Avengers: Doomsday is bringing most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest characters together to fight Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, but will Tom Holland's Spider-Man be among them? His version of Spidey has become incredibly popular over the years and a central player in the most recent Avengers films and MCU installments directed by the Russo brothers.
In addition to a solo quadrilogy, Holland has appeared in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Those three films specifically spent extra time building Spider-Man and Iron Man's relationship. And while Tony Stark won't be in Doomsday, Downey's casting as Doom has left many wanting Holland's Spider-Man to see him unmasked and be shocked by the villain's similar appearance to his mentor.
However, Marvel Studios has been mum on Spider-Man's future. Keeping all the attention on Spider-Man: Brand New Day left some uncertainty about what will come next. But with Spider-Man: Brand New Day's post-credits scene ending with the confirmation that "Spider-Man Will Return," the question becomes when and where Holland's version will pop up.
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–
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?
✓ 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.
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.
✓ 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.
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”?
✓ 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.
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?
✓ 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.
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?
✓ 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.
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?
✓ 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).
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+?
✓ 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.
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?
✓ 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.
The Stones Are Cast · Final Scorecard Your Avengers Standing
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/ 8
A worthy Avenger — or dusted in the snap?
Since Avengers: Doomsday is the next MCU movie after Brand New Day, that feels like the logical next place for Spider-Man. But Marvel's refusal to confirm that with the tag's statement keeps Holland's involvement very much up in the air.
Tom Holland Is Not Part Of Avengers: Doomsday's Confirmed Cast List
Tom Holland as Peter Parker in Spider-Man Brand New day
For all the build up Marvel has done for Doomsday, confirming Tom Holland as a cast member has never come. He did not receive a cast chair during the initial Doomsday cast reveal announcement. This does not mean that Holland is definitively not in the movie, as Marvel has teased that there are some surprise cast members.
If Holland is in the movie, it's being kept completely under wraps. This would indicate that his Spider-Man has a minor role, at best. The lack of confirmation for him could be driven by not wanting to spoil Spider-Man: Brand New Day's ending, or it may just mean that Holland's Spider-Man will have to wait a bit longer to return, such as in Avengers: Secret Wars.
With Spider-Man absent from the movie, or at least the marketing, Doomsday has focused on other MCU characters. Thor, Steve Rogers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men have been prominently featured in Avengers: Doomsday's trailers. They are positioned as the main characters, which further signifies how small of a role Holland could have if he's in it at all.
What Tom Holland Has Said About Appearing In Avengers: Doomsday
Tom Holland's Peter Parker surprised in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Tom Holland has created a reputation for spoiling things about the MCU and Spider-Man, but, so far, the actor has remained tight-lipped about if he'll be in Avengers: Doomsday. Ahead of Brand New Day's release, he was asked by BBC News about if he'd be in the next Avengers, and he said, "I can't answer those questions."
If Holland was not in Doomsday, it would be very easy for him to deny any involvement. Even if he is slated to make an appearance, he's had no trouble lying to preserve spoilers before. He didn't leak Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home despite constant questions. And when pressed about Sadie Sink's character's identity in Brand New Day, he flatly denied the correct answer was in the movie. He even kept Downey's Doom casting a secret.
This could all point to Holland having some sort of role in Doomsday. After all, another MCU star may have inadvertently teased his role prior. Tom Hiddleston previously named Holland as his favorite live-action Spider-Man actor and curiously said, "For reasons I cannot disclose." This led to a belief that Hiddleston gave Holland the edge after potentially working together on Doomsday.
Now that Brand New Day is out, it is possible Marvel or Holland will make his next MCU appearance official before too long. They could also keep it a secret all the way until December 18 and use the curiosity about Spider-Man's involvement as a way to boost interest after his solo film's record box office.
How Brand New Day Teases Spider-Man In Avengers: Doomsday
Tom Holland's Spider-Man after stopping a tank in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Brand New Day!There are a number of ways Brand New Day sets up how Spider-Man could be in Avengers: Doomsday. The most obvious is the film's post-credits scene, which shows Ned Leeds' SpideyTracker app tracking a Spider-Man in outer space. Holland's Spidey has already been to space once before, so he could do so again in Doomsday if the tease is quite literal.
There is also the chance that the tracker is following Spider-Man as he travels to a different universe. Spider-Man could be on one of the Avengers teams and travel to another world to try and stop an incursions. Brand New Day did establish that he and Yelena Belova have a working relationship. After proving himself capable of handling "big potatoes stuff" like Jean Grey, she could recruit him to the New Avengers for the multiversal adventure.
He could even only appear as part of Doomsday's post-credits scene, revealing him to be on Battleworld, a new reality created by Doctor Doom that is expected to be the main location for Avengers: Secret Wars. That could he his new location that SpideyTracker is following and position him to be a featured hero in Secret Wars.
It's worth noting, though, that Brand New Day's credits could be a tease for a different Spider-Man appearing in Doomsday other than Holland's version. The app could have located a Spider-Man, such as Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, on a different Earth that is about to collide with the MCU's Sacred Timeline. This would make the tag take on a completely different meaning.
Considering Holland's Spider-Man has been in every Avengers movie since he joined the MCU, it will be quite odd for him to miss out on Avengers: Doomsday completely. Even if he isn't part of it right now, we can't rule out the chance that Marvel and the Russos film something with him to keep the MCU's momentum going after Brand New Day. People clearly can't get enough of Holland's Spider-Man, so including him in some capacity could bolster the film's box office potential.
