Avengers: Doomsday Directors Post Fresh Instagram Tease As Trailer Speculation Mounts

The Russo Brothers, directors of Avengers: Endgame and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, have posted a fresh Instagram teaser that Marvel fans are now attempting to decode.

The image, posted to Instagram this morning, shows a blurry black and white object that fans say makes the shape of a V. That really is all we have to go on — which is not much — and yet fans have quickly formed a long list of theories for what the V might represent.

Of course, Doomsday stars Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom — whose full name begins Victor Von. Could this V just be a nod to that? It seems to simple. What about V as a Roman numeral then, for the number five? Well, Doomsday would be the fifth Avengers movie. But again, there’s nothing here we don’t know already.

But what if V was a countdown? With a report that Avengers: Doomsday will get its first trailer attached to the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, speculation is rife over when that trailer will find its way online. (As a reminder, the new Avatar movie launches in theaters this Friday, December 19.)

“V as in 5 in Roman numerals? It is five days until Fire & Ash — and supposedly the Doomsday trailer with it — releases, no? Maybe this is a cryptic countdown,” suggested Marvel fan luthestreewhisperer on reddit.

As noted over the weekend, Doomsday will reportedly get not one but four trailers released with Fire and Ash over the course of four weeks, in a bid to keep the excitement going (and Avatar’s tickets selling for repeat viewings).

With at least four big superhero teams in the movie, could each trailer focus on one of these in turn? Joining the line-up for Doomsday are members of the classic Avengers (including Thor and Loki), the New Avengers (AKA, The Thunderbolts), the Fantastic Four and the classic X-Men.

This isn’t the first time the Russo Brothers have issued a cryptic Instagram tease, of course. Previously, the pair posted an image that appeared to show the outline of the letters “A V X”, which many fans took to mean “Avengers Versus X-Men”, a nod at the expected opening of the movie, before everyone realizes Doctor Doom is the bad guy they need to work together to defeat.

Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters in almost exactly one year: on December 18, 2026.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social