For I Am Doom
Doomsday Manifesto: D23 Avengers: Doomsday Trailer — Special Edition II
Film: Avengers: Doomsday (D23 trailer)
Director: The Russo Brothers
There have been glimpses.
Hints.
Enough to speculate about what kind of Doctor Doom Marvel was building towards.
This trailer feels different.
For the first time, I didn’t simply see the character who might stand opposite the Avengers.
I saw the villain.
And somehow, I am now even more excited.
And even more confident than I was before, that this is going to be a grand and powerful film.
What immediately struck me was the sense that Doom was not always this way.
There are suggestions of someone who was once respected.
Someone important.
Perhaps even admired.
And now we are looking at what remains after something has broken him.
That makes the threat far more interesting than simple evil.
Because the most compelling villains rarely believe they are villains.
They have reasons.
Scars.
A version of the world that makes perfect sense from where they are standing.
And whatever happened to Doom, this trailer makes one thing very clear.
He is no longer asking anyone to understand him.
He expects them to submit, or is willing do whatever is necessary to make them do so.
Or perhaps, even more chilling, willing to do whatever is necessary irrespective of submission.
There is an overwhelming sense of dominance to everything we see.
Not chaotic power.
Controlled power.
The kind that does not need to prove itself because it already knows what it is capable of.
The imagery makes the odds feel almost outrageous.
Heroes who have spent years overcoming impossible threats suddenly appear to be facing something that genuinely might be beyond them.
That is exactly what I wanted Avengers: Doomsday to feel like.
Not another opponent who happens to be stronger.
Something insurmountable.
Something inevitable.
Something that forces everyone else to reconsider what they believed strength looked like.
And Doom (RDJ) carries that weight with remarkable class.
Then comes the line.
“For I am Doom.”
Simple.
Confident.
Arrogant.
Completely assured.
And after everything around it, also incredibly effective.
It does not sound like an introduction.
It sounds like a conclusion.
As though the explanation for everything we have just witnessed is simply that this is who he is.
Doom.
Nothing more needs to be said.
Visually, this might also be the closest the marketing has come to showing us exactly what kind of film this could become.
The dark green palette is perfect.
It feels regal without being clean.
Powerful without being heroic.
Almost horrific in places.
Everything carries a weight and scale that makes the world around Doom feel smaller simply because he is occupying it.
His voice fits that tone perfectly too.
Controlled, heavy, and authoritative without ever needing to strain for menace (which in no way diminishes how truly menacing Doom appears).
And the sound only heightens that feeling.
This does not feel like Marvel asking us to anticipate another crossover.
It feels like Marvel trying to convince us that something terrible is coming.
That is exactly what Doomsday needs to be.
Perhaps the thing I am most excited about now is that Doom does not appear interesting solely because of how powerful he is.
There seems to be a person underneath all of it.
Someone who existed before the armour.
Before the rage.
Before everyone else had reason to fear his name.
That leaves room for something much more compelling than spectacle.
How does someone respected become someone feared?
What occurred that was so terrible that sheer power and dominance became the answer?
And once someone possesses that much power, what could possibly persuade them that they are wrong?
Those questions make the scale feel meaningful.
Because overwhelming strength becomes far more frightening when it is attached to absolute conviction.
I was already excited for Avengers: Doomsday.
This moved the needle again.
The power.
The imagery.
The sound.
The overwhelming sense that our heroes may genuinely be facing something they cannot simply fight their way through.
And most importantly, Doom finally feels like Doom.
Broken.
Dominant.
Determined.
Almost impossible to imagine defeating.
Exactly as he should.
For I am Doom.
I’ve been capturing some of these reflections more regularly over on Letterboxd under The Resonance Impact.
Doomsday Manifesto
A cinematic countdown to Avengers: Doomsday.
Entry I — The Moment ‘The Avengers’ Became Inevitable (The Avengers)
Entry II — Where It All Began: ‘Iron Man’ and the Moment the MCU Found Its Identity (Iron Man)
Special Entry — I Wasn’t Sure About ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ — Until Now (Spider-Man: Brand New Day)
Entry IV — Deadpool, Sentimentality, and Why Some Films Just Hit Different (Deadpool & Wolverine)
Entry VI — When Power Isn’t the Point (Thunderbolts)
Entry VII — How ‘Civil War’ Became My MCU Turning Point (Captain America: Civil War)
Entry VIII — The Things We Don’t Say… But Carry Anyway (X2: X-Men United)
Entry IX — The Space Between Two Truths (Black Panther)
Entry IX.I — What Guides Us… Isn’t Always What We Expect (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Entry X — When What Defines You… Disappears (Thor: Ragnarok)
Entry X.I — Finding something real beneath what doesn’t quite work (Thor: Love and Thunder)
Special Entry III — The Next Level Always Demands More (Spider-Man: Brand New Day)
Entry XI — What If Difference Was Never The Problem? ( X-Men: Days of Future Past)
Special Edition — Doomsday is Coming… The Voice of Doom (Avengers Doomsday Trailer)
Entry XII — Who Saves Spider-Man? (Spider-Man: Brand New Day)
Special Edition II — For I Am Doom (Avengers: Doomsday D23 Trailer)
Entry XIII — Coming Soon