- Livestream cast reveal lasted nearly six hours
- Internet reacts with explosion of memes
- Emilia Clarke will return as Daenerys Targaryen, apparently
Marvel Studios has announced the cast of next year’s big summer release, Avengers: Doomsday. Jennifer Coolidge will return as Tanya and Andy Serkis will return as Gollum for the MCU blockbuster. Or at least, that’s the meme-world version of events.
Read more: All the Avengers: Doomsday Casting Announcements
In a unique approach, a nearly six-hour PR stunt unfolded, revealing 27 director’s chairs in an empty hangar, each featuring the name of a star set to appear in the Russo Brothers-directed movie. Every 15 minutes or so, one chair was revealed on a livestream, including a custom mini chair for Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man.
Watched by millions, the long, drawn out reveal frustrated and amused fans in equal measure. It didn’t take long for the internet to deliver some comic relief.
Read more: Thunderbolts* to be MCU’s Toy Story 3
Fans kept themselves entertained over what actors were going to return for the movie with a barrage of memes that got more ridiculous as the hours passed. Even PlayStation and the Empire State Building got in on the action.
Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal
In fairness to Disney and Marvel, the simple yet effective cast reveal worked a treat in terms of social media impact – it’s exactly what they wanted.
The highly anticipated movie had already been making waves in the news, but after what may be the most elaborate casting reveal in Hollywood history, it’s become the most talked-about topic on the internet this week.
Robert Downey Jr., who spearheaded the reveal and also appeared in the accompanying social media post, returns to the Avengers universe, though this time as the villainous Doctor Doom. His Tony Stark/Iron Man character died in Endgame. “New mask, same task,” the actor said at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Avengers: Doomsday is now in production and is scheduled for release on 1 May, 2026. It’s a long way off, but you could easily kill a few hours looking through the cast reveal meme explosion.
Here’s a specially curated list to get you started, including John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.
