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Kevin Feige Explains Why the Avengers Are More Vulnerable Than Ever in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

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For years, the MCU has been a world without a proper Avengers team. Heroes have come and gone, alliances have formed and broken apart, and the name itself has turned into a point of conflict. As ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ gets closer, that messy state of affairs is set to play a major role.

The divide started in ‘Thunderbolts*’. Its post-credits scene revealed that Sam Wilson had taken legal action against Yelena Belova’s group over the “Avengers” name, after Valentina Allegra de Fontaine rebranded the Thunderbolts as the “New Avengers” without consulting the original team. That effectively split the superhero community in two, with a line drawn between those who stand with Yelena and those who follow Cap.

Now Kevin Feige has explained why that disarray matters. “We’re coming out of years of seemingly no organised Avengers team, and that’s exactly when they face these incursions. That’s always fun, to put your heroes on the back foot,” the Marvel Studios president told Empire.

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Feige’s comments suggest the heroes won’t enter the fight as a well-oiled machine. Instead, they’ll be scrambling to come together just as the multiverse starts to collapse. That puts them in a vulnerable position heading into the battle with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom.

The rosters are already taking shape. Captain America’s team includes the Falcon, Ant-Man, Thor, and Shang-Chi. On the other side, the New Avengers lineup includes Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Red Guardian, Ghost and Bob, operating out of Val’s Watchtower, formerly Tony Stark’s Avengers Tower.

The tension between them hasn’t gone away. Bucky backed the Thunderbolts’ rebrand as the New Avengers, while Sam leads his own Avengers team made up of established heroes. In the post-credits scene, Bucky also told Yelena that his attempts to negotiate with Sam had failed.

Marketing hints that the heroes will eventually unite. The film’s recent “3 Teams Will Stand As One” promo suggests that Sam’s Avengers, Yelena’s New Avengers, and the heroes of Wakanda and Talokan will join forces against Doom. Official promo art places Shuri alongside Sam and Thor under the Avengers logo, rather than on a separate Wakandan card like earlier materials.

A new image adds to that idea. A newly released still shows Mister Fantastic, Shang-Chi, Black Widow and Sam Wilson teaming up. That suggests at least some of the rivalry gets set aside once the stakes become clear.

The bigger picture is a multiversal crisis. In the film, the Avengers, Wakandans, New Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men converge from different universes to face Doom as the multiverse collapses. Feige has previously explained that, for comic fans, incursions are universes coming together.

That makes Feige’s “back foot” comment feel even bigger. The MCU’s heroes are being forced to deal with a reality-level disaster while still arguing over who gets to call themselves the Avengers. It’s a setup that could make their eventual team-up even more satisfying.

Fans can read more soon. Empire’s 4 collectible cover variants hit newsstands on Thursday, November 19, and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ arrives in theaters on December 18. ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ is scheduled to follow on December 17, 2027.

If Feige is right, the Avengers’ messy recent history could be what makes this crossover stand out. Watching broken teams come together under pressure may be exactly the kind of story the MCU needs right now.

Do you think Sam Wilson's Avengers and Yelena's New Avengers can put their rivalry aside in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’?

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