‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Teaser Trailers Top a Marvelous 1 Billion Combined Views

In mid-December, Marvel Studios embarked on a rarity in modern movie marketing when it released a teaser for Avengers: Doomsday solely in theaters. Typically, a launch for a movie of that would size hit online immediately, and might be tied to a big TV broadcast, like a championship sporting event, to help boost the numbers.

But the low-key teaser focusing on Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers played exclusively in theaters in front of Avatar: Fire & Ash before debuting online five days later. Three more teasers followed weekly in theaters, with spots featuring Thor and The X-Men, as well as a fourth and final centering on Black Panther‘s Shuri and M’Baku meet Ben Grimm from Fantastic Four.

The experiment paid off in a big way, with insiders saying that the four teasers have reached a combined 1.02 billion views. The individual numbers for each teaser was not revealed, but it’s a massive sum, considering these were strictly organic online views with no tie-ins to a broadcast event.

Pirated versions of the teasers appeared online early, and Marvel was well aware that once something is in a theater, it’s impossible to stop someone from recording it with a smartphone. But that did not dampen enthusiasm. According to insiders, the social volume was for each teaser was on average 188 percent greater than for a typical Marvel drop, and the combined four teasers now top the highest views for Marvel trailer launches on Instagram (505 million) and TikTok (103 million) views. They also spawned 16 owned organic trends on X, including “Doomsday” “Steve Rogers” “Thor” “X-Men” “Wakanda.”

Just how big is the 1 billion-plus combined figure? It’s tough to make an apples to apples comparison, since usually studios tout 24-hour numbers, and the first Doomsday trailer hit online Dec. 23. But consider this: years ago, Deadpool & Wolverine launched to a record-setting 365 million views in 24 hours, making it the top trailer of all time during that period. But that number included the 100-plus million who watched the Super Bowl on TV. More recently, Fantastic Four: First Steps flew to 202 million in 24 hours — tied to a big media event featuring the cast.

Doomsday, which bows Dec. 18, and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars mark the return of Marvel stalwarts Joe and Anthony Russo as directors, with the duo producing via their AGBO banner. And the two movies bring Robert Downey Jr. back into the fold, this time as Doctor Doom. Marvel is said to be particularly proud that the four teasers were so successful without showing Downey, proving that there remains a great and passionate interest in the characters, and their originating actors.

In some way, Marvel sees this teaser gambit, which required close coordination with theaters around the world, as continuing the famous, five-hour live-streamed casting announcement for the movie. Marvel is continuing the tradition, launching a live-streamed countdown clock to Doomsday.

“Each one of those trailers is narrative information,” Joe Russo recently cryptically said on the Empire podcast. “And it’s all part of a larger story. And so, I would argue that Doomsday has already started for you.”