We didn't expect to see Dafne Keen as Laura, aka X-23, again following her acclaimed turn in James Mangold's Logan, but the His Dark Materials star was given the opportunity to reprise the role in Shawn Levy's Deadpool and Wolverine as part of a Void Resistance team alongside Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Gambit (Channing Tatum), and the late Johnny Storm (Chris Evans).
Laura appears again in the closing moments of the movie, having reunited with Logan and the Merc With a Mouth, leaving the door open for her eventual return.
We have heard rumors that X-23 will be back for Avengers: Doomsday (along with pretty much every other MCU character), but Keen was not a part of the first cast announcement, so her return remains unconfirmed for now.
Keen was asked whether she'll be back as the ferocious young mutant for Doomsday during an appearance at Fan Expo Canada, and responded: "I actually have no idea. I Hope so."
Doomsday has been filming for a while at this stage, so we're sure Keen does indeed know whether she is going to be a part of the movie by now. The fact that she didn't flat out deny her involvement makes us think that X-23 will indeed be popping her claws alongside Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (most likely) during next year's massive MCU event film.
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.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• 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
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• 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
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America