Disney will send Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie back into costume for a new theme park ride, the studio announced at its D23 Entertainment Showcase, confirming that Avengers Infinity Defense will open at Disney California Adventure in 2028 as part of a doubling of the Avengers Campus footprint.
Walt Disney Imagineering’s Brent Strong and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed the cast during the Horizons: Disney Experiences panel Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Iman Vellani will lead the attraction as Ms. Marvel, greeting guests as new recruits before sending them into battle. Downey returns as Tony Stark, Hemsworth as Thor, Mackie as Captain America and Renner as Hawkeye, each reprising roles they have played across more than a decade of Marvel films.
The dark ride will place riders in twelve-person, gyro-kinetic vehicles that roll through physical sets and large-scale projected environments meant to evoke Asgard, Wakanda and New York City. Guests are tasked with helping the Avengers stop King Thanos, a multiverse variant of the villain who nearly wiped out half of all life in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” and recovering stolen Stark technology along the way. Imagineers filmed new footage with the cast during production breaks on “Avengers: Doomsday,” the film opening this Christmas.
Infinity Defense will open alongside a second attraction, Stark Flight Lab, in which Downey, Mackie and Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel serve as flight instructors for guests. Disney says the expansion will double the size of Avengers Campus, which debuted at California Adventure in 2021 and has anchored the park’s Marvel offerings since. The company first teased a multiverse-themed Avengers ride in 2022 and showed early vehicle concepts in 2023, meaning Saturday’s reveal closed out several years of incremental previews with its first confirmed cast list and opening timeline.
Disney did not release ticket pricing, detailed ride length or a specific 2028 opening date. Marvel’s parks push continues elsewhere in the resort, with a Spider-Man-themed expansion also moving forward at Hong Kong Disneyland and further Marvel development planned for Shanghai Disneyland.
