MarvelBlog News for March 8th, 2026

This week, we’ll discuss the mystery of the Avengers: Doomsday marketing campaign.

Also, we’ll tell you when to expect the new Spider-Man trailer. Hint: VERY soon!

So, you’ll enjoy the latest edition of MarvelBlog News.

Meet Asad Ayaz

Kevin Feige and Asad Ayaz may have miscalculated a bit in December.

The duo plotted the all-important strategy of promoting Avengers: Doomsday.

We discuss Feige a lot, but this may be the first time you’re learning about Ayaz.

Earlier in 2026, the executive completed a rather impressive career feat.

For the second time in less than a year, he consolidated power at Disney.

Ayaz now oversees literally every aspect of Disney marketing, including Marvel.

Disney’s C-suite adores Ayaz, as does the Board of Directors, and I can prove it.

He’s often mentioned as the next-next CEO of Disney, a joke about his credentials.

In ten years or so when D’Amaro starts training his replacement, Ayaz is already the hot name.

Alas, the executive has made a couple of glaring missteps in recent months.

Most notably, Disney badly misfired on a Star Wars trailer during the Super Bowl.

The company paid $8 million to create a spoof of sorts for The Mandalorian & Grogu.

This ad should have demonstrated a Western feel with some truck commercial elements.

Instead, fans grabbed their phones to express their outrage about its confusing tone.

Then, we have the Avengers: Doomsday campaign, which may have been doomed from the start.

The pun was accidental, but the harsh evaluation is accurate, as Marvel picked the wrong horse.

Ayaz created as many as seven different commercials, at least based on speculation and filings.

We received four of those spots (to date), and they were all quite good.

Also, the reported numbers suggest that fans sought them out online, which was the point.

Off to a Bad Star

However, Disney attached these trailers to its surefire December blockbuster, Avatar: Fire & Ash.

This seems like the right time to mention that Avatar 3 earned $1.48 billion.

That sounds great until you realize that Avatar: The Way of Water gained $2.33 billion.

So, yeah, the franchise declined at precisely the worst time for Disney, Marvel, and Ayaz.

Everyone involved with the project had expected many more eyeballs for these ads.

We know that a quarter-billion people watched anyway thanks to the power of social media.

Still, many of us are thinking the same thing. Avengers: Doomsday got off to a bad start.

This entire marketing campaign needs to go smoothly, but Ayaz has already suffered strike one.

Some of the other ambitious ideas are paying dividends, though. For instance, have you seen this:

Literally all that video does is show a clock counting down until the release of Avengers: Doomsday.

At any given time, 100-250 people are watching a clock because they’re that excited about the movie.

For no apparent reason, more than 363,000 people have liked the video to boot.

Obviously, the demand for Avengers: Doomsday is off the charts, but that means nothing.

Avatar 3 featured evil fire Na’vi, yet it vastly disappointed relative to expectations.

Marvel really needs to tighten up its marketing campaign from now on to secure the brand.

Along those lines, I’m hearing that Avengers: Secret Wars is back to being one film only.

This title shares a similarity to Spider-Man: Brand New Day in that the studio wants more money.

Breaking the story into two parts would achieve that goal. However, it’s not really possible.

Neither story splits evenly enough for multiple films. Speaking of which…

A Brand New Day Indeed

The hot Spider-Man rumor this week brings us right back to where we started.

Reportedly, Sadie Sink is, in fact, Jean Grey after all, which is what I guessed at the time.

No, I’m not taking a victory lap here, as Marvel rumormongers are wrong more often than right.

I’m just saying that when Marvel casts one of the most famous red-headed actresses on the planet, the dots are easy to connect.

If – and that’s a HUGE if – this rumor proves accurate, Marvel is debuting Jean Grey in a Sony title.

That would be an interesting turn of events, given that Disney owns Marvel.

Such a move would suggest a strong relationship and level of trust between Sony and Disney.

To a larger point, Sadie Sink would become one of the most crucial players in the new MCU.

For that matter, we should probably start wondering whether we’re building toward Dark Phoenix.

Yes, I know that Disney technically already made that movie, but it was inherited from Fox.

Disney wanted nothing to do with it, knowing the film was terrible and advertised it accordingly.

Since the film managed a paltry $252 million, few will remember it by 2030 anyway.

That’s about the timeline for a build to that sort of X-Men franchise story arc.

So, Sadie Sink as Phoenix would create a ton of options for Marvel, presuming that’s what’s happening.

Marvel Miscellany

Either way, I do have an unfortunate IMAX update based on something I’d previously reported.

The rumors are sadly true. Dune 3 and The Odyssey have locked up IMAX screens for their releases.

Since IMAX holds screens for multiple weeks, this timing proves unfortunate for Marvel.

Apparently, neither Spider-Man: Brand New Day nor Avengers: Doomsday will play on IMAX.

Here’s IMAX itself saying so in an investor presentation from a few days ago. That seems quite final.

The other big news this week is just a tease, but it’s a potentially thrilling one.

Have you ever watched the film Get Shorty? If not, it’s an absolute must.

The film is brutally funny, thanks in part to the work of Delroy Lindo, one of my favorites.

Lindo, who is currently nominated for an Academy Award, has become friends with Ryan Coogler.

The two of them proved a masterful combo in Sinners, and Lindo would like them to work together again.

You can probably guess where I’m going with this one. Yes, Lindo wants to do Black Panther 3.

A combination of Denzel Washington and Delroy Lindo in a Black Panther movie is absolutely mythic.

Dear Marvel: please oh PLEASE make this one happen.

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