Pull up a chair: The Avengers are assembling once again.
Marvel inundated social media on Wednesday with the cast announcement for its 2026 tentpole “Avengers: Doomsday.” Over more than five hours, the oversized superhero squad generated constant buzz (and memes) as viewers patiently watched a livestream that slowly revealed cast members’ names on the backs of director’s chairs.
It was the first official information on who will headline the first of a two-part finale to the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, and Marvel pulled out all the stops. It seems like just about everyone in Kevin Feige’s rolodex is on the call sheet. Stars from “Captain America,” “Black Panther,” “Thor” and “Ant-Man” are on the list, plus some upcoming franchise hopefuls from “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Thunderbolts*.” But can “Doomsday” reach the $2.79 billion box-office heights of “Endgame”?
People may bemoan superhero franchise fatigue and the overabundance of Marvel titles, but around 100,000 viewers were concurrently watching the livestream on YouTube, and “Avengers: Doomsday” was also the No. 1 trending topic on X/Twitter, with countless memes spouting off whenever a new cast member was announced. How’s that for a flex?
Indeed, the livestream was a slow-burn publicity stunt reminiscent of the 2017 reveal for the “Game of Thrones” Season 7 release date — remember when thousands of people watched a melting ice block to find out when the mega-popular HBO show would return? Both announcements were mocked for their pace, but could any other show or movie pull off such a daring (yet glacially slow) event for something as ordinary as a release date or cast reveal?
While no other Marvel movie has replicated the success of “Endgame,” the company got a super-powered shot in the arm when “Deadpool & Wolverine” made $1.3 billion last year after the franchise saw disappointing returns from “The Marvel,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Eternals.” “Doomsday” arrives seven years after “Endgame” and comes amid a creative reset, with original stars like Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson out and new superhero teams like Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts in.
After this hours-long announcement, does this “Avengers” cast spell doomsday for Marvel or a new beginning? Here are some of the major takeaways.
The X-Men Are Right Around the Corner
Outside of last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Doomsday” is shaping up to be the most mutant-heavy movie so far in the MCU. “X-Men” stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were two of the biggest additions to the “Doomsday” cast, along with Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique.
Stewart popped up as Professor Charles Xavier in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” Tatum memorably appeared in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Grammer had a post-credits cameo in “The Marvels,” but McKellen, Cumming, Marsden and Romijn haven’t reprised their roles in years. With the addition of these X-characters, it seems like “Doomsday” will bring back some of the fan-favorite mutants before rebooting the X-Men completely. There’s been no official casting announced for the franchise’s future, but fans think “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink could be playing Jean Grey in “Spider-Man 4.” “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars” may wipe the “X-Men” slate clean before launching full-force into the mutants.
Will Fans Love these Avengers as Much as the Old Ones?
Part of the fun of that first “Avengers” movie and the super-team’s subsequent cinematic adventures was that it brought all of these popular heroes together on one Quinjet. There was Captain America and Iron Man and Hulk and Thor, all of whom were big enough deals to headline their own standalone adventures. Soon enough, the group would expand to include other popular characters such as Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, which helped keep things fresh. But as Marvel has entered its fourth, fifth and sixth phases, it has struggled to introduce new costumed vigilantes that can capture the popular imagination like the original core did.
Instead of backing a Brink’s truck into Chris Evans’ driveway, the latest Avengers film will lean heavily on more recent additions to the MCU. They include Simu Lu’s Shang-Chi, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, and Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent, as well as characters audiences haven’t been introduced to yet (at least as played by these actors), such as Pedro Pascal’s Mr. Fantastic and Vanessa Kirby’s Invisible Woman. Will they have the same chemistry as the group that Tony Stark first assembled or will the new Avengers feel less like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and more like a cover band that’s playing the old hits without the original magic?
Where are Cumberbatch, Olsen, Jackman, Renner, Ruffalo, Reynolds, Holland, Larson and Pratt?
A number of familiar names were left off the callsheet. Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen already admitted they were sitting “Avengers: Doomsday” out after Jonathan Majors’ departure sparked some major rewrites, so their absence was expected. But fans were likely disappointed to discover that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Chris Pratt’s Star Lord, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye are joining them on the bench. That doesn’t mean these all-stars won’t be enlisted to save the galaxy from Doctor Doom in “Avengers: Secret Wars.” Cumberbatch, for instance, teased to Variety that Doctor Strange will cast spells in the 2027 team-up film, saying “he’s quite central to where things might go.” Holland is getting ready to start production on “Spider-Man 4” this summer after filming Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” making it hard to web-sling “Doomsday” into his schedule. Don’t worry, there’s still room at the Avengers Mansion if the next movie needs a few more heroes.
Marvel Is Going All In on ‘Fantastic Four’
Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach have a fantastic weight on their shoulders. They’re gearing up to lead the rebooted Fantastic Four, a team that’s seen two failed Fox iterations already hit the big screen. As Marvel’s big summer tentpole on July 25, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is hoping to deliver (and no doubt earn the sequels its subtitle hints at). One of the biggest joys of “Endgame” was seeing the Avengers meet the Guardians of the Galaxy, and it seems like the Fantastic Four are primed to break through the multiverse and encounter the rest of the MCU. The foursome are also some of the fastest-rising names in Hollywood: Pascal is about to star in HBO’s “The Last of Us” Season 2, Quinn had breakout roles in “Stranger Things” and last year’s “Gladiator II,” Moss-Bachrach is a double Emmy winner for “The Bear” and Kirby has starred in hit movies and shows like “Mission: Impossible” and “The Crown.” As the MCU prepares to launch its next saga, these four new actors could be a fantastic addition.
Are the Thunderbolts Here to Stay?
The Thunderbolts, a team of anti-heroes and villains from past MCU entries, are coming to theaters on May 2, but Marvel already has “Avengers”-sized plans for the team of misfits. Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Lewis Pullman are confirmed to be in “Doomsday,” leaving their fates in “Thunderbolts*” hardly a mystery. The motley crew of characters seem primed to survive their debut this summer (but perhaps not Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine) and are set to be one of Marvel’s flagships teams going forward. Welcome to the big time!
