A Worker’s Doctor’s Appointment Request Has ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Fans in Stitches

Every big movie release creates its own tiny holiday culture. Fans book the earliest showings, plan group outings and, if they’re feeling creative, try to find a way around the work calendar. The hype for Marvel’s next Avengers event has now reached the point where it’s spilling into the workplace.

‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ is still a couple of months away, but the buzz has been building for weeks. Presales have already broken records, a Doctor Doom popcorn bucket has been revealed, and fan accounts have turned the film’s countdown into a daily meme. It was only a matter of time before something truly relatable broke through.

That moment arrived this week in the form of a text exchange that Complex shared on October 8. The post describes an employee asking for the day off for a “doctor’s appointment” in order to see ‘Avengers: Doomsday’. It was credited to the X account Buy Physical Media, and it quickly gathered more than 147,000 views, roughly 3,000 likes and 177 reposts.

An employee asked for the day off for a ‘doctor’s appointment’ to go see Avengers: Doomsday. [via/ X VHSDVDBLURAY4K] https://t.co/eY4y6G8CSe

— Complex (@Complex) October 8, 2026

According to the screenshot, the conversation is brief. The employee opens with a polite “I got a question?”, the boss replies “What’s up?” and the employee asks if they can take 12/18 off. Another image in the thread, partly cut off, appears to show the doctor’s appointment explanation.

The original poster, who runs the Buy Physical Media account, shared the exchange on October 5 with a short caption saying an employee had just asked to take ‘Doomsday’ off. The punchline lands because the date in the message is the movie’s release day. It’s a very Marvel version of calling in sick.

Replies to the original post leaned into the humor. One user joked that the employee had picked the one boss who actually knows the release date. That sentiment captures why the post resonated, since anyone who has ever tried to keep a fandom plan quiet can imagine the awkwardness.

The account behind the post has been in the Marvel conversation before. It is the same one that shared a first look at the Doctor Doom popcorn bucket on September 27. It also went viral earlier this month with a popcorn-related post that reached millions of views.

The film’s release date is December 18, and the movie is shaping up to be an event in the old Avengers tradition. It is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, who also made ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’. Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU as Doctor Doom, leading an ensemble that includes Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans, Florence Pugh, Anthony Mackie, Vanessa Kirby, Letitia Wright, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

The story brings the Avengers, the Wakandans, the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers and the X-Men together against Doom. It’s the first Avengers movie since ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in 2019, which explains some of the eagerness. After years of multiverse setup, fans clearly want a payoff.

The ticket numbers back up the excitement. When presales opened on July 20 for roughly 1,000 premium large-format theaters, the film reportedly sold $16.5 million in tickets in its first 24 hours. That was twice the opening-day figure of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, according to Variety.

He used to be different. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters everywhere December 18. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/J5PUbxvAkc https://t.co/OUutSMZneq

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 15, 2026

By August 20, advance sales had reportedly passed $35 million, which one outlet described as unprecedented this far ahead of a release. Disney later said the total had hit $50 million, with around 70% of tickets going to premium-format screenings. In Australia, the film also generated more than $1 million in presales within its first 24 hours, the biggest opening day of ticket presales for any film there this year.

For context, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ remains Marvel’s biggest benchmark, opening to $357.1 million domestically and finishing with nearly $2.8 billion worldwide. ‘Doomsday’ also faces tough competition, since it opens the same day as Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part Three’, which has reportedly locked up IMAX screens for its first three weeks. Disney responded by creating its own Infinity Vision premium format.

Fans planning a day off may also want to know how long the film will run. The Hollywood Reporter reported an official runtime of 165 minutes back in July, though the Russo brothers have since suggested the final cut will be shorter. That makes a half-day request seem less plausible, which may be why the employee in the viral text asked for the whole day.

Of course, the post is a joke, and nobody is suggesting readers should try the same trick. Still, the message captures the kind of excitement that studios dream of. When a movie ticket starts to feel like a reason to bend the rules at work, the marketing has clearly done its job.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!