Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are obviously shaping up to me massive MCU events, with the latter, in particular, expected to be the most ambitious superhero movie of all time in terms of scale and scope.
There are going to be a lot of characters, but there have been conflicting reports when it comes to the involvement of 20th Century Fox's Marvel heroes. Hugh Jackman is almost certainly going to return as Wolverine, but what about his fellow X-Men?
While Marvel Studios is (or soon will be) in the process of casting new actors to play the mutant freedom fighters in the upcoming X-Men reboot, it seems there might be a few more holdovers - at least until the events of Secret Wars.
According to MTTSH, Sir Patrick Stewart will reprise his role as the original big-screen Professor Charles Xavier.
Stewart already made his MCU debut for a brief appearance as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that variant of the mutant leader to an abrupt and somewhat distasteful end at the hands of the Scarlet Witch. We thought that would be the last we saw of the Star Trek legend in this role, but it seems he has at least one more superhero movie in him.
Secret Wars plot details are still a mystery, but there have been plenty of rumors doing the rounds. One thing we do know for sure is that Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom will play a big part in the story after making his debut (unless that happens in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?) in Doomsday.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films 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.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.