In the latest piece of marketing for Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel has begun streaming the Doomsday Clock. The YouTube video features the now-iconic Avengers A, backlit by something reminiscent of green stained glass — green, of course, being one of the primary colors of the film’s antagonist, Doctor Doom. The only text on the screen reads “Doomsday is Coming.” Accompanied by the sound of a ticking clock, a timer counts down the months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the film’s December release.
Like a hidden bomb in a Hitchcock movie, the countdown is designed to build nervous anticipation — or a sense of impending doom. This is hardly the flashiest bit of promotion fans will see, but spectacle isn’t the goal. Marvel needs Doomsday to feel like an event in the making. Its slow rollout has been a key part of the marketing from day one.
A Slow-Burning Marketing Strategy
Last March, Marvel announced the majority of the Doomsday cast with a five-and-a-half-hour-long livestream of nothing but directors’ chairs with names printed on them. The video lingered on each seat for 10-15 minutes.
While this nearly year-long countdown video may have less to offer, it’s still generating thousands of views and features an active live chat. Most of the comments are jokes about who “Will return in Avengers: Doomsday,” with names like Danny de Vito and “Your Ex” being tossed in for good measure.
The four teasers with MCU characters who actually are returning may have failed to generate much hype. Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, who was not revealed in the chair stream, was intended to be the big surprise of the first teaser. Early audience reactions were reportedly lackluster.
Steve Rogers in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer – Marvel Entertainment, YouTube
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With the second teaser, which focused on Thor, the objective was arguably less about exciting fans. Instead it was about restoring faith in a character many fans felt had been unfairly maligned in his last two movies. The X-Men teaser offered a sense of nostalgia for the old Fox superhero franchise, now being brought into the MCU.
But perhaps most telling was the fourth and final teaser, which showed a meeting between Wakandan leaders and Ben Grimm. What it did not show was Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards. Some industry watchers wondered whether Disney was quietly distancing itself from Pascal, who had been the focus of a major entertainment media push all last year.
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four: First Steps – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
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The Doomsday Clock suggests that Disney is taking its time, slowly and methodically preparing an event film that will be worth the wait.
The Event Marvel Is Carefully Assembling
With Doomsday not hitting theaters until this December, the countdown clock won’t be the only marketing between now and then. It’s expected that a major trailer will release soon, possibly during the Super Bowl, and give fans their first look at Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.
Robert Downey Jr. revealed to be Doctor Doom at Marvel Studios‘ Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con via OnTheRedCarpet YouTube
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Disney may be showing acceptance that, after a series of box-office flops and TV shows that failed to connect, fans have lost trust in the MCU. The Doomsday Clock is about buying the studio time to rebuild. By stretching out anticipation and allowing the character moments teased earlier to linger, Disney is promising fans that this time things will be different — that this time the Avengers and the old MCU will return. Whether that patience will be rewarded, however, remains an open question.
What do you think of the Doomsday Clock? Is it compelling, or a gimmick for a dead franchise? Let us know in the comments!
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It may be slower and cautious but it’s still compromised and woke. Perfume on a pig.
Overexposure. Not sure if anyone else is thoroughly sick of creepy RDJ, and the whole stupid thing?
Yeah. He’s kind of outstayed his welcome. He needs to be handed his hat and coat and shown to the door.
True, sir
Kind of them to tell us how much longer we have to suffer the slow motion car crash that was once the MCU. I don’t doubt Doomsday will make lots at the box office, but will it make enough to cover the disaster that has been the M She U and all the TV shows? Doubt it!
I agree. Nostalgia will probably bring in most of the fans, but I don’t see it making anywhere near Endgame, or even Infinity War. People have been burned by Disney too many times, and the movie will have to be really good in order to be a success.
And what are the odds of that?
I payed for five people to see endgame. That number moves to zero for whatever this is and whatever its called. Die bob iger’s marvel.