Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be the biggest MCU movie yet, with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man all set to share the screen while battling Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
A combination of online rumours and comments from a couple of Avengers: Doomsday stars has confirmed that there will be a clash between the Avengers and X-Men (with Marvel's First Family thrown in for good measure).
Now, we may have some insights into what leads the heroes to go to war with each other.
According to insider @MyTimeToShineH, "In Avengers: Doomsday, the X-Men [have] been through many Incursions, so when the Avengers and [Fantastic Four] come to their universe to try and help them, they assume they came there to destroy them, and that's why they fight."
This is classic superhero storytelling. Heroes meet, they fight, and eventually put their differences aside to battle a much greater threat.
We're assuming that's the plan for Avengers: Doomsday, anyway, and the dynamic between these two teams promises to be fascinating for fans who have long dreamed of seeing them share the screen.
This latest leak also explains what we've been hearing about some key members of the X-Men—including Jean Grey and Storm—being dead when we find them in this movie. After all, if they've fended off multiple Incursions, some mutants are bound to have fallen in combat.
While there's massive excitement surrounding the return of 20th Century Fox's X-Men, we don't know how big a role they'll have in this movie.
Marvel Studios intends to reboot the X-Men franchise post-Avengers: Secret Wars, so it will need to be careful not to distract from that. Wesley Snipes' return as Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine already backfired on them to some extent, as many fans quickly expressed a desire to see more of him as the Daywalker in place of Mahershala Ali.
What are your hopes for the X-Men in Avengers: Doomsday this December? Relive their teaser below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
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.