Breaking down the bizarre ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ cast reveal so you don’t have to

Not many people have the luxury of sitting on a five-and-a-half hour livestream in the middle of the work week, watching empty chairs with names written across the back revealed once every 15-ish minutes. But somehow, the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement stream saw millions of viewers across multiple social media platforms on March 26, with an almost unbelievable 10.1 million tuned in on X for the final moments.

It all started with rumors of a huge Marvel announcement dropping Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET, said to be “bigger than RDJ’s casting as Doom.” Social media users quickly started speculating what this could possibly mean — with some saying it would be news on the highly anticipated Spider-Man 4, others claiming it could be the X-Men finally coming home to the MCU and a few hitting the nail on the head and predicting the Doomsday cast reveal. 

What nobody expected was this “announcement” taking five and a half hours. 

On one hand, the move was pure genius. Marvel fans and opposers alike were glued to their computer and phone screens, reacting to each chair that slowly came into frame every 15 minutes. A couple names were obvious, and others came completely out of left field — insinuating the MCU is making major moves to embrace mutants, and continuing to utilize the Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four after their films release this summer. On the other hand, some fans felt like they were taken advantage of with this anti-climactic reveal that could’ve been a two-minute video, and that Marvel is “nostalgia baiting” with the cast.

If you weren’t able to tune in for the livestream, here is a breakdown of every cast member revealed, and some notable exclusions that Marvel might be saving for later.

Avengers

Since Doomsday is an Avengers film, it makes sense that a few of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes left standing after Endgame are returning for the fight against Dr. Doom. 

Avengers actors with coveted chairs on the livestream included Chris Hemsworth, who will be making his eleventh theatrical MCU appearance as Thor Odinson in Doomsday, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi (who will likely become an Avenger), Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther, Danny Ramierez as Falcon, Winston Duke as M’Baku and, the biggest shocker, Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Hiddleston’s beloved trickster god has “died” approximately four times already, so hopefully this appearance in Doomsday doesn’t make it five.

Another slight surprise was Tenoch Huerta reprising his role as Namor from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where he was the main antagonist and killed Queen Ramonda. Will he be against the Avengers in Doomsday, or switch sides to take on the bigger threat of Doom?

Fantastic Four

Was announcing that all four Fantastic Four actors — Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch — the best idea to do a whole four months before their introductory film hits theaters? Maybe not, but it definitely will get more people showing out to theaters for Fantastic Four: First Steps. 

The Fantastic Four have a rich history in the Marvel universe, dating back to 1961 with the debut of their first comic, Fantastic Four #1. Written by Stan Lee and pencilled by Jack Kirby, the Fantastic Four ushered in a golden age of superhero comics. While they’ve been portrayed twice on the big screen, First Steps will be the first time they’re MCU official.

Based on the first trailer, it appears that First Steps is taking on a retro aesthetic, embracing color schemes and clothing from the 1960s. The big bad is giant space god Galactus (Ralph Ineson), who plans on destroying Earth with the help of Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). 

Thunderbolts

Somehow, Bucky Barnes has returned.

Sebastian Stan was officially announced to be returning as his iconic super soldier character in Doomsday, alongside Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Lewis Pullman as Bob, Wyatt Russel as U.S. Agent, David Harbour as Red Guardian and Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost. 

But where’s Taskmaster?

Announcing every Thunderbolt would be appearing in Doomsday was another surprising move from Marvel, considering their highly-anticipated film releases in early May. Many fans theorized that not all of them would make it out alive — namely Bucky Barnes, who’s narrowly avoided death for over a decade.

Will this ragtag group of war criminals, outlaws and soldiers be enough to take on Dr. Doom? We’ll have to wait and see.

Safe to say that after the credits roll during Thunderbolts*, a black screen reading “The Thunderbolts will return” is going to pop up.

X-Men

It’s finally happening people, the Fox X-Men characters are becoming canon in the MCU. 

Joining the cast of Avengers: Doomsday is Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romjin as Mystique, Channing Tatum as Gambit and Kelsey Grammar as Beast. 

It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve seen a few of these X-Men characters on the big screen, and Marsden, Cumming, Romjin and Grammar were some of the biggest shocks during the livestream.  

This incomplete group of X-Men raises the question — this can’t be the entire cast, can it?

Notable exclusions

The livestream ended abruptly with a large door opening behind the chairs, revealing Robert Downey Jr. taking his seat and making a sneaky hand gesture. In the end, 27 cast members were announced, with massive holes in both the Avengers and X-Men teams.

There will almost certainly be another part to this whacky marketing strategy, including some familiar names and faces.

On the Avengers side, the cast members still to be announced will hopefully be Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange and Tom Holland as Spider-Man, at the very least.

For the X-Men, we can only hope to see Hugh Jackman return as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm and Famke Janssen as Jean Grey. Jackman made his MCU debut last summer in Deadpool & Wolverine, and it would be incredibly satisfying to see him reunite with Storm and Jean on the big screen.