Marvel Studios has officially unveiled the star-studded cast for Avengers: Doomsday, the next major installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), confirming a historic reunion of legendary X-Men actors alongside established Avengers and cosmic heroes. The film is scheduled for release on December 18, 2026, as part of the MCU’s Phase Six slate and is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious crossover events in franchise history.
The full cast encompasses a broad ensemble of returning MCU stars and iconic performers from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. Key Avengers actors set to return include Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), among others.
What has excited fans most is the official inclusion of multiple X-Men alumni reprising their classic roles for the first time within the MCU framework. Sir Patrick Stewart will return as Professor Charles Xavier, and Sir Ian McKellen will reprise Magneto, marking a major crossover moment as mutants integrate directly into the MCU storyline.
They will be joined by additional X-Men veterans such as Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and James Marsden as Cyclops, while Kelsey Grammer returns as Beast — a role he briefly reintroduced in The Marvels. Their collective appearance represents the most extensive live-action gathering of classic X-Men actors to date in a Marvel Studios production.
In addition to these mutants, the ensemble cast includes Florence Pugh, Letitia Wright, Simu Liu, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Pedro Pascal and Robert Downey Jr., who will headline the film as Doctor Doom — a surprising twist that positions one of Marvel’s most infamous villains at the center of the story.
The Russo Brothers — Anthony and Joe — are returning to direct the epic, which is described as a multiverse-wide conflict drawing together the Avengers, Wakandans, New Avengers, Fantastic Four and the “original” X-Men to face the threat posed by Doctor Doom.
The casting announcement was revealed via a livestream presentation and generated widespread buzz among comic-book and MCU fans, who have been anticipating the formal integration of X-Men characters into the Marvel Studios universe following Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s film assets.
Avengers: Doomsday is expected to serve as a key chapter leading into Avengers: Secret Wars (slated for December 17, 2027), further expanding the MCU’s narrative scope across dimensions and timelines.
