Marvel Studios/ESPN
The first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday was released earlier this week and reactions from fans were generally mixed. One opinion that’s been consistent, though, is that the current squad of Avengers don’t look to stand much of a chance against Doctor Doom.
The trailer for Avengers: Doomsday — which also confirmed its December 18 release date, setting up “Dunesday,” as Dune: Part Three will also hit theaters that day — features a heavy dose of Thor, both in action and addressing the Avengers in voice over.
“I’ve fought with many warriors in my time. They were far stronger than all of us put together. And they died,” Thor says.
“They died facing enemies and threats that scared me far less than this one. Everything that they sacrificed will bee for nothing if we do not stand together. Put aside your petty squabbles and presume nothing except this. If you return, you will return as brothers and sisters.”
Marvel fans are comparing Thor to a star player in a bad sports team after seeing the Avengers: Doomsday trailer
Thor is also the only character in the trailer to come face to face with Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom, who easily blocks a strike from Thor’s Stormbreaker axe with two fingers.
Thor’s role in the trailer has fans of the MCU comparing him to the star player in a bad professional sports team, leading to plenty of memes about the situation the God of Thunder finds himself in.
Thor came back and didn’t know our franchise is in rebuild tank mode😭 pic.twitter.com/f3FZPEJU52
— Alex Coleman (@DarkOfTheMovie) July 20, 2026
“Thor better start recruiting. Check to see if Hela actually dead. Wanda wasn’t even that bad. S— Ultron need to get rebooted,” one viral tweet joked.
“Thor going to war with that 0-16 Cleveland Browns team vs Doom,” a second cracked.
In the trailer — which could be and likely is edited in certain moments to hide plot details — Thor can be seen addressing the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Sam Wilson/Captain America, Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, and Ghost. As far as superhero rosters go, they’re not exactly the 2016 Golden State Warriors.
thor in the new avengers pic.twitter.com/0Vy5kOMReO
— brandon* (@brndxix) July 20, 2026
Thor introducing the Doomsday Avengers pic.twitter.com/CquYUIUMt8
— jack (@TheCavsJack) July 21, 2026
Thor looking at the Thunderbolts when they mess up a sideline out-of-bounds play against Doom. pic.twitter.com/l8hpPNmdqW
— Darren (@djohn90) July 20, 2026
When we interviewed Hemsworth earlier this year for his film Crime 101, we discussed Thor’s long and complicated arc in the MCU, which now sees him as the de-facto leader of the Avengers (this interview was before the Doomsday trailer came out but Thor’s arc in the franchise has been clear for some time now).
“In the more recent films, I felt like the character had earned his seat at the table. Before that, I felt like the new guy,” Hemsworth explained.
“I remember sitting around on Doomsday with all these new characters, people in their first Avengers film, and thinking, ‘I have a bit of agency here. I should have a bigger voice or opinion as the character.’ Owning that a little more, he does feel like one of the elders. He’s 2,000 years old or something, so we tried to play into that more than we had before.”
In addition to Hemsworth as Thor and Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Avengers: Doomsday also stars Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Channing Tatum, Ian McKellen, Tom Hiddleston, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, Sebastian Stan and many more.