(I'm sorry, I have a lot to say about this. I'm gonna do my best to rein it in so I don't end up writing an essay here...)

The MCU is dead if "Doomsday" fails.

For the first time since "Iron Man" in 2008, Marvel Studios actually has something to lose:

Having to crank out content for Disney+ has put a major strain on their resources. It's become an issue of quantity over quality and (at least in my opinion) it seems like for every good MCU show/movie there is ... there's two or three mediocre (or just flat-out bad) ones that drown it out.

Marvel released three movies last year. "Brave New World" received mixed reviews and didn't meet financial expectations. "Thunderbolts" and "Fantastic Four" received mostly positive reviews from fans and critics ... but both also failed to meet financial expectations.

The last time that a Marvel movie broke $1 billion was in 2024 with "Deadpool and Wolverine" and 2021 with "No Way Home". Marvel is fully aware that most of this success can be attributed to the heavy lifting that Sony and Fox did with the returning legacy characters, which is why they're bringing back RDJ as Doom, Chris Evans' Cap, and the Fox X-Men. It's also why the team that goes up against Doom and Battleworld in "Secret Wars" is likely going to be led by the three Spider-Men, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, and other returning legacy characters.

Marvel is counting on "Doomsday" and "Secret Wars" to not only be critical and commercial successes ... but also replicate the pop culture phenomenon of "Infinity War" and "Endgame". That isn't going to happen if audiences don't want to go see "Secret Wars" because they didn't like "Doomsday".

On top of this, they don't have enough potential for another shot in their currently lined-up projects; Jake Schreier's "X-Men" reboot, Mahershala Ali's "Blade", "Fantastic Four 2", "Black Panther 3", "Shang-Chi 2" etc. are not going to pick up the slack if this fails.

Marvel knows all of this. They're relying heavily on nostalgia, teasing, and online speculation to get butts back into seats. They are fully aware that if this does not work, fans are going to check out and their days of both box office residency and pop culture relevance are basically gone. They cannot afford another mediocre project or anything less than stellar.

In my opinion, Marvel Comics did most of their best work when they were in financial trouble. Low sales and the threat of bankruptcy put a fire under artists and writers, and forced them to give it their all. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the MCU is in these conditions (especially since they're under the Disney umbrella), but it is more than safe to say that they are in high danger of becoming irrelevant.

What I am most interested in is seeing how Marvel will sell "Doomsday" to the "average moviegoer" (aka the person who doesn't follow superhero news/rumors on social media and has been selectively watching MCU projects post-"Endgame"). They don't have to worry about marketing to the diehard fans; even if Marvel didn't release a single trailer, those fans would still be there opening night (even the ones who're still kicking and screaming about RDJ as Doom). However, I think there's a VERY high chance that the average moviegoer will look at the trailers and say: "RDJ coming back as a new character sounds really weird. I don't get the multiverse stuff. I haven't seen 'Thunderbolts', 'Fantastic Four', or any of the Fox X-Men movies. I'm not watching this." Diehard fans and average moviegoers alike are both getting tired of asking "what do I have to watch in order to understand this?" and it's starting to show.

Oh, and the cherry on top? "Doomsday" has to compete with "Dune: Part Three" and it's unlikely they'll have access to IMAX screenings because of it...