about the campaign did say there would be just four teasers—or if we’ll be getting more as long as the box office is in a state of Pandora-induced mania. Either way, you’ll probably learn about it on social media first well before Marvel deigns to officially fill us all in.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18.
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