My biggestAvengers: Doomsdaytheory would make one of the bestX-Menmovies required viewing. Thanks to Marvel’s recent cast announcement livestream forAvengers: Doomsday, we know that multiple actors from Fox’sX-Menfilms will be appearing in the upcomingMCUcrossover. However, I’m really hoping that we’ll be seeing even more as a means to truly close the door on Earth-10005 and Fox’s franchise.
Currently,there are sevenX-Menactors confirmed to appear inAvengers: Doomsday. Additionally, the one thing they all have in common is that they’re all from the very first cast before Fox effectively rebooted theirX-Menuniverse in 2011.However, my bigAvengers: Doomsdaytheory suggests that we might very well see both casts, thanks to the MCU’s Multiverse Saga and its major stakes.
OG X-Men Actors in Avengers: Doomsday Is Genius (But It’s A Half-Measure)
There’s A Whole Second Cast Of X-Men Actors Available
At present, we already know that seven actors from the OGX-Menfranchise will be inAvengers: Doomsday. This includes Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Beast (Kelsey Grammer), and Gambit (Channing Tatum). As a side note,Channing Tatum’s Gambit only sort of counts as an OGX-Menactor. While he only just made his live-action debut in 2024’sDeadpool & Wolverine, Tatum was considered to play Remy LeBeau and had been trying to get aGambitmovie made as far back as 2009.
Regardless, MCU fans are very excited to see so many X-Men characters join the Avengers to fight Robert Downey Jr. in a multiversal epic that will presumably be unlike anything we’ve seen before. However,Doomsdayonly having actors from the OGX-Mencast feels like a half-measure.Assuming more X-Men characters get added and are revealed in the future, my big hope is that members of the new cast will be involved, and there’s already a perfect narrative device Marvel could use to explain how, thanks to one of theX-Menfranchise’s best movies.
Theory: Days of Future Past Can Explain The X-Men’s Involvement In Avengers: Doomsday
In 2014’sX-Men:Days of Future Past, Logan’s mind is sent back to his younger body in the 1970s from a dark future where mutant-killing robots known as Sentinels had nearly hunted all mutants to near extinction. The result was Wolverine interacting with theX-Menfranchise’s younger cast, first introduced in 2011’sX-Men: First Class.While Logan and the younger versions of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and more worked to change the future, the originalX-Mencast fought to protect Wolverine’s body, giving mutantkind a second chance to change their fate.
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Days of Future Pastwas incredibly exciting and successful for several reasons. Not only did it bring both casts together in the same movie with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine as the bridge, but it also set the stage for a soft reboot for Fox where future movies could star the new cast in a brand-new timeline, as seen with future movies likeX-Men: ApocalypseandDark Phoenix. Likewise,Days of Future Past’sendingsaw Wolverine waking up to a new present, one where his Cyclops and Jean Grey never died, as they did in 2006’sX-Men: The Last Stand.
Despite the positive results for both X-Men casts, Wolverine and company still massively changed and altered the timeline to a pretty egregious level. Based on the MCU’s own experience with time travel and the multiverse, one could easily imagine a scenario whereAvengers: Doomsdayreveals the unintended consequences for the Fox universe…like an incursion. The Avengers also messed with their own timeline inAvengers: Endgame, so perhaps both universes will be at risk of destruction inDoomsdayahead ofSecret Wars, explaining why the teams of heroes will finally meet.
The Multiverse Saga Could Easily Bring Back The Old And New X-Men Casts
Taking What MadeDays of Future PastSo Great (And Going Even Further)
Avengers: Doomsdayhas the opportunity to fully close the door on the Fox Universeahead of the expectedMutant Saga and a brand-new cast of MCU X-Men. However, one could argue that it can only fully happen if the younger X-cast/timeline is also involved/referenced. While the younger cast doesn’t have to have full-on roles, it would be incredible ifDays of FuturePast and Logan’s critical alteration of the timeline is what leads to the universe’s ultimate incursion.
The Multiverse Saga could easily be used to incorporate the likes of James McAvoy’s Xavier or Fassbender’s Magneto just as much as Stewart and McKellen. If so, it would be cool to at least get nods and/or see a handful of faces from the youngerX-Mencast just like we’re going to see from the OG cast like McAvoy, Fassbender, Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops alongside Marsden, orEvan Peters' Quicksilver(who’s already got MCU ties thanks toWandVision/Agatha All Along).WhileDays of Future Pasthad a moment where both Xaviers talked to each other via Wolveine’s mind, my dream is the Multiverse Saga going further with bothX-Mencasts fighting Doctor Doom side by side.
