Pop Culture Pick: Marvel's Chair-ing. Are We Caring?

A new promotional stunt is both low key and intriguing

Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, Marvel’s latest hype gambit (yes, Channing Tatum is back back back!) Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social

If you had told me even a few months ago that Marvel would be building hype for its next, hotly (mostly) anticipated Avengers movie by running a very long video featuring a set of director’s chairs, I’d have thought you were losing your mind.

And indeed, that might have been the thinking when this latest promo video was first pitched. But here I have been for a large chunk of Wednesday, the video on in the background as each casting name for Avengers: Doomsday is announced via cloth chair backing.

Some are entirely expected; your Chris Hemsworth, your Anthony Mackie, your Paul Rudd (with amusingly smaller chair). Others could have been easily guessed, such as the roster for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, who we knew would play a key part in the new film, since Robert Downey Jr. was announced last year as playing Doctor Doom, the Four’s primary antagonist.

Then there are the genuine surprises, such as Tenoch Huerta Mejía, who played Namor the Submariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Oh, and the cast of the 20th Century Fox X-Men movies, which despite the use of Kelsey Grammer as Beast in the post-credits sting for The Marvels, I’m not sure I saw coming back after the events of Deadpool & Wolverine, which appeared to serve as a fond farewell to that era of superhero movies.

And I’m tempted to wonder whether they’ll show up, only to vanish again (or die) so as to lay the path clear for the MCU versions of the characters. Ditto Channing Tatum, who finally got his chance to play Gambit in last year’s superhero romp.

Tom Hiddleston, whose Loki was last seen taking up a position monitoring the Multiverse, is also going to show up, though I’d expect him to be more of a cameo.

It is 1:00pm as I write this, and the livestream likely still has some time to run. Who else could be announced? At this point, I’m not going to be surprised if the Solid Gold Dancers from Scrooged are confirmed as appearing.

All this to say: the chair thing is a very silly idea in concept, but it’s certainly drawing attention. Heck, I just wrote a whole column about a video that should have all the excitement of a Staples corporate presentation.

But if you really want to watch the thing, go for your life…

Avengers: Doomsday will be in cinemas on 1 May 2026. The livestream might still be running by then.