When Avengers: Doomsday is released in theaters this December, many actors will likely be exposed as having fibbed about not appearing in the movie.
It's par for the course with a blockbuster as big as this one, and X-Men star James Marsden's return as Cyclops was finally confirmed in one of the four teaser trailers released across December and January. Now, the actor has broken his silence on lying about his MCU debut while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Unsurprisingly, the orders came straight from Marvel Studios, raising the question of who else has been told to deny, deny, deny in recent months.
"I did. I lied. I was lying. I was being coy," the Sonic the Hedgehog star said of his previous appearance on the talk show. "I was told by Marvel, 'You can’t say anything.' And I was like, 'What if I just say I’m not in it?' They were like, 'That’s fine.'"
"And then there was all this litigation and stuff going on, and I was like, 'I don’t want to get in trouble.' So I just lied. I’m sorry," Marsden laughed, adding, "I am in it. Yeah. I’m in Avengers: Doomsday. I’m back as Cyclops."
This time, Scott Summers will don his classic blue and yellow costume from the comics. After being stuck in black leather during his previous appearances in the X-Men franchise, Marsden is understandably excited to suit up in something a little less drab.
"Yeah, the yellow one with the blue. It’s pretty cool. It’s the one from the comics," he shared. "The visor is...you can’t really see out of it very well. It’s like wearing sunglasses inside all the time. You’re like, 'Where am I going?' But it looks cool. I had a little cameo in Days of Future Past. So it’s been a while since The Last Stand in 2006. I’m back. It was fun to put the visor on again."
"You couldn’t really do anything," he said of his previous Cyclops costumes. "Like, if you had to jump over a wall or something...it was restrictive. The new one is better."
Neither Scott nor the X-Men are expected to have a major role in Avengers: Doomsday, with this movie likely a final send-off for that era of mutant superheroes ahead of Marvel Studios' planned reboot.
You can check out the full interview with Marsden in the player 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.