20th Century Fox's X-Men will return in this December's Avengers: Doomsday, but as of now, Famke Janssen's Jean Grey will not be joining the fight against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
There are rumblings that key members of the mutant team will be taken off the board after falling in battle—previous Incursions may have left Earth-10005 near-post-apocalyptic—but Jean being MIA has disappointed many X-Men fans.
Talking at a panel at Spacecon 2026, moderated by Nerdtropolis' Sean Tajipour, Janssen once again denied being involved with Avengers: Doomsday and reiterated that she never got a call from Marvel Studios.
"I am so bad at keeping secrets that I always say to everyone I’m the worst actor in the world. It’s all on my face. You right away will read it," the actress told fans. "I think they made a mistake, but hey, who am I? I’m just a little me who thinks that."
Marvel Studios has so far enlisted X-Men franchise stars Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and Kelsey Grammer (Beast) for Avengers: Doomsday.
Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum will join them as Gambit, but this X-Men team is still missing some heavy-hitters, including Wolverine and Storm. The former is expected to appear, but with Jean, Iceman, Rogue, and several others notable by their absence, we're either in store for some big surprises or story and money issues came into play somewhere along the line.
Janssen first played Jean in 2000's X-Men, and followed it with X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), and cameo roles in The Wolverine (2013) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Has her time as the Phoenix really ended?
It's hard to fathom that the Russo Brothers would go to the lengths of bringing back the original big screen X-Men, only to leave some of the team's most iconic members on the shelf. It's always possible they'll appear in Avengers: Secret Wars instead, but fans will be beyond disappointed if this X-Men team is missing so many key mutants. We'll find out this December.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
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. The movie is produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Jonathan Schwartz, with Callum McDougall serving as executive producer.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.