"Doomsday's Lack of Avengers Hints at Secret Wars, X-Men"

Get ready, Marvel fans: Avengers: Doomsday is officially in the works. Marvel Studios made waves with a live stream cast announcement for the new film, which included a surprising lineup of X-Men actors, while some key characters were notably missing entirely. The marathon announcement lasted a whopping five and a half hours! As fans process this information, the burning question remains: Where are all the Avengers in this new "Avengers" movie?

The live stream confirmed 27 characters, but only a few are official Avengers members. The roster is dominated by actors from the Fox X-Men franchise, the Thunderbolts, and the Fantastic Four, leaving us with a limited number of traditional Avengers. Delving into both the in-universe and real-world implications might provide significant clues about the plots of both Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Let's dive in.

The Most Surprising Avengers and Marvel Characters Not Announced for Doomsday

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Why the Thunderbolts Are More Important to Doomsday Than We Thought

The only characters announced who are traditionally linked to the Avengers in the comics or the MCU are Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, and Paul Rudd's Ant-Man. Danny Ramirez's Falcon and Letitia Wright's Black Panther are likely to be part of the Avengers, even though Joaquin Torres and Shuri aren't typically team members. Other characters like Namor and the Fantastic Four have occasionally joined the Avengers in the comics but aren't central to the team's history.

So, where are fan favorites like Tom Holland's Spider-Man, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, Don Cheadle's War Machine, and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange? The answer might lie with the Thunderbolts*, and the mysterious asterisk that has fueled fan theories for months. While some international posters suggest the asterisk means "Avengers are not available," this could just be a clever marketing ploy.

Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Ghost, U.S. Agent, and the Sentry are all set to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Why such a focus on a team of characters who aren't traditionally powerful (except for the Sentry) and aren't typically considered Avengers? The MCU seems to be setting up a significant shift. With the Thunderbolts prominently featured in Doomsday, the asterisk might indicate that they will be rebranded as the New Avengers by the end of the film. In the trailers, Red Guardian appears to be the only one fond of the "Thunderbolts" name, while Bucky insists they "can't call ourselves that." This could be a running gag, but with Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine acquiring Avengers Tower and her comments on the lack of Avengers in the trailer, it seems the Thunderbolts are poised to take over the Avengers' role as the MCU's primary superhero team.

The Thunderbolts being rebranded as the New Avengers makes sense, especially with the Sentry playing a major role and his evil counterpart, the Void, likely serving as the film's main antagonist. The Sentry was first introduced in a 2000 miniseries and later integrated into the Marvel universe in 2005 as part of Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers comic.

The Thunderbolts: The Tumultuous History of Marvel's Twisted Super-Team

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Once established in the MCU, the Thunderbolts could be recruited to form a new Avengers roster, likely led by Sam Wilson's Captain America. Recall that in Captain America: Brave New World, President Ross asks Sam to help rebuild the team. With limited access to traditional Avengers, Sam might have to rely on the Thunderbolts, putting them at a disadvantage in their initial battle against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.

Are the X-Men Doomed in Avengers: Doomsday?

Speaking of Doom, one of Doomsday's key tasks is to establish Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of the character as a formidable threat. With Doom absent from the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, where Galactus will take the villain's role (though we might see a Doom cameo in a post-credits scene), Doomsday needs to set the stage for Doom as the Multiverse Saga's ultimate antagonist. What better way than to have Doom eliminate several major characters that fans thought were safe? Much like Thanos snapped away half of all life and many fan favorites in Infinity War, Doctor Doom may be poised to wipe out a significant portion of Doomsday's cast, particularly the Fox X-Men.

Doctor Doom eliminating the Fox X-Men would not only serve as a dramatic "you bastard!" moment but also free up space and budget for the return of more traditional MCU characters in Secret Wars. We know that Secret Wars is on the horizon, and Incursions (multiple universes colliding, leading to widespread destruction), a major plot point in the 2015 Secret Wars comic, have already been mentioned in Multiverse of Madness. Witnessing an Incursion firsthand would effectively establish the stakes for Secret Wars, requiring an entire universe to be destroyed at Doctor Doom's hand. The destruction of the Fox X-Men universe makes the most sense. This would allow for characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, and others to return and take the fight directly to Doom, avenging the destroyed universe in a triumphant finale to the Multiverse Saga. It's also a potential way for Marvel Studios to match the excitement of Endgame's epic conclusion, which they've been trying and failing to replicate in Phases 4 and 5. We'll have to wait until the film's release on May 1, 2026, to know for sure, but this seems to be the most plausible explanation for the absence of many Avengers in the Doomsday cast.