3 Things That Don’t Make Sense About the Avengers: Doomsday Cast

Marvel recently unveiled the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, and the announcement has prompted much debate. After watching a five-hour livestream of 27 actors’ names on the backs of chairs, MCU fans expressed their delight, displeasure, and confusion at some of the selections. Doomsday‘s announced cast features long-awaited MCU returnees like Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, as well as surprising additions such as Fox’s X-Men. Much of fans’ criticism of the lineup has been directed toward some noteworthy omissions, and the presence of just five female characters. Although there is plenty to be excited about when it comes to the first Avengers movie since 2019’s Endgame, Doomsday‘s cast doesn’t make a ton of sense thus far.

It’s highly probable that more names will be added to Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast over the next year and that others will be saved as surprises until the movie opens in theaters. Nonetheless, as things stand, there exist several questionable selections in Doomsday‘s cast.

The Return of (Some of) the Original Fox X-Men Actors

The most unexpected development in Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast is the return of several members of Fox’s original X-Men actors. Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, and Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler were all announced to appear in the film. With the exception of Stewart and Grammer, the aforementioned actors will appear in an MCU title for the first time in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. The original Fox X-Men left out of the Doomsday cast include Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Halle Berry’s Storm, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey, and Anna Paquin’s Rogue.

25 years have passed since 2000’s X-Men marked the beginning of Fox’s Marvel universe, and one must question the purpose of bringing numerous original cast members back in an MCU Avengers movie more than two decades later. Their presence may serve toward killing them off to pave the way for new actors to take their place as the MCU’s X-Men, but this step feels unnecessary, especially considering Marvel’s recasting of the Fantastic Four in the MCU. Thus, the Fox X-Men’s involvement in Doomsday overwhelmingly screams nostalgia bait.

Using the multiverse as a mechanism for fan service is an uncreative, overused strategy. Fox’s X-Men movies have a dedicated fan base, however, that doesn’t mean that all past and present admirers of the MCU will delight in seeing them take up valuable space in a highly-anticipated Avengers film. The X-Men feel out of place here since the MCU has only lightly touched on their wing of the comic book franchise. Doomsday would likely benefit more from centering on the MCU’s established heroes while the MCU builds a new generation of X-Men in other future projects.

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The Omission of Multiple Major MCU Avengers

In addition to Shang-Chi and Thor, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Captain America, Letitia Wright’s Shuri/Black Panther, Winston Duke’s M’Baku, and Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang/Ant-Man are among the existing Avengers slated to appear in Doomsday. A striking number of important heroes have, as of now, been excluded from the film. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Christ Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange are all missing from the current Doomsday roster despite widespread expectations of their involvement in the movie. Additionally, Chris Evans, who was previously reported to have a role in Doomsday, is still yet to be confirmed by Marvel.

It’s hard to believe that an Avengers movie would exclude so many important members of the titular team. Perhaps Marvel will save the omitted heroes for Avengers: Secret Wars, but it remains disappointing that Doomsday lacks so many beloved characters in the buildup to the Multiverse Saga’s finale. Captain Marvel and Hulk have scarcely appeared in the MCU since the most recent Avengers installment, while the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange’s cliffhanger endings in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness demand a continuation in the near future. MCU fans have long looked forward to all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes reuniting in the first Avengers movie since Endgame, but at the moment, it strangely looks like that won’t be the case. Going into Secret Wars without a cohesive unit of Avengers has to be a mistake.

The Revelation of a Potential Thunderbolts* Spoiler

Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast announcement includes all of the Thunderbolts* characters, with the exception of one. Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, and Lewis Pullman’s Sentry will all feature in Doomsday, but Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster will not. This comes as a possible revelation that Taskmaster does not survive the events of Thunderbolts* or that Marvel has plans to write the character out of the MCU.

It’s impossible to know for sure, given that Thunderbolts* releases in roughly one month, but it’s bizarre that Marvel appears to both hint at Taskmaster’s demise and confirm the survival of the other Thunderbolts* members before anyone has seen the movie. The news significantly reduces the stakes of Thunderbolts*, and barring some unexpected twist, audiences now know the fates of the anti-heroes. It’s unfortunate that the MCU looks to be retiring the version of Taskmaster introduced in 2021’s Black Widow. Despite some fans denouncing the MCU’s deviation from the character’s comic book origin, Black Widow‘s introduction of the severely traumatized daughter of General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) served as a compelling alternate story. The MCU should work to flesh out Taskmaster’s arc in the franchise instead of removing her from the franchise entirely.

Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters on May 1, 2026.