“Avengers: Doomsday” Five-Hour Plus Cast Reveal Unleashes Retro X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts & Memes

While there have been countless stories on how audiences are suffering from a moderate to severe case of superhero fatigue, on Wednesday, March 26th, 2025, many, many, many people kept a tab open on their screens for five and a half hours to watch a live stream of chairs. This was how Marvel rolled out (eeked out, really) the cast reveal for the Russo Brothers’ upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, the directors’ return to the MCU six years after their Avengers: Endgame became one of the biggest box office draws in film history. Say what you want about how much we all crave films that don’t require massive budgets and don’t involve superheroes, meta-humans, and more—and we do—but there is still plenty of life in the superhero genre, plenty of interest when done right (last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine was a massive hit, this summer’s Superman feels fated to fly high, and the excitement for The Fantastic Four is real), and those hours spent eagerly awaiting the next chair reveal, and the buzz and memes it generated, probably prove it.

The cat from ‘FLOW’ will return in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/f2mFcbDeMN

— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) March 26, 2025

Jennifer Coolidge will return as Tanya in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/s3Se7ASQCt

— out of context the white lotus (@oocwhitelotus) March 26, 2025

It began at 10 a.m. CST when Marvel tweeted “ANNOUNCEMENT” with a live stream that showed a chair with Chris Hemsworth’s name on it. Hemsworth is one of the titans of the MCU, so it made sense to draw viewers in with the promise that Thor was back. His name was followed minutes later by a chair with Vanessa Kirby’s name on it, making it clear that what we had here was a slow pan over a cast reveal courtesy of chairs with their names on it. Okay. Vanessa Kirby is about to make her MCU debut as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman in director Matt Shakman’s highly anticipated Fantastic Four, finally bringing Marvel’s First Family into the MCU six years after Disney’s acquisition of Fox made that possible. Next up was Anthony Mackie’s chair—the new Captain America, fresh off his tangle with the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World, was another MCU alum and longtime Avenger. Getting to Mackie’s name took 15 minutes, which meant that, depending on the cast size, this could take a while.

Again, it took five and a half hours, and millions of people stayed tuned and kept churning out those memes.

Screaming, Crying, Throwing Up. https://t.co/42kU5K9Vzu pic.twitter.com/nMV5q2a6da

— Empire (@empiremagazine) March 26, 2025

Missing in Action

By the end of the longest cast reveal in cinematic history, we could stand back and try to make sense of it all. Many (but crucially, not all) of Marvel’s Old Guard were accounted for, from Hemsworth and Mackie to Letitia Wright’s Shuri, the new Black Panther, and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. Also part of the Doomsday action are fan favorites like Winston Duke’s Mbaku from Black Panther and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, who may or may not be on the Avengers’ side yet again. Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi and Joaquin Torres’ new Falcon will also both be ready to roll in Doomsday.

Some familiar faces not returning are Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, and Chris Pratt’s Star-lord. Also missing are the dearly departed Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and, of course, Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, as both sacrificed themselves for the greater good in Endgame, and now Downey Jr. is back as Dr. Doom.

The Retro X-Men are Back

Part of the big haul of Marvel characters that Disney got the rights to in their Fox deal were the X-Men, and as we saw with Deadpool & Wolverine, there’s a lot of interest in seeing the mutants in the MCU. Two of the biggest names revealed yesterday were Patrick Stewart, returning as Professor X, and Ian McKellen, returning as Magneto. They’re joined by Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Channing Tatum’s Gambit, and Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique. One member of the X-Men not named was Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, a surprise considering how many people rushed to the theaters to see him and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. (Also, Reynolds’ Deadpool is not part of the Doomsday cast, either.)

We got a brief cameo from Stewart’s Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Tatum’s turn as Gambit was one of Deadpool & Wolverine‘s many wise casting choices. Grammer appeared in a post-credits scene as Beast in The Marvels, but the rest of the X-Men named in the reveal haven’t played their parts in years. Yet, while these former X-Men are about to suit back up for Doomsday, a new crop of mutants is likely going to come forward for Marvel’s future. The casting news of Sadie Sink in Spider-Man 4 has many folks speculating she’ll be the new Jean Grey.

Thunderbolts, Charge!

The next MCU movie to bow is director Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts, on May 2, and many of the antiheroes who make up the group will be returning to face Dr. Doom. Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, Wyat Russell’s John Walker, and Lewis Pullman’s “Bob” have all been tapped. What can Bob do? Who is Bob? What is Bob? One of the big mysteries Marvel has yet to reveal!

The Fantastic Four’s Second Steps

Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are not only set to star in the long-awaited MCU reboot of The Fantastic Four, but they’ll then be returning to tangle with Doom. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps arriving this July 25, Marvel seems very confident that the new Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm, Human Torch, and Thing will be the new bright lights in the MCU. Doomsday provides the kind of MCU super-team that Endgame did when the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy teamed up to take out Thanos. All four of the new Four are beloved actors in their own rights, and there’s plenty of reason to hope that they can be for the MCU going forward what Downey Jr. the Chris’s Evans and Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Mark Ruffalo were previously.

A Meaty Movie

How Doomsday will account for all of these superheroes and Downey Jr.’s Dr. Doom is, of course, a problem the Russo Brothers and screenwriter Stephen McFeely have faced, and solved, before. Filming begins next month in London, and then, a little over a year from now, we’ll see how it all plays out when Avengers: Doomsday arrives on May 1, 2026. Between then and now, however, we’ve got Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps coming in May and July of this year, respectively. We’ll know a bit more about Doomsday when we see how these two films play out.

Featured image: Avengers: Doomsday title. Courtesy Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios