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Avengers Doomsday full cast revealed: OG X-Men return, join forces with Chris Hemsworth's Thor to fight Robert Downey Jr
Avengers Doomsday, the fifth film of the franchise, and first since Avengers Endgame, will be releasing in theatres in 2026.
Marvel Studios announced the full cast of the 2026 release, Avengers: Doomsday, as the film went into production this week. On Wednesday, Marvel took an innovative approach to reveal names through production chairs kept on a lot in an Instagram live stream that lasted several hours. The result was several surprises, the return of fan favourites, and the elevation of some new entrants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). (Also read: Robert Downey Jr. is returning to Marvel’s ‘Avengers’ films as a villain, and more Comic-Con twists)
The returning giants of MCU
Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and Tom Hiddleston's Loki are all back in the Avengers ensemble, where they'll be joined by several of cinema's original X-Men.
The OG X-Men are back
The five veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are in the cast of 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel announced in a series of social media videos that the company rolled out slowly on Wednesday.
Patrick Stewart, 84, who played Professor X in the Fox’s early 2000s X-Men films, and 85-year-old Ian McKellen, who played his arch-nemesis Magneto, are also in the Doomsday cast as Disney and Marvel seek to take advantage of the acquisition of Fox’s movie library. Kelsey Grammer, who played Hank Beast McCoy, was also announced, as were Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, James Marsden's Cyclops, and Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler.
New MCU entrants get top billing too
The more senior superheroes will be joined by more recent additions, including some who have yet to make their MCU debuts. Vanessa Kirby, set to play the Invisible Woman Sue Storm in this July's Fantastic Four: First Steps, is also set for Avengers: Doomsday. Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards will join the Avengers too. And they'll be joined in both movies by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who is playing Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch.
Simu Liu, who played the title character in 2021's Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is also in the newly announced cast, as is Tenoch Huerta Mejía, who played the aquatic antagonist Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the Black Panther films, will also be back among the Avengers, as will her Black Panther castmate Winston Duke.
Florence Pugh, who will reprise her MCU role as Yelena Belova in the forthcoming Thunderbolts will reprise her again in Doomsday. David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Lewis Pullman will also be in both films.
Danny Ramirez, who has assumed the Marvel mantle of Falcon, is also in the cast. Some of the biggest and most anticipated names were not among the 27 names announced, though Marvel and Disney could be sitting on them for now.
The names that were missing
There was no mention of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine or Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, though the announcement did include Channing Tatum, who played the X-Men's Gambit in last year's Deadpool & Wolverine.
Nor did the name Tom Holland appear. His Spider-Man became an Avenger in previous films on loan from owner Sony, whose complicated relationship with Marvel has made the character a sticking point.
Robert Downey Jr rounds up the stellar cast
The Avengers will be taking on Doctor Doom in the film if the storyline is anything like the Doomsday arc from Marvel Comics. Robert Downey Jr. revealed last summer that he'll be returning to the MCU to play the villain Doctor Doom in the next set of Avengers films.
Avengers: Doomsday, set for release in May 2026, will be the fifth Avengers movie and the first since 2019's Avengers Endgame became one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
(With AP inputs)
