Halle Berry Addresses Absence From Avengers: Doomsday Cast (and If She’ll Return)

Halle Berry says fans shouldn’t expect to see her name on the next set of chairs for the Avengers: Doomsday cast. Marvel Studios dominated social media when it announced the cast of Avengers: Doomsday. The announcement brought back many of the original X-Men cast members like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, but lacked a chair with Halle Berry’s name on the back. Marvel has assured fans that there might be more Avengers: Doomsday cast announcements in the future, leading to speculation on who those names could be. The Storm actress is one of the bigger X-Men names missing, but according to Berry, don’t wait for her to show up wearing Storm’s white wig again.

Black Girl Nerds spoke to Halle Berry at CinemaCon for her new film, Crime 101. When Berry was told that fans want to see Storm’s name on a chair for the next Avengers: Doomsday announcement, Berry laughed and replied, “Keep waiting. It’s not going to be there. It’s not going to be there.” It’s a simple and direct response, though fans will still debate whether Berry was telling the truth or playing a game of misdirection.

The full list of X-Men actors returning to reprise their roles in Avengers: Doomsday includes Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), and Kelsey Grammer (Beast). Two of these names have already appeared in Marvel projects. Stewart played X-Men founder Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Grammer returned as Beast in the mid-credits scene of The Marvels.

[RELATED: Is Avengers: Doomsday Actually an Avengers vs X-Men Movie?]

The Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange 3 was from an alternate Earth than the one the X-Men are from, but we’re not entirely sure if that’s the case for Beast. When Monica Rambeau woke up after closing the rift between universes, she was under the care of Dr. Henry McCoy, aka Beast. Monica also reunited with her mother, Maria Rambeau, who went by the Captain Marvel alias of Binary in that universe.

Avengers: Doomsday will theoretically pick up on those story beats from The Marvels, while also reintroducing the X-Men as they prepare to stop an incursion from destroying their world. The other missing X-Men stars not in Avengers: Doomsday so far are Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), and Famke Janssen (Jean Grey). It will probably be tough for Marvel Studios to get all of them back, though they’ve already done a good job recruiting about half.

When asked about returning as Storm for Deadpool & Wolverine, Berry told ComicBook that she was never asked. “No,” Berry said when asked if there had ever been talks about her returning for the movie. “Blake [Lively] asked me one time, I ran into her at a Marc Jacobs fashion show, and she said, ‘Would you ever be in my husband’s movie as Storm?’ I said, ‘Yeah, if he asked me,’ but he never asked me.” 

Alan Cumming shared a hilarious response to his Nightcrawler return. In a video he shared on social media, Cumming can be seen mimicking Nightcrawler’s movements as he jumps around his house. His post also includes old X2 promotional images of himself in his full Nightcrawler costume. Cumming’s caption suggests that he was always holding out hope that one day he’d be able to play the mutant again.

“Never say never!” Cumming wrote, using the #AvengersDoomsday hashtag and tagging the official Marvel Studios account.

The over five-hour livestream of the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement set a new record for Marvel Studios, accumulating 275 million digital views, making it the biggest livestream event in Marvel history. The #AvengersDoomsday hashtag was also the top-trending term on X (formerly Twitter) for more than seven hours.

Do you want to see Halle Berry back as Storm in Avengers: Doomsday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!