Will Avengers: Doomsday Beat Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Box Office?

Published Aug 23, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release. He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ruling the box office in 2026 with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and more success is inbound with Avengers: Doomsday hitting theaters in December. While the Avengers are traditionally a bigger deal than Spider-Man, the box office returns for Brand New Day have broken records at almost every turn. So, can Doomsday beat it? That felt like an absolute certainty heading into 2026. Doomsday and Brand New Day were both projected to be among the year's biggest films, but there was no real debate that the Avengers would come out on top. There is no guarantee that this will be the case thanks to how well Tom Holland's Spider-Man film is doing. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has made over $2 billion at the box office in less than a month. It's already the highest-grossing movie of 2026 and the biggest Spider-Man movie ever. Brand New Day is also a top 10 earner worldwide all-time, with a reasonable shot at becoming the third-largest movie in history, surpassing Avatar: The Way of Water's $2.3 billion gross. From “I Am Iron Man” to “I Am Inevitable” · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know the MCU? “Whatever it takes.” 🤖Phase OneRDJ & the founders, 2008 🛡The AvengersWhedon’s team, 2012 💎Infinity SagaThanos & the stones ⚡EndgameWhatever it takes, 2019 🌏MultiversePhase 4–6, 2021– ASSEMBLE → 01 Iron Man (2008) is, in retrospect, the most consequential casting decision in modern blockbuster history — but at the time Marvel Studios and parent company Paramount were openly hostile to director Jon Favreau’s push for the lead actor he eventually got. Favreau later said he had to fight “tooth and nail” and the actor had to do a paid screen test, a screen-test deal almost unheard of for an A-lister. What was the executive objection to him? AHe was considered too old for a 15-year contract BHis history of drug arrests made him uninsurable CHe was already under contract to DC/Warner Bros. DHe’d publicly refused to do any superhero work ✓ Correct! Robert Downey Jr. had been arrested multiple times between 1996 and 2001 on drug and weapons charges, served roughly a year in California state prison (1999–2000), and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 after relapsing. By 2007 he’d been clean for several years, but Marvel/Paramount considered him essentially uninsurable for a $140 million tent-pole. Favreau pushed for him over studio favourites Tom Cruise (who’d had Iron Man development at Fox years earlier) and Sam Rockwell (who’d later play Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 as a consolation). RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than Terrence Howard, whose role he then permanently overshadowed. ✗ Wrong. The answer is his arrest history. RDJ had drug-related arrests from 1996–2001, served prison time in 1999–2000, and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 — which made him uninsurable in studio terms even though he’d been sober for several years by 2007. Favreau fought for him over Tom Cruise and Sam Rockwell, and RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than co-star Terrence Howard. NEXT → 02 The Avengers (2012) — the film that proved the shared-universe model could work, grossed $1.52 billion, and ended Phase One with Loki, Thanos’s mid-credits reveal, and the “swarm shot” of the team rotating in Manhattan — was written and directed by a TV showrunner best known at the time for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Name him. AJon Favreau BKenneth Branagh CJoss Whedon DJoe Johnston ✓ Correct! Joss Whedon. Marvel hired him in mid-2010 partly on the basis of his uncredited script rewrites and his comfort writing ensemble team dynamics from Buffy/Angel/Firefly. He directed The Avengers (2012) and the follow-up Age of Ultron (2015), then exited the MCU and Marvel handed the next two Avengers films to the Russo brothers. The three other directors named all really did make Phase One films: Favreau directed Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), Branagh directed Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston directed Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) — which is why this question separates Phase One trivia from Avengers-specific trivia. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Joss Whedon — hired largely on the strength of Buffy, Firefly, and uncredited Hollywood script work. The three wrong options are deliberately all real Phase One MCU directors: Favreau did Iron Man 1 & 2, Branagh did Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston did The First Avenger (2011). Whedon directed Avengers (2012) and Age of Ultron (2015) before exiting the MCU. NEXT → 03 Marvel co-architect Stan Lee (1922–2018) appeared in every theatrical MCU film from Iron Man (2008) onward, even shooting cameos in advance to outlast him. He died on November 12, 2018. In which film does his final filmed MCU cameo appear — as the long-haired young driver of a 1970 car bearing the bumper sticker “NUFF SAID”? AAvengers: Endgame (2019) BAvengers: Infinity War (2018) CCaptain Marvel (2019) DSpider-Man: Far From Home (2019) ✓ Correct! Avengers: Endgame (April 2019). Lee appears digitally de-aged behind the wheel of a 1970 Chevy at the New Jersey army base where Tony Stark and Steve Rogers travel back to retrieve the Tesseract; he shouts “hey man, make love, not war!” The cameo was filmed before Lee’s death and confirmed by the Russos as his final filmed MCU appearance, although the next-released film, Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019), became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all. Captain Marvel (March 2019) has him reading the script for Mallrats on the L.A. train and was the first posthumously-released cameo, but Endgame was the last one he actually shot. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Avengers: Endgame — the de-aged hippie-era driver in the 1970 New Jersey time-heist scene. Captain Marvel (March 2019) was the first cameo to release posthumously, but Endgame (April 2019) was the last one Lee actually filmed. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019) became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all. NEXT → 04 Across Phase One through Three, each Infinity Stone is hidden inside a distinctive container before being claimed for Thanos’s Gauntlet. The blue Space Stone is housed inside a glowing cube that originates with the Asgardians, is recovered by Howard Stark from the wreckage of the Red Skull’s plane, is taken to Asgard by Loki in 2012, and is finally retrieved by Hulk on Sakaar before falling to Thanos. What is that container called? AThe Tesseract BThe Aether CThe Orb DThe Eye of Agamotto ✓ Correct! The Tesseract — the blue cube that houses the Space Stone — first appears in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), powers the portal Loki opens over Manhattan in The Avengers (2012), and is destroyed by Thanos in Infinity War (2018) when he crushes it to claim the stone inside. The wrong options are all real Infinity Stone containers from the MCU: the Aether (red liquid form) houses the Reality Stone in Thor: The Dark World, the Orb houses the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Eye of Agamotto houses the Time Stone in Doctor Strange. So all four answers refer to genuine stone containers — only the Tesseract holds Space. ✗ Wrong. The answer is the Tesseract. The trap is that all four options are real Infinity Stone containers: the Aether holds Reality (Thor: The Dark World), the Orb holds Power (Guardians of the Galaxy), and the Eye of Agamotto holds Time (Doctor Strange). Space — the blue stone shown in Cap’s 1942 plane wreckage and Loki’s 2012 invasion — is the Tesseract. NEXT → 05 In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the Soul Stone is hidden on Vormir and guarded by a Stonekeeper — revealed to be a cursed Red Skull. To claim it, the seeker must sacrifice the person they love most by throwing them from a cliff. Thanos arrives on Vormir with one adopted daughter, weeps, and pushes her over the edge. Which character does Thanos sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone? ANebula BGamora CMantis DProxima Midnight ✓ Correct! Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). Thanos forces her to lead him to Vormir because Nebula has earlier revealed under torture that Gamora knew the Soul Stone’s location all along. The scene is the emotional pivot of Infinity War: it confirms that Thanos really does love Gamora, which means the sacrifice qualifies. In Endgame (2019), a 2014 version of Gamora returns through time travel with her father — meaning Gamora-of-Infinity-War remains dead at the end of the saga, while a different Gamora wanders the cosmos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War; Mantis survives Vormir entirely; Proxima Midnight is one of Thanos’s Black Order children, killed in the Battle of Wakanda. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Gamora. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War (she’s the one whose torture reveals Gamora knew where the stone was hidden). Mantis isn’t on Vormir. Proxima Midnight is Thanos’s adopted daughter via the Black Order, not via Zen-Whoberi, and is killed during the Battle of Wakanda by Scarlet Witch. Thanos sacrifices Gamora — the only adopted daughter he genuinely loves. NEXT → 06 In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Steve Rogers travels back in time to return the Infinity Stones, then chooses to remain in the past and live out a life with Peggy Carter. He returns to the present as an old man, sits on a bench by the lake at the Avengers compound, and hands his vibranium shield to a younger Avenger as the symbolic transfer of the Captain America identity. To whom does Steve give the shield? ABucky Barnes BSam Wilson CT’Challa DPeter Parker ✓ Correct! Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) — the Falcon. The choice deliberately bypasses Bucky, the original comics successor, because the Russos and screenwriters Markus & McFeely wanted the moment to read as a deliberate, racially-charged passing of an American icon rather than the obvious comics-canon handoff. The thread is then picked up directly in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+, 2021), in which Sam initially gives the shield to the Smithsonian, sees the government install John Walker as a replacement Cap, and ultimately takes the mantle himself — setting up Captain America: Brave New World (2025) with Mackie as the franchise’s new lead. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Sam Wilson, the Falcon. In the comics Bucky is the classic Cap successor, but the Russos and screenwriters Markus and McFeely deliberately picked Sam instead — a choice the entire Falcon and the Winter Soldier series (Disney+, 2021) then unpacks before Mackie carries it into Captain America: Brave New World (2025). NEXT → 07 After Endgame, Marvel Studios’ Phase Four launched the MCU on Disney+ with a sitcom-pastiche limited series in which Wanda Maximoff and a resurrected Vision live inside a reality-warping suburban hex. Each episode parodied a different era of US TV sitcom — The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, Family Ties, Modern Family. The show premiered January 15, 2021 and ran nine episodes. Which series was it — the first MCU project on Disney+? AWandaVision BLoki CThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier DHawkeye ✓ Correct! WandaVision (January 15 – March 5, 2021), created by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman. It launched Phase Four, earned 23 Emmy nominations, and effectively rebooted Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). The Falcon and the Winter Soldier followed it in March 2021 — not first — and Loki landed in June 2021. Hawkeye is the 2021 Christmas series with Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. The original launch order was WandaVision → FATWS → Loki → What If...? → Hawkeye, and WandaVision’s sitcom format remains the boldest swing of the Disney+ era. ✗ Wrong. The answer is WandaVision (January 15, 2021), the first MCU show on Disney+ and the launchpad for Phase Four. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier came in March 2021, Loki in June 2021, and Hawkeye in late 2021. The sitcom-pastiche structure — Dick Van Dyke through Modern Family — is unique to WandaVision. NEXT → 08 At the closing panel of San Diego Comic-Con on July 27, 2024, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige brought the Russo brothers back on stage to announce a new title for the next Avengers film — previously labelled “The Kang Dynasty” before Jonathan Majors’s December 2023 conviction forced a pivot — and then unmasked a cast of actors wearing green hoods. The final hood came off Robert Downey Jr. RDJ is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark. As whom? AMister Sinister BDoctor Doom CNorman Osborn DMephisto ✓ Correct! Doctor Doom — Victor von Doom, the Latverian dictator and Reed Richards’s lifelong nemesis, generally considered Marvel’s greatest comics villain. The next Avengers film, originally announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, was retitled Avengers: Doomsday after Jonathan Majors was dropped as Kang following his December 2023 assault conviction. Doomsday is scheduled for May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars to follow in May 2027 — both directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, returning to the MCU after Endgame. The in-universe explanation for RDJ playing Doom rather than Stark hinges on the multiverse: Doom is being positioned as a variant of Stark from another timeline. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Doctor Doom. The film was retitled from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to Avengers: Doomsday (May 2026) after Jonathan Majors was dropped, and the Russos returned to direct. RDJ’s casting as Doom — rather than as Tony Stark — is being explained in-universe via the multiverse: Doom as a Stark variant from another timeline. REVEAL MY RATING → The Stones Are Cast · Final Scorecard Your Avengers Standing 💎 / 8 A worthy Avenger — or dusted in the snap? ⤴ ROUND TWO Spider-Man, with the help of Hulk, Punisher, and Jean Grey, has given the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men a mighty challenger. Doomsday surpassing Brand New Day's final box office total won't be easy, and it might not happen, but the result shouldn't be dismissed either. Avengers: Doomsday Needs To Be An Endgame-Sized Hit To Beat Spider-Man: Brand New Day Since Brand New Day's box office is still growing, we must first make some predictions about where the movie will finish. The movie is still on track to become the highest-grossing film ever at the domestic box office, which would mean adding at least another $100+ million to its total. It's also safe to estimate that its international total will grow substantially in the weeks ahead. For that reason, a $2.5 billion finish for Brand New Day feels realistic. That becomes the target for Doomsday then. Marvel would need the movie to basically perform on par with Avengers: Endgame to meet that goal. Endgame is the only MCU movie Brand New Day is expected to finish behind after the 2019 film totaled $2.7 billion in theaters. Doomsday will likely only be able to afford a small dip from that figure if it wants to finish ahead of Spider-Man's film. Endgame made $858.3 million domestically after a then-record $357.1 million opening, and it grew to $1.9 billion overseas. Those are the specific figures Doomsday will look to replicate, expecting to come in behind Brand New Day stateside but make up for the difference with its international appeal. Marvel Needs Avengers: Doomsday To Outgross Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Box Office Credit: MovieStillsDB While Doomsday can still be a big success without beating Brand New Day, the optics of the Avengers falling behind Spider-Man is something Marvel will want to avoid. Before the phenomenal performance for the wall-crawler's movie, Doomsday finishing somewhere ahead of Avengers: Infinity War's $2 billion and below Endgame's $2.7 billion would have been seen as a win. Now, that is no longer enough. There has been so much talk about the MCU falling off in the Multiverse Saga and questions about how invested audiences still are in this universe. If a movie bringing together the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and more can't beat Spider-Man, alarm bells will sound. It would signal to all that, for as big as the MCU is, Spider-Man (owned by Sony) is bigger. If that result comes as Doomsday is more reviled than Brand New Day, concerns about the MCU's longevity will only get bigger. It'd also put even more pressure on Avengers: Secret Wars. Luckily, Marvel has some reasons for optimism. Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Success Is Good News For Avengers: Doomsday's Box Office © Marvel Entertainment / © Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection The success that Brand New Day is experiencing is obviously great for Sony, Disney, and Marvel Studios. It ensures that Holland's web-slinger will be back in future movies and positions his franchise as one the MCU can rely on to keep delivering hits for years to come. But there is also a positive impact on Doomsday. Brand New Day brought the MCU back to the mainstream consciousness in a way the franchise has been missing for years. Audiences have clearly sought out the movie in theaters, and the fan reactions have been euphoric. It's generating all the excitement the MCU needed, which can carry into Doomsday. Just as a rising tide lifts all ships, a successful MCU movie helps the whole franchise. People are hungry for more at this point, and with Spider-Man: Brand New Day's post-credits scene possibly teasing a Spider-Man being in Doomsday, a large portion of the audience could seek out the new Avengers with the expectation of seeing Peter Parker's story continue. Avengers: Doomsday's Ticket Pre-Sales Are Ahead Of Spider-Man: Brand New Day The vibes around the MCU are one thing, but Marvel Studios also has some tangible evidence to support belief in Doomsday being the bigger box office performer. Marvel has taken an unusual approach to the movie's marketing campaign since the beginning, and that included putting tickets on sale for Infinity Vision screenings well in advance. ​​​​​​​ The results are just what Marvel would like to see. Doomsday's ticket presales in its first two days were greater than Brand New Day. It wasn't just a narrow victory for the Avengers, either. The upcoming MCU movie is 65% ahead of Spider-Man's movie at the same point. That's arguably even more impressive considering Doomsday's tickets are on sale four months ahead of its release, whereas Brand New Day's became available for purchase 45 days prior to release. Usually, studios wait until closer to a film's release to put tickets on sale so awareness and interest are higher. As we shared in March, Greenlight Analytics had Doomsday at 45% Awareness and 57% Interest, both impressive numbers for a movie nine months away. Why Avengers: Doomsday Likely Will Beat Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Box Office The ticket presales numbers are a real indicator that Doomsday can beat Brand New Day's box office. The Avengers certainly won't make 65% more than Spider-Man's film in the opening weekend (that'd be a nearly $600 million domestic debut), but the franchise could reclaim the domestic opening weekend record with a $360+ million performance. There might not be a huge divide between Doomsday's box office and where Brand New Day finishes, but Marvel should be able to count on the Avengers brand drawing in more casuals and capitalizing on the MCU's current momentum, especially if there are major surprise cameos to generate more attention. That's why some are predicting the film to top Endgame's record $1.2 billion global debut. The knock against Doomsday is the greater competition it faces than Brand New Day courtesy of Dune: Part Three. However, the increased availability of moviegoers over the Christmas holiday season should help offset that. And if Doomsday ever gets a delayed IMAX release, that could benefit it, too. So long as Avengers: Doomsday is at least widely enjoyed by audiences, it should beat Spider-Man: Brand New Day's box office, even if it just squeaks past. Avengers: Doomsday Release Date December 18, 2026 Runtime 165 Minutes Cast Vanessa Kirby Sue Storm / Invisible Woman Johnny Storm / Human Torch Ebon Moss-Bachrach Ben Grimm / The Thing Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth Avengers film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will bring together heroes, new and old, to face off against Victor von Doom - played by the returning Robert Downey Jr. The upcoming film notably marks the beginning of Phase 6 of the MCU. Spider-Man: Brand New Day 7/10 Release Date July 29, 2026 Runtime 145 minutes Cast Peter Parker / Spider-Man Four years after No Way Home, Peter Parker lives alone, forgotten by everyone he loves, and devotes himself entirely to being Spider-Man.