In March, Marvel Studios announced the Avengers: Doomsday cast in a lengthy reveal video that confirmed the surprise return of several actors from the original X-Men cast.
Following his return in The Marvels, Kelsey Grammer will reprise his role as Beast, and there's so far been nothing to indicate that the actors from the X-Men prequel movies (which began with 2011's X-Men: First Class) will join them. That's not overly surprising, especially as Kevin Feige got his start in Hollywood working on Bryan Singer's X-Men.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly about Superman, Hoult said he also saw the cast reveal video and quickly noticed that his version of Hank McCoy wasn't on the list.
"Kelsey was a great Beast," the actor said. "He was the Beast I saw when I was a kid, along with the other actors that they're bringing back, Patrick and Ian and James and all them."
"Those were the characters that I got to watch in X-Men movies," Hoult continued. "I'm excited to see what they do with it. It'll be fun to see how they incorporate those characters into that world."
Hoult, who plays Lex Luthor in the DCU, first transformed into the younger Beast in X-Men: First Class, and later reprised the role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix. He also made a cameo appearance in Deadpool 2.
Asked if Marvel Studios reached out about returning for the next Avengers movies, the Superman star bluntly replied, "No."
We wouldn't bank on that changing, and it seems doubtful that anyone from that era of X-Men storytelling will be part of Doomsday and Secret Wars. There were hopes that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender might be back, at least, but Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen's Variants instead look to be the priority.
"I think you'll see that continue into our next few movies and some X-Men players that you might recognize," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased last November. "And then right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. And, again, one of these dreams come true that we finally have the X-Men back at Marvel Studios."
Avengers: Doomsday stars 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, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman all make the Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
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, and Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
The Russo Brothers direct the movie from a script by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Captain America and Avengers franchises.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.