The new Doom Avengers films seem like they'll be pretty crowded if the Fantastic Four are in them too. I can't imagine that they'd appear only as glorified cameos.
I thought
Infinity War and
Endgame worked well. Partly they managed all of the characters by making Thanos the central character, but also by relying on the audience's preexisting familiarity with all of the characters. They could skip a lot of the things that normally makes having such a large cast almost impossible. For example, the
Guardians characters were introduced with the opening bass notes of "The Rubberband Man" by The Spinners. Boom, everybody watching was situated inside the change of scene. (It was kinda brilliant, really.) I wouldn't want
Doomsday and
Secret Wars to follow exactly the same template - in fact, I'll be really annoyed if it's a retread - but it proves it can be done. We'll have gotten
The Fantastic Four by then. It's unclear who else is likely to be in those
Avengers movies. Anthony Mackie is the only one I'd say is a no-brainer. Beyond him, they have a ginormous stable of "could bes." Tom Holland? Could be. Chris Hemsworth? Could be. The Benedicts? Could be. The Young Avengers (Hailee Steinfeld, Xochitl Gomez, Iman Vellani)? Could be. The Thunderbolts? Could be. Simu Liu & Awkwafina? Could be. Brie Larson & Teyonah Parris? Could be. Larson feels unlikely to me, but I think a strong case could be made for Parris. I think The Eternals are going to go the way of The Inhumans. Ironheart seems like an outside shot to me, but if her show really hits, then sure, they could get her in there. Wonder Man feels like a real long shot, but again, if that's a smash-hit, they'll figure it out. I haven't sensed a great tide of affection for Shuri as Black Panther, so I'd be surprised if she finds a way in. Likewise the Disney+ and formerly-Netflix characters (Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Daredevil).
Casting Downey Jr. as Doom suggests to me that they want and intend for that character to be onscreen a lot over the next few years.
---
What I would do (not to say this is a prediction, but I'd certainly be pleased if Feige & Co come up with something along these lines): Dump
Eternals; if
Thunderbolts, Ironheart, Wonder Man and/or
Agatha hit, give them a sequel; do
Young Avengers; and revive all of the Netflix characters (bring back Jessica Henwick & Simone Missick for
Daughters of the Dragon; plus Krysten Ritter and Mike Coulter; and I would also bring in Alaqua Cox - I didn't think
Echo was a homerun, but I did like her and the character). I wouldn't bring any of those characters into
Doomsday, but any of them could make cameos in
Secret Wars, just to illustrate the scope of what's happening
. Doomsday would an Avengers roster of Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Wong, Shang-Chi, Monica Rambeau and Captain Marvel if Brie Larson will do it (right now, I'd be surprised if she did, but never say never). I'm annoyed that there isn't another woman who's an obvious choice, but there isn't another woman who's an obvious choice. You could squeeze in Charlize Theron, if you want to, but that doesn't fire my engines. I love Theron, but Clea just isn't a part of the MCU right now, and I don't see a good opporunity to give her a proper introduction between now and then. Personally, I'd bring in She-Hulk. I know the show didn't go over well, but I liked it. I like the character, and I love Tatiana Maslany. She-Hulk is also a longtime Avenger in the comics, so you'd be adhering to some canon by including her, and I think this version of the character would fit nicely with the other characters (she'd also look better onscreen than she did in the show). Finally, if I were in charge,
Secret Wars would introduce the new iteration of The X-Men. Actually, you can call that last part a prediction, not just "what I would do."
--
A story I read somewhere said the Russo Bros. are getting $80 million, plus escalators if the movies hit $750m and $1b box office; and Robert Downey Jr. is getting even more than the Russos are. I think the same article estimated that Downey Jr. has made half-a-billion on his MCU movies so far. Stomach-churning numbers.
---
"The Rubberband Man" by The Spinners, if you don't recall it.
I also see that Minnie Driver is playing 'Oswalda' Cobblepot. They've gender-flipped The Penguin.
