Wow! I am still reeling from Marvel’s massive marketing gambit last week, when they announced twenty-seven cast members for Avengers: Doomsday via a five-and-a-half-hour livestream across multiple social media platforms. It was the biggest livestream in the studio's history, garnering over 275 million views across platforms and 3.1 million social mentions (per Deadline). That is five times the social volume of 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine Super Bowl trailer, which at the time was the most-viewed trailer in movie history. Over the course of the day, it became a true pop culture event, reminding the world of the power of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you did somehow manage to miss it, you can find all the details here. The best part? That was not even the entire cast. Headliner Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel are already teasing further announcements.

While it will be hard to top that announcement, the week ahead could be almost as busy. CinemaCon begins tomorrow at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and everyone’s eyes will turn to Sony. Will they reveal any new details about Spider-Man 4 or finally provide an update on Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse at their panel tomorrow night? And what about Walt Disney Studios? Will we learn more about Thunderbolts* or The Fantastic Four: First Steps during their presentation on Thursday? Attendees have already spotted posters for both Marvel Studios movies at the convention.

Tickets are also expected to go on sale this week for Thunderbolts*, and there is a good chance a final trailer will be released to mark the occasion. As if that is not enough, Friday is also April 4th (4/4), and Fantastic Four fans may recall that The Fantastic Four: First Steps used that date last year to release a new poster. Might they highlight the date this year with a second trailer for the movie?

Of course, Friends From Work will be covering any major news that breaks through our social channels and on Discord. Not to be forgotten, Daredevil: Born Again enters the home stretch with episode 7 on Tuesday, and Kyle and Robby will have their initial reactions ready to go on Wednesday.

If you want to know what else you missed last week while we were all staring at chairs, follow me down to…

THE WATERCOOLER

THIS WEEK IN THE MCU

• Capitalizing on the Avengers: Doomsday casting announcement that happened to include several members of the Thunderbolts*, Marvel released a new 30-second teaser for the movie highlighting Sentry. Additionally, with tickets set to go on sale in a matter of days, the movie has received a final runtime of 126 minutes. 5-week box office projections for the movie are currently between $67 and $82 million domestic, per Box Office Theory.

• Before episodes 5 & 6 of Daredevil: Born Again were released last week, the show dropped a mid-season trailer highlighting the hard-hitting action fans can expect over the next three weeks. Check it out above.

• The first volume of the Daredevil: Born Again soundtrack by The Newton Brothers was released on Spotify and other platforms on Friday.

• Filming for season 2 is in full swing, and Deadline is reporting that Lili Taylor (Outer Range) has joined the cast, possibly as a political opponent for Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio).

• It has been mentioned previously in our weekly rumor report that Marvel Studios may be developing a Champions show for Disney+. Now, according to Nexus Point News, Rachna Fruchbom (Shrinking) has been hired to lead the writing room. While that still does not guarantee that the series will be greenlit, it is a step in the right direction.

• Captain America: Brave New World continues to chug along at the box office, bringing in nearly $3 million in its seventh weekend in theaters. The movie has now earned over $408 million globally. We should learn soon when the movie will be available for purchase digitally, on 4K Blu-Ray (my prediction: May), and on Disney+ (my prediction: June).

BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE

• Fandango surveyed more than five thousand fans (all of whom had purchased movie tickets at least once since January 2024) about their most anticipated movie of Summer 2025, and the #1 movie was Jurassic World: Rebirth. Both Marvel Studios movies made the Top-10, with The Fantastic Four: First Steps at #2 and Thunderbolts* at #5. The other movies in the top-5 were Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (#3) and Superman (#4).

TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK

• According to Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman, Marvel Studios is targeting February 2028 for the third Black Panther movie from writer/director Ryan Coogler. Coogler appeared on “The Shannon Sharpe Show” last week and confirmed that he plans to write a role for Denzel Washington in the movie, as long as the Hollywood legend is interested.

That concludes a rather busy week for the MCU. What will they do for an encore? Stay tuned. Thanks for reading, and see you back here next week.

-Greg