“He sat on a chair at the end. He pulled a gauntlet out and said, ‘I’ll do it myself.'” That, according to Kevin Feige, is the entirety of Thanos’ pre-Infinity War build-up — and the Marvel Studios president believes fans have been mythologising it ever since.
Speaking to journalist Brandon Davis on the floor of San Diego Comic-Con 2026, Feige pushed back against one of the loudest criticisms aimed at the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer: that Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom has arrived in the MCU without the years of careful groundwork that made Thanos so formidable by the time Avengers: Infinity War rolled around.
The Backlash That Sparked the Debate
The Doomsday trailer landed on 20 July to a sharply divided reaction. While many praised the sheer scale — a collision of MCU veterans, X-Men and the Fantastic Four assembled under one banner — a vocal section of fans felt something crucial was missing. The trailer, critics argued, offered spectacle without stakes. Scene after scene arrived without the emotional momentum that made Infinity War‘s marketing feel like an event.
The frustration crystallised quickly on social media. “That Avengers trailer is so funny because it’s literally just Things Happening with no buildup,” wrote one widely-shared X post. Others described the footage as “all spectacle and no buildup,” with the Infinity War comparison becoming unavoidable. The specific target of much criticism was Doctor Doom: without a proper MCU introduction, many argued, his sudden appearance as the central villain felt unearned.
The debate zeroed in on a familiar benchmark. Thanos, fans reminded one another, had been seeded carefully across multiple films before Infinity War. How could Marvel expect audiences to feel the same weight for a villain they’d never properly met?
“The Thanos buildup has built up in people’s heads over the years. He sat on a chair at the end.” — Kevin Feige, San Diego Comic-Con 2026
Feige’s Case: It Was Always the Chair
At Comic-Con, Feige’s argument was precise and pointed. Rather than concede that Doctor Doom lacked the buildup Thanos received, he challenged the premise itself — suggesting that audiences have collectively elevated Thanos’ pre-Infinity War presence into something it never quite was. “I will say I do think the Thanos buildup has built up in people’s heads over the years,” he told Davis. “He sat on a chair at the end. He pulled a gauntlet out and said, ‘I’ll do it myself.’ And he yelled at Ronan on a video screen briefly, and that was kind of it.”
He even recalled how Thanos was once the subject of online ridicule for his static presence: “I remember the memes making fun of Thanos for just sitting in a chair. There was a Twitter feed at the time updating every day — ‘I’m still sitting in my chair.’ It was more clever than that, but it was funny.”
His conclusion? Avengers: Infinity War was, functionally, Thanos’ real introduction. The earlier cameos were teasers — presence without story, mystery without character. Doomsday, he argued, isn’t playing catch-up. It is the introduction, and the full story of Doctor Doom, simultaneously.
Peeling the Onion on Victor von Doom
“Doomsday is an introduction and the story of Doom,” Feige explained. “You peel the onion, you learn things about him as you go. And it is very much meant for audiences that know and love him from the comics and audiences who have no clue who he is.”
That’s an ambitious brief. Victor von Doom is one of Marvel Comics’ most layered characters: monarch of Latveria, sorcerer, genius engineer, and a man whose worldview positions himself as humanity’s true saviour. Robert Downey Jr., who spent over a decade as the face of the franchise playing Tony Stark, now carries that complexity into a new role — lending considerable star power to a character who needs to earn his place at the centre of an Avengers film without years of groundwork behind him.
Feige has spoken separately about what makes Doom compelling beyond the iron mask: “his flaws and his hubris and his genius and his warmth and his true belief that he is the hero.” During Marvel’s Hall H panel at Comic-Con, reportedly six thousand attendees wore Doctor Doom masks — an early signal that the character is resonating with core audiences even before the film arrives.
Release dates: Avengers: Doomsday is set for 18 December 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars following on 17 December 2027.
Can Marvel Win the Argument Before December?
Feige’s defence has genuine logic behind it in narrow terms. Thanos’ actual pre-Infinity War screen time was minimal, and the “he sat on a chair” summary is essentially accurate. But critics have a counter-point that carries some weight: while Thanos himself remained a mystery, the Infinity Stones were woven through Phase One and Phase Two as concepts audiences already understood and feared. The threat was contextualised long before the threat’s face appeared. Doctor Doom has had no such connective tissue seeded through the MCU — no equivalent of the Stones building tension in his absence.
Whether Feige’s “Doomsday is the introduction” approach satisfies audiences will ultimately depend on the quality of the film itself. Marvel still has marketing cycles ahead — and a Hall H exclusive reel that showed significantly more Doom-focused footage — to shift the conversation before December. The broader challenge is one of trust: the MCU’s post-Endgame years have been uneven, and audiences are more cautious about signing up for a new saga before it’s proved itself worth following. You can read more about the current gaming and entertainment landscape and how audience expectations have shifted.
Feige’s chair defence is a neat argument. But in December, when audiences finally meet Doctor Doom on his own terms, the verdict won’t be delivered at Comic-Con — it’ll be delivered in the cinema.
