The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

Nairavoice | Oct 29, 2026 1h ago 75 0 6 min read

The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

Lade Omotade is a News and Features Author at Collider, covering everything from casting announcements and streaming trends to behind-the-scenes stories and the cultural impact of today’s biggest film and TV franchises. Since joining the team in 2024, she has written more than 1,000 news stories, with her work also cited by outlets like AOL and IMDb.

With the year’s most anticipated superhero film arriving this December, ABC is building excitement with its biggest surprise yet. As part of MCU Phase Six, Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026, with Robert Downey Jr. starring as the tyrannical Doctor Doom. Before then, fans will get to revisit one of the MCU’s best reboots, which ties into Doomsday and will air on network TV for the first time.

Released in July 2025, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the second reboot in the film series, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn as the titular team. Set in a sci-fi, retro-futuristic world inspired by the 1960s, the film introduces viewers to Marvel’s First Family: Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Moss-Bachrach). Together, they face their greatest challenge yet: protecting Earth from the planet-devouring cosmic being Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).

As Marvel president Kevin Feige previously teased, The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads directly into Doomsday‘s plot, making ABC’s holiday offering even more exciting. That said, TV Insider can confirm that the superhero favorite airs on ABC on December 13, 2026, from 8:33 to 11:00 p.m., less than a week before Doomsday‘s theatrical release. It’s worth noting that, alongside the Fantastic Four from Earth-828, Doomsday features heroes from two other universes: the Avengers, Wakandans, and New Avengers from Earth-616, and the original X-Men from Earth-10005.

Four villains, and four arguments the films were honest enough to
actually let them make. Here is the one you lean towards, the part of it that holds up, and the
exact point where it stops holding up.

You align with the one who was right about the problem and wrong
about the solution. Killmonger is the most persuasive villain Marvel has produced because
the film never pretends his anger came from nowhere.

You notice who was abandoned and you cannot let it go, which is a moral instinct before
it is anything else.
His argument lands because Wakanda really did watch and do nothing, and the film makes
T’Challa admit it out loud.
Where it breaks is the method, since a man who was failed by power decided the answer
was to hold more of it.
Michael B. Jordan plays him as somebody performing certainty over grief, which is why
the last scene of that film still works.

You align with the protector, which is the most understandable
and most dangerous position on this list. Namor is not chasing power or revenge, he is doing
whatever keeps his people hidden, and he has been doing it for centuries.

Your loyalty has a hard border around it, and everything inside that border matters far
more to you than anything outside it.
Talokan is the best realised world Marvel has built since Wakanda, and the film makes
you understand exactly what he is guarding.
His logic is airtight right up until it requires somebody else’s people to pay for his
people’s safety.
He would rather be feared by the surface world forever than trust it once, and history
has given him reasons.

You align with the patient one, the only man on this list with no
powers, no army and no hurry. Zemo lost his family in Sokovia and then spent years working
out that you do not fight the Avengers, you introduce them to each other’s secrets.

You go quiet when you are hurt, and the quiet is where the thinking happens.
Zemo is the only MCU villain who completely won, and he did it with a notebook, a plan
and a great deal of self control.
His grief is real, and the film is careful never to let you forget that he started as an
ordinary man with a family.
Where it fails is the cost, since taking apart the people who hurt him meant hurting a
great many people who did not.

You align with the one who decided the answer was arithmetic.
Thanos is not angry and not grieving in any way he will admit to, he simply reached a
conclusion and never once revisited it, which is precisely what makes him frightening.

You are capable of holding a position that costs you everything, and you would call that
conviction rather than stubbornness.
Infinity War works because it is structured as his film, with a goal, a journey and a
sacrifice, and the heroes are the obstacle.
The flaw in the plan is not the cruelty, it is that he never seriously considered a
single alternative to it.
Josh Brolin plays him tired rather than triumphant, which is the choice that turned a
purple giant into a real character.

‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Officially Debuts on Network TV Soon

Image via Marvel Studios
Image via Marvel Studios
Image via Marvel Studios
Image via Marvel Studios
Image via Marvel Studios

the-fantastic-four-first-steps-vanessa-kirby-pedro-pascal-joseph-quinnebon-moss-bachrach The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

fantastic-four-first-steps-sue-storm-reed-richards-1 The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

the-fantastic-four-first-steps-joseph-quinn The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

the-fantastic-four-first-steps-ebon-moss-bachrach-1 The Best Marvel Movie of the Last Few Years Gets New Release Ahead of 'Doomsday'

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Image via Marvel Studios
Image via Marvel Studios
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The record-breaking Fantastic Four film was directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. Upon release, it quickly became a critics’ favorite and currently holds a Certified Fresh 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with an even higher Verified Hot audience score of 90%. The sci-fi reboot was also a moderate commercial success, grossing $521.9 million worldwide, including $274.3 million in North America and $247.6 million internationally, making it the highest-grossing Fantastic Four film. Its success continued on streaming, where it ranked among Disney+’s Top 10 globally and topped digital charts, including Fandango at Home and iTunes.