In addition to Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, ‘X-Men’ actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, and a significant portion of the studio’s ‘Thunderbolts,’ Robert Downey Jr. makes a comeback to the MCU.
The Avengers are finally getting back together six years after Avengers: Endgame became one of the most successful films ever made.
Marvel Studios revealed the cast of Avengers: Doomsday during a nearly five-and-a-half-hour livestream. The cast included both upcoming stars from Fantastic Four: First Steps and actors from 20th Century Fox’s now-defunct X-Men universe, in addition to staples of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America), who is anticipated to feature in at least one of the two-part films, were among the notable names absent from the roll call.
Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Winston Duke (M’Baku), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Danny Ramirez (The Falcon), Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) were among the cast members who were revealed.
The live-stream revealed that Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Wyatt Russell (U.S. Agent), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), and Lewis Pullman (a character at this point simply known as Bob) were also given seats in the soundstage for Marvel’s upcoming May release of the anti-hero team film Thunderbolts*.
X-Men actors Patrick Stewart (Prof. X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique) were also revealed as part of the cast. X-Men, the 2000 film that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige began his career on as an assistant, helped usher in the modern era of superhero films.
Alan Cuming (Nightcrawler) and Kelsey Grammer (Beast), who starred in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand and made a cameo in The Marvels, will join them. Channing Tatum, who once was attached to a Gambit movie that never happened, will also appear in Doomsday after making his debut in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Members of the Fantastic Four are also in the cast, including Pedro Pascal (Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (The Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing) and Joseph Quinn (The Human Torch).
Tenoch Huerta Mejía, who played Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was the first true surprise of the casting event. There were questions over his return to Marvel after he was accused of sexual misconduct in June 2023, claims he denied as “false and completely unsubstantiated.” He dropped out of a Netflix movie amid the media storm, and later appeared as a guest at Marvel’s Echo premiere event, suggesting he and the studio were on good terms.
Sources say that even with 26 actors announced, Marvel wasn’t done with revealing the entire cast, although when and how another unveiling will occur was unclear.
The event was simple. It included a shot of a director’s chair with a star’s name on the back. Every twelve minutes or so, music from the next actor’s movie would play, and the camera would shift to a new chair and name. It ended with the swell of a new take on composer Alan Silvestri’s Avengers theme, revealing Robert Downey Jr. (Doctor Doom) in a suit and tie, giving a “shhh” to the camera.
Marvel first announced Avengers: Doomsday to fanfare at San Diego Comic-Con in July, with the surprise reveal that Downey would be returning to the MCU after retiring the role of Iron Man with Endgame. The move reunited Downey, Marvel’s most bankable star, with the Russo Bros., Marvel’s most bankable directors, who likewise had departed the MCU after Endgame.
Marvel boss Feige first pitched Downey on the idea of returning as Doom, while Downey himself convinced the Russo Bros. to return to the fold after spending the last half decade working in the world of streaming movies. The pair opted to return after their frequent screenwriter collaborator Stephen McFeely pitched them his take.
Doomsday has a release date of May 1, 2026, while follow-up Avengers: Secret Wars is on the calendar for May 7, 2027.
The Russos recently told The Hollywood Reporter about the challenge of casting the movies and keeping the characters straight, confirming that they use baseball cards featuring every Marvel actor and character. This is also something they did while working on Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
“Now they have magnets on them so we can put ‘em on a board and look at ‘em. It’s the only way to keep track of the amount of characters that we’re working with,” said Joe Russo. Added Anthony Russo: “And as far as how do we look at who’s in the movies, it’s just a long creative process of exploring where we want to take the story. What is the most surprising and exciting area for us to push into, and which characters help us in that effort?”
ALSO READ
- American family that is nice Grace Natalia What Happened in the Horrible True Story
- jack ruby On Tuesday, more than 2,000 documents pertaining to JFK’s murder were made public. How to access them
- randy travis carrie Underwood, Randy Travis bring Grand Ole Opry House to tears during 100th anniversary special
- Tracy Morgan appears to throw up while sitting courtside at the New York Knicks game and leaves in a wheelchair.