Yesterday, Marvel Studios spent the better part of a day revealing the Avengers: Doomsday cast. The list has left us with much to discuss, including the absence of certain key characters.
Beyond that, what exactly does the big cast unveiling tell us about this movie...well, aside from who will be shooting the thing this summer, of course!
We've got some ideas and have come up with a handful of exciting theories. From what looks to be the MCU's take on Avengers vs. X-Men to potential story spoilers for it and other upcoming movies, we think you'll enjoy checking these out.
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5. Well, There's Thunderbolts* Spoiled Then...
Thunderbolts* stars Sebastian Stan (Bucky), Wyatt Russell (U.S. Agent), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Lewis Pullman (The Sentry), David Harbour (Red Guardian), and Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost) are now all confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday.
We've known since last year's San Diego Comic-Con that the team, thought to be the "New Avengers," would factor into the movie. However, this lineup is itself a pretty big Thunderbolts* spoiler.
The cast reveal confirms the characters listed above all survive the events of the upcoming movie and, crucially, point to Taskmaster biting the dust. Her absence from all except one sequence in the trailers was a giveaway, but now we know. The Sentry sticking around is cool, though.
4. Sue Storm And Namor In The Same Movie Is A Big Deal
In the early Fantastic Four comic books, there was something of a love triangle going on with Reed Richards, Namor the Submariner and the object of their affections, Sue Storm.
Namor later kidnapped the Invisible Woman, though she's shown an attraction to him on several occasions since. They've never had an affair (what a scandal that would be), but their dynamic is an interesting one, as is Mister Fantastic's disdain for the Atlantean.
With The Fantastic Four cast and Tenoch Huerta Mejia's Namor all confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, we're hoping these characters will share the screen. It's one of those comic book-y meetings we never expected to see and would be a blast to watch unfold.
3. Avengers vs. X-Men
While we've long speculated that this might be the case, the addition of several X-Men franchise actors all but confirms it. With The Marvels stranding Monica Rambeau on what we have to imagine is Earth-10005, the stage has been set for "Avengers vs. X-Men" for a while now.
Some might argue it would've been a far more effective title for this movie than Avengers: Doomsday, but with an Incursion likely to bring their two worlds together, showing Earth-616's Avengers battling those classic X-Men actors should be a major selling point.
They'll no doubt eventually team up, of course, and this feels like a fitting way to say goodbye to that era of mutants before Marvel Studios' planned reboot...even if it is kind of what Deadpool & Wolverine set out to do last year.
2. A New Illuminati
We're definitely in speculation territory here, but it's not hard to come up with a version of The Illuminati from that impressive Avengers: Doomsday cast list. During Jonathan Hickman's build to Secret Wars, this group played a key role in protecting Earth-616 from Incursions.
Who could assemble this clandestine organisation in the MCU? How about Professor X, Beast, Mister Fantastic, Black Panther, and Captain America? He's not in the cast list, but you can throw Doctor Strange in for good measure.
There are rumblings about a new Illuminati forming in Avengers: Doomsday, and we'd bet on some more Multiversal Variants we don't know about joining the characters above. Marvel Studios didn't do the best of jobs with them in the Doctor Strange sequel, so this could make things right.
1. Mister Fantastic And Doctor Doom
While we wouldn't read too much into the placement of those chairs in the reveal video, you can't tell us it was a coincidence that the video ended with Pedro Pascal's name right before Robert Downey Jr.'s.
Marvel Studios hasn't had time to establish Downey's Doctor Doom before Avengers: Doomsday, though that doesn't mean the movie can't still explore his hatred for Reed Richards. Heck, these two might even hail from the same world (which is what we're hoping for, anyway).
With any luck, the Russo Brothers have found a way to make this conflict central to the narrative of this story and Avengers: Secret Wars. It does run the risk of feeling rushed, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps is hopefully going to lay the groundwork.