Hugh Jackman’s absence inAvengers: Doomsdaycast leaves at least three questions about theMCUmovie’s plot and Wolverine’s role in the Avengers' battle against Doctor Doom.Marvel Studios’Avengers: Doomsdaycast announcementconfirmed the return of dozens of MCU heroes and a couple of former villains.Avengers: Doomsday’s star-studded cast features at least four superhero teams: Sam Wilson’s new Avengers, the Thunderbolts, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. These teams haven’t met each other yet, and the latter two might only cross paths with the former two when Doctor Doom begins his plans to modify the Marvel multiverse.
Notably,Marvel’sAvengers: Doomsdaycast announcement didn’t include several key characters. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Mark Ruffalo’s Smart Hulk, and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye are some of the biggest names missing fromAvengers: Doomsday’s cast.Recently introduced characters with great potential for a crossover appearance are also absent fromAvengers: Doomsday— among them, Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez, Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk, and Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight. One particular character’s absence is even more surprising given that several multiversal mutants will likely play a big role in the Phase 6 movie.
Avengers: Doomsday’s Cast Includes Many OG X-Men Actors, But Not Hugh Jackman
Almost Every Major Actor From Fox’s Original X-Men Cast Returns In Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday’s cast announcement confirmedthe return of seven of Fox’sX-Menactors and their characters:Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, and Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler.Avengers: Doomsdayis also bringing back Channing Tatum’s Gambit, introduced inDeadpool & Wolverineas a variant who was pruned from his timeline before he could"make a name for himself.“Other majorX-Menactors such as Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, and Anna Paquin weren’t included in the announcement, but there’s a chance they could make a cameo inAvengers: Doomsday.
Avengers: Doomsdaymight be the first live-action movie featuring the original cast not to give Wolverine the spotlight
Wolverine’s absence inAvengers: Doomsdayis difficult to ignore.Wolverine was the face of Fox’sX-Menmovie franchise, and Hugh Jackman’s new Wolverine variant witnessed the death of all the X-Men in his timeline prior to the events ofDeadpool & Wolverine. After the MCU introduced a new Wolverine in Phase 5, it would only make sense for him to meet new variants of his X-Men colleagues inAvengers: Doomsday. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however. Instead,Avengers: Doomsdaymight be the first live-action movie featuring the original cast not to give Wolverine the spotlight.
Hugh Jackman Could Still Appear In Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday’s Cast Isn’t Complete Yet
Multiple actors not included inAvengers: Doomsday’s cast announcement might be signing their contracts, and several characters might be reserved forAvengers: Doomsday’s possibly long list of cameos. Marvel movies and shows usually don’t reveal their whole cast at once, and many actors and characters are kept under wraps until the very last moment in order to raise anticipation for each project’s release. The most famous example might be Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s return inSpider-Man: No Way Home, which required both actors to lie about their involvement in interviews and social media.
Patrick Stewart’s Avengers: Doomsday Casting Means He’s Officially The Second Longest-Serving Marvel Actor In History (But Still Can’t Beat 1 Deadpool & Wolverine Actor)
Patrick Stewart is just shy of the record for longest-serving Marvel actor, with one other actor taking the top spot following Avengers: Doomsday.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool saved the Sacred Timeline and were commended by the TVA inDeadpool & Wolverine, and their teammate Gambit has been confirmed to return inAvengers: Doomsday. ConsideringAvengers: Doomsday’s multiversal nature, it would be strange not to get Wolverine and Deadpool involved. However, it’s possible that Wolverine and Deadpool are currently busy and unaware of Doctor Doom on Earth-10005, and that they’ll join the Avengers' battle against Doom as soon as they realize what’s at stake. Previously, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man missed the events ofAvengers: Infinity Warfor similar reasons.
Which Wolverine Will Be In Avengers: Doomsday?
Hugh Jackman Could Play A New Wolverine Variant In Avengers: Doomsday
If Hugh Jackman returns inAvengers: Doomsday, it makes the most sense for him to be playing the Wolverine variant introduced inDeadpool & Wolverine. However, Patrick Stewart is confirmed to return following the death of three different Professor X variants —X-Men: The Last Stand’s,Logan’s, andDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. Hence, Patrick Stewart must be playing a fourth (or fifth, taking James McAvoy’s portrayal) Charles Xavier variant. Likewise,Avengers: Doomsday’s X-Men characters might be different versions of the characters featured in Fox’s originalX-Menitrilogy, and Hugh Jackman could be playing a brand-new Wolverine as well.
I Think I’ve Worked Out The 8 Marvel Heroes On The New Avengers Team From Marvel’s Doomsday Cast Announcement
Marvel Studios hasn’t confirmed the official line-up for the MCU’s new Avengers team, but Doomsday’s cast reveal gives us an idea of what to expect.
The X-Men are dead in Wolverine’s original universe, as revealed byDeadpool & Wolverine. Meanwhile,Avengers: Doomsday’s X-Men may still have their own Wolverine, whose backstory and appearance remains unknown. In fact,Deadpool & Wolverinemay already have introduced these X-Men’s Wolverine variant.Deadpool & Wolverine’s variant montagerevealed several Logan variants of all kinds, including Patch, Old Man Logan, and a short Wolverine. Among these, the"brown-and-tan"Wolverine who fights Hulk would seem like the best candidate for anAvengers: Doomsdayappearance.
