Avengers: Doomsday will finally bring together the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, with the latter team comprised of mutants from the original 20th Century Fox X-Men movies.
There are some noteworthy absences—Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Storm, for example—but James Marsden's Cyclops finally looks set to get his due. Now decked out in a comic-accurate costume, Scott Summers will be leading the charge against both the invading X-Men and Doctor Doom's Sentinels.
Talking to Empire, Marsden said, "I like to think of Scott as a noble and good man, who, at the end of the day, will do the right thing." Addressing the Incursions that have laid waste to Earth-10005, the actor continued, "It probably reveals quite a lot about your character, what you’re willing to do. And it’s not black and white. It has a lot of very serious, potentially catastrophic implications."
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who got his start in Hollywood working on 2000's X-Men, is understandably thrilled to finally bring these worlds together.
"You see interviews of Hugh Jackman 15, 20 years ago saying, 'People say it’s impossible, but maybe someday the X-Men and the Avengers can all get together,'" he explained. "It just felt right. It just felt like the fun way to culminate a quarter-century of storytelling."
In a newly released still, we see both Cyclops and Channing Tatum's Gambit standing in front of the X-Mansion. Addressing the latter's role in Avengers: Doomsday, Feige said, "He’s a standout. It’s fun to see Gambit be as charismatic as he was in Deadpool & Wolverine, and yet in Doomsday it’s not all for laughs. He’s a fully-rounded character."
This movie is expected to serve as the final farewell for this era of X-Men, especially as a reboot is heading our way in 2028. After Avengers: Secret Wars, the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four (and Spider-Man) will likely all exist in the same reality, which is a first for the MCU.
Take a closer look at Avengers: Doomsday's take on Cyclops and Gambit below, along with a new promo.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, India Rose Hemsworth, and Wesley Holloway all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn, joined by X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden, plus Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to refine the story, alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.