While Marvel Studios remains hard at work on an X-Men reboot with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier, the "classic" Variants of the mutant team will return to our screens in this December's Avengers: Doomsday.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige started his career working on 2000's X-Men movie, so it's not overly surprising that many of the leads from that franchise are being brought back for the Russo Brothers' Multiverse Saga finale. Now, we have some rumoured details on plans for the team in Avengers: Doomsday.
According to insider @MyTimeToShineH, Sir Ian McKellen's Magneto will clash with Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, and that's described as "the most epic fight in the film and maybe ever in the MCU."
Could it be what The Lord of the Rings icon was referring to when he recently said that the Master of Magnetism destroys New Jersey? We'll see.
The scooper has also shared a familiar rumour about what we can expect from the X-Men's status quo when we're reunited with them. They write, "The X-Men in Avengers Doomsday have survived countless Incursions, each one nearly wiping out their universe. They’re exhausted, broken, and have sacrificed everything."
"Every Incursion forces them to send their members to another Earth to battle its defenders and erase that universe from existence before it destroys theirs."
With that, we have a likely explanation for why iconic X-Men like Jean Grey and Storm are missing. Well, that and there was likely only so much money to go around with Avengers: Doomsday's budget for returning A-list stars.
As always, we recommend taking rumours like these with a pinch of salt. It's always fun to think about what may be on the way, though, and in the meantime, you can relive arguably the best Avengers: Doomsday teaser—featuring Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops—below.
Avengers: Doomsday officially 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, and India Rose Hemsworth all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum. The trades have pointed to Ryan Reynolds and Hayley Atwell also appearing in Avengers: Doomsday.
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's Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to help.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.