It looks like we may have confirmation that another legacy X-Men character will return for Avengers: Doomsday.
Possible spoilers ahead.
While speaking to the Power of X-Men podcast (via Instagram), legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont praised the recent Doomsday trailer featuring Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Ian McKellen's Magneto, and James Marsden's Cyclops, before noting that Famke Janssen will also return as Jean Grey.
"The thing I find most wonderful about it is they're bringing back the original cast, including Famke."
Claremont isn't directly involved with Doomsday (as far as we know), but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be aware of which projects certain X-Men characters are going to appear in, and it is interesting that he mentioned Janssen specifically.
Janssen herself has been asked about potentially reprising the role on a number of occasions, but has always remained adamant that Marvel has "never" reached out to her.
"I should be flattered, I suppose, that this character has resonated with people. It's been so long, but it's nice that people are still talking about her. I'm sure every single time there's a new movie that they're doing, like [is it] Doomsday? ... it'll come up again," she said during a recent interview with EW.
"Every time I do an interview, it's mentioned. It's interesting," she added. "I didn't realize that was such a big part. Every interview I do, that will come up, and of everything I say, that is going to be the only thing that's gonna be printed."
Janssen and Halle Berry (Storm) were the two original X-Men cast members that stood out as being absent from that huge Doomsday "chair reveal" (Hugh Jackman is expected to return as Wolverine), so we'd be surprised if they didn't appear in the movie in some capacity.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
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, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with 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, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.