'Avengers: Doomsday' cast get-together felt like summer camp, says Anthony Mackie

On set, Anthony Mackie says the vibe was less end-of-the-world and more reunion weekend — castmates swapping life updates between takes and finally seeing each other after years of shooting separate projects. He described the shoot as a long-overdue catch‑up, from who tied the knot to who’s a new parent.

“It was like summer camp,” Mackie told Entertainment Tonight.

That cheery energy sits in sharp contrast to what’s on the page. Per the film ’s synopsis, Avengers: Doomsday pits the heroes against Doctor Doom and pulls in characters from three different worlds just to mount a fight. Grim on screen, easygoing off it — at least for some of the cast.

Secrecy dialed up

Behind the camaraderie, Marvel reportedly ran its tightest spoiler lockdown yet — the kind where even the people making the movie don’t always know who else is in the room with them (or if there is a room at all).

• Scripts were kept scarce, with pages doled out sparingly.
• Real character names were swapped for code names.
• Some actors said they had no idea who else was on the call sheet for their scenes.

That led to odd introductions later. On SiriusXM Hits 1, Alan Cumming said he finally met Florence Pugh at the Emmys — after performing a scene together without ever actually sharing a set.

“I saw Florence Pugh yesterday at the Emmy, and I said, ‘Gosh it’s so funny, I’ve never met you but you lay on top of me.’”

So depending on the day and the call sheet, the same production swung from summer-camp reunion to jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces — complete with code names, limited pages and co-stars you only meet months later on an awards carpet.