Yesterday we finally got the news that Avengers: Doomsday is in-production and with that we got some casting news as well.
Marvel Studios strung us along for what felt like an eternity to reveal who will be in the new Avengers film. So if you don’t know who’s in it yet, then here you go: Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, and Anthony Mackie as Captain America
I’m excited to see so many actors return to take on Doctor Doom. I also can’t wait to see how the new cast will gel with the returning cast. I’m obviously ecstatic that most of the of the original X-Men actors are returning, but there seems to be a few names missing. Now I know this is the first of probably many casting announcements, but I just wanted a little more.
You also can’t make a Doctor Doom movie without the Fantastic Four. So let’s first talk about who is in the movie. I’ll start with Marvel’s first family. It’s awesome that Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be in the movie. It proves that Marvel truly believe in these actors and their characters. And like I said, there can’t be a Victor Von Doom without the Fantastic Four.
Now onto the X-Men, are you ready to see the Mutants unite with the Avengers or maybe they will fight against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The announcement just proves that the movie will be a major multiversal crossover.
I look forward to seeing all these X-Men return, but the one that excites me the most is James Marsden as Cyclops. Will we finally get to see a version that we all will love? Scott Summers has always been one of my favourite X-Men and I just want to see a good live-action version of him.
As you can see from the names above, a few of our favourite X-Men aren’t mentioned, more specifically Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Halle Berry as Storm, and Shawn Ashmore as Iceman. It sucks because Hugh is the one who opened the door for this (yes, I know Patrick Stewart was the first X-Men to crossover into the MCU).
Right now I think Marvel might want to keep a few cast members a secret. Who knows, maybe they’re doing things like Deadpool & Wolverine and surprising us with characters we’d never expect to see. Speaking of that Deadpool, why is there no Ryan Reynolds yet? At least we got Channing Tatum back as Gambit.
Now let’s talk about the Thunderbolts*, almost all the actors are slated to return, except Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster. Is this a spoiler? Rumours have been circling that she won’t make it out alive after the Thunderbolts* take on Sentry or maybe Marvel has something else planned.
Now to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. We know there is currently no Avengers team in the Sacred Timeline. So maybe Sam Wilson assembles a team of who is left and somehow gets Thor to return to Midgard. The most surprising character not included has to be Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has played an integral role in the MCU so far, so why isn’t he returning to face Doom? It would’ve been great to see him interact with Robert Downey Jr as Doom. Here’s to hoping he’s shooting Spider-Man first then return to take on RDJ.
Secondly, why isn’t there a single Hulk in this movie? No Bruce Banner? No She-Hulk? No Red Hulk? No Skaar? Feels like a wasted opportunity. And how do they think they will win against Doom if they have no Hawkeye on the team. It doesn’t even matter if it’s Clint Barton or Kate Bishop.
The only Avenger I can excuse for not being included is the Scarlet Witch, Wanda is technically supposed to be dead. If the Avengers want to counter Doom’s magic, why is there no Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange or no Benedict Wong as Wong? Well, at least we have Loki back.
Some other Avengers left off the list include: Okoye, White Vision, War Machine, Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Korg, The Wasp, Star Lord and the other guardians.
I just want to go back to Spider-Man for a moment. I would’ve thought that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield might come back as well, but I think it’ll be better to see them in Secret Wars – only because I want Spider-Man 4 to be a grounded street-level story.
The MCU has grown and it’s a shame to know that some of the newer characters aren’t schedule to return yet, like the Eternals and Black Knight. The film left us with so many questions, and that Blade tease hasn’t led to anything.
Marvel’s street level or TV heroes also seem to have been forgotten once again. I would’ve loved to see Moon Knight, Daredevil, Ironheart and Ms Marvel return. And what about all those What If characters? Where are they? What about America Chavez? They need her to travel the multiverse. We obviously also need Owen Wilson as Mobius. I can excuse Jared Leto’s Morbius.
The casting news is exciting, but it’s leaving me with more questions or maybe I just want more news about the production. What I do think is that this movie will be told from Dooms perspective, and everyone else will just be supporting characters or people who get in his way. It’s obviously impossible to give each character an impactful arc, but I just want to see a fully-stacked Avengers lineup. I don’t know, maybe that will happen in Secret Wars. What do you think of the casting news? Are you excited for Avengers: Doomsday yet?
