“Avengers: Doomsday” Gets Its Cast and Begins Production!

Today, Marvel Studios rolled out the cast of its next epic event movie, Avengers: Doomsday, on all of its social media channels.

Last July, during Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, they shocked the world by announcing the return of Robert Downey Jr., this time as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next Big Bad, Victor von Doom. It was such a gigantic surprise that RDJ was returning that even the cast of the other Marvel films announced on the stage that day weren’t aware of his return until they were asked in the post-panel press line.

So, yesterday, when a rumor began to circulate of a casting announcement more shocking than that moment hit the internet, many, including myself, questioned what kind of announcement could outdo RDJ’s return. Well, Marvel Studios showed us they know what they are doing with five and a half hours of a nearly silent livestream announcing most of the cast of the Avengers: Doomsday and officially announcing that production has begun.

Every 15 minutes or so during the stream, someone placed a director’s chair in the frame with the member of the cast embroidered on the back. The list is interesting in both the order and the names on the list.

Here is the order of the cast.

• Chris Hemsworth: Thor
• Vanessa Kirby: Sue Storm/Invisible Woman
• Anthony Mackie: Sam Wilson/Cap
• Sebastian Stan: Bucky/Winter Soldier
• Letitia Wright: Shuri/Black Panther
• Paul Rudd: Ant-Man/Giant-Man?
• Wyatt Russell: US Agent
• Tenoch Huerta: Namor/Sub-Mariner
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach: The Thing
• Simu Liu: Shang-Chi
• Florence Pugh: Yelena Bolova/ Black Widow
• Kelsey Grammer: Beast
• Lewis Pullman: Sentry
• Danny Ramirez: Falcon
• Joseph Quinn: Human Torch
• David Harbour: Red Guardian
• Winston Duke: M’Baku
• Hanna John-Kamen: Ghost
• Tom Hiddleston: Loki
• Patrick Stewart: Professor X
• Ian McKellan: Magneto
• Alan Cumming: Nightcrawler
• Rebecca Romjin: Mystique
• James Marsden: Cyclops
• Channing Tatum: Gambit
• Pedro Pascal: Reed Richards
• Robert Downey, Jr: Dr. Doom

Some names make sense. RDJ, of course. The cast of the upcoming Fantastic Four was also going to be there. Most of the cast of the Thunderbolts, including Lewis Pullman’s Sentry, seems a bit of a surprise but is understandable. Anthony Mackie and Danny Ramirez are also not too big of a stretch reprising their roles from Captain America: Brave New World as Captain America and Falcon, respectively.

Some small surprises were Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Thor’s return to the MCU was part of the post-credit scene in Thor: Love and Thunder. But Loki’s return was a surprise for me. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, we thought we would never see Hiddleston play a character that the fans had come to love. But with the very successful Loki series, we got to spend more time with him.

Spoilers ahead for Loki season 2 if you have not watched it yet!

At the end of the second season, Loki sacrifices himself to become the God of Stories after the Time Loom is destroyed. We all hoped to see Loki again, but I’m sure not many of us thought that it would be in Doomsday. Although, God Loki vs Emperor Doom is something that happens in the comics, so I shouldn’t be that surprised.

We are also getting Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man or possibly Giant-Man. Seeing Paul on the screen always makes me happy. So is seeing Simu Liu. Shang-Chi was one of my favorite movies of Phase 4, so seeing his return is icing on the cupcake.

They also added Letitia Wright’s Shuri/Black Panther, Winston Duke’s M’Baku, and the Submariner himself, Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta. Having Shuri and M’Baku as part of the announcement makes me feel that Kevin Feige has more plans for the new Black Panther. Same with Namor, although he is one of the first two ‘mutants’ in the MCU and should have been a clue of what was coming with the casting.

BUT… But the huge news to come out of this announcement was the return of the X-Men! Specifically, several members of the original X-Men live-action universe from Fox. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan returning as Xavier and Magento was not on my Doomsday Bingo Card. With Deadpool and Wolverine seemingly putting a nice bow tie on those films, I would have never thought we would see them back together in these roles again. And yet, here they are.

And they are not alone. Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romjin as Mystique, and James Marsden as Cyclops will be returning to their respective roles after more than 20 years. Each of them has dropped in for cameos, but they had all left these roles behind them.

Bringing these actors back to these specific roles means they are dealing with the events from the end of X-Men: Days of Futures Past. If I were to guess right now, they are using the events of Logan saving the timeline from the sentinels in Days of Futures Past and adding them to the Multiverse storyline, bringing them into the MCU story. I don’t believe any of these actors have multiple-picture deals, but I also will never be mad at seeing them return for more of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I’m most excited about Channing Tatum. After years of trying to get his version of Gambit off the ground, he finally got to shine in Deadpool and Wolverine. This makes me feel like that Feige has big plans for him in the future.

Let’s speculate responsibly on what the plot of this movie could be. With the inclusion of the 10005 X-Men Universe, there will be a battle with the MCU 616 Universe, started by Doom. With Pedro Pascal and Robert Downey Jr being the last two announced it feels like they are going to be the two going directly against each other. Which side in the 10005 X-Men vs the 616 Avengers is the Fantastic Four’s pick is still to be figured out.

Also, with The God of Stories holding the Yggdrasil tree together, I wonder if Doom will find a way to get to it and destroy it somehow. Then, using the TVA or the Void as his new Battle World map for Secret Wars.

I don’t expect many of the 10005 X-Men to survive Avengers: Doomsday, but Gambit will.

Some names and characters who were not part of the announcement today. No Tom Holland. Now to be fair to Tom, he is filming with Christopher Nolan right now, so I’m sure he doesn’t have a lot of free time to film another movie. But that also doesn’t mean we won’t get Tobey Mcguire or Andrew Garfield returning or possibly the introduction of a live-action Miles Morales.

There were also no members of the old or new Guardians of the Galaxy. No members of The Marvels. Not Defenders, Ironheart, Iron Patriot, Wanda, or Vision. Neither was Sorcerer Supreme Wong nor Doctor Strange, and no Hulk. This doesn’t mean they aren’t officially part of the movie. I’m sure they didn’t announce everyone, wanting to save some surprise appearances for the film.

Also, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, and Famke Jannsen were not announced. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were there. And no Hugh Jackman or Ryan Reynolds. Maybe no Reynolds, but Jackman is going to be playing Logan til he’s 90!

I really enjoyed the stream, watching the chat try to guess the next name on the list. Although, I wish it wasn’t a new name every 15 minutes but more like every five. I had the stream running in the background while at work all day, waiting for the next musical cue to notify us of the next name. It would have shortened the entire thing down, but this kept the fans engaged all day and controlled the news throughout.

What does this mean for Hall H this year at San Diego Comic-Con? I’m not sure.

This felt like Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige wanting to control the names coming to film in London after paparazzi had photo-ed several MCU actors arriving in London.

My excitement was off the charts for this movie since the Robert Downey Jr announcement, but now its even higher, if that’s possible.

Now we wait for May 1st, 2026 for Doomsday to get here! 

Author: Sean Miley

I’d rather find the things that I like about a story, movie, or tv show, than lead with negativity. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, MCU, comic book and conventions.

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