Disney’s unusual marketing strategy for Avengers: Doomsday seems to be paying off for Marvel in a big way. Marvel attached a character-focused teaser trailer to Avatar: Fire and Ash screenings over a four-week period. A few days after their theatrical debuts, the teasers were posted online. Insiders have told The Hollywood Reporter that the four teasers for next December’s entry in the MCU have already hit a combined 1.02 billion views across YouTube and social media.
Steve Rogers in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
The trailer for an event film is usually released online immediately, often with an advertisement during a major sporting event to drive traffic. For example, the record-setting trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine reached 365 million views in 24 hours. However, the tally also took in the 100-plus million who saw it during the Super Bowl. The Doomsday numbers exclude theatrical viewers and only count users who actively sought out the teasers online.
These numbers are particularly impressive given that all three MCU films released last year underperformed at the box office. Unlike Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Fantastic Four: First Steps, the promise of Doomsday is a return to something familiar—not reinvention or revision—and fans seem to be responding positively.
Doomsday By the Numbers
The 1.02 billion views for the Doomsday trailers encompass all major social platforms across Marvel’s official accounts. At the time of this writing, the Steve Rogers trailer on YouTube alone accounts for 18 million views, earning most of them in its first three days despite leaking online several days early. Thor’s has 17 million, The X-Men trailer 15 million, and the Black Panther–Fantastic Four crossover trailer has received 9.9 million views.
Insiders told THR that the social volume (searches, mentions, etc.) on each trailer is “on average 188% greater than for a typical Marvel drop.” The combined views on other social media sites are also impressive, including 505 million views on Instagram and 103 million on TikTok. On X, “Doomsday,” “Steve Rogers,” “Thor,” “X-Men,” “Wakanda,” and 11 other Avengers-related terms have trended.
Magneto in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
Other pieces of the Avengers’ promotion include a Doomsday Clock, an eleven-month-long YouTube livestream countdown to the film’s release, and a hint from directors Joe and Anthony Russo that the teasers contain a secret message. But the question remains whether trailer views for Doomsday are a result of the marketing itself, or if fans are responding to the apparent pivot Marvel is making in its narrative direction.
A Return to What’s Worked
With each of the Doomsday trailers, Marvel is signaling a return to the elements that made the MCU a global success. The Steve Rogers and X-Men trailers leaned hard on nostalgia and confirmed the return of fan-favorite characters and the actors who originally played them. With Thor’s, there is the promise that the character will be returning to his dignified roots after taking a goofy turn in his most recent appearances.
Robert Downey Jr. at the Avengers Doomsday cast reveal – YouTube, IGN
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Perhaps it’s not the novelty of having to wait for the trailers to leave the theater and receive an official release online that is driving views. Marvel is reportedly pleased that the teasers have done so well without revealing Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, proving to them that “there remains a great and passionate interest in the characters, and their originating actors.”
If the message Marvel takes from its experimental rollout is that fans value familiar characters over constant reinvention, Doomsday could go a long way toward restoring both audience trust—and box office dominance.
Were you following the Doomsday trailer rollout? Do you think this is the return to form Marvel has needed? Let us know in the comments!
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Time will tell if Marvel is actually learning anything, or if they’re just setting everyone up for yet another bait-and-switch.
I would say there is much interest, but no excitement. There was also interest in the Rey Mary Palpatine Sue movies. However, this was not a sign of success, but of, well, doom.
One thing I talk about, which I have not heard a single YouTuber talk about is AGE.
The actresses are too old. And, even the actors are too old.
Scarlet’s face is plastic surgery hell. She should be put out to pasture.
And, then the most famous actors are also too old. Grey beards, most of them. Chris Evans is 44. This isn’t going to get the teenage girls swooning. Likewise, Chris Hemsworth is 42.
These guys are sugar daddies, not sexy “Stars”.
RDJ is grandad-age, and he looks creepy AF to me.
How is this movie going to get people excited? We were supposed to be “Excited” by Thunderbolts, and by F4. Back then, most people were suprised that those movies fell flat on their faces. The MCU / M-She-U is dead.
A combined 1 billion. I’ll believe it when one trailer alone comes close to that. I watched the trailers out of morbid curiosity, but will not go see this movie under any circumstances.
It is rather telling that they’re using the combined numbers instead of the numbers for each one.
From what I’ve heard, the Wakanda trailer numbers were far below the numbers for the others. But I’m sure Disney doesn’t want to anyone to notice that.
Marvel has spent over a decade attacking White men and White families. Enjoy your goy slop weak men.
Isn’t there a new Spider-Man movie coming out in 6 months? I haven’t seen a single trailer for that despite that the hype train should be full speed ahead. Maybe they got a Super Bowl trailer coming out?