Rebecca Romijn Describes the “Crazy” Reality of Filming ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ With Over 35 Actors at Once

Few moments in modern superhero cinema have been able to match the sheer spectacle of watching dozens of beloved characters share the same screen, and Marvel Studios appears to be pushing that concept further than ever before.

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ brings together actors from previous MCU media and 20th Century Fox’s ‘X-Men’ film series, using the idea of colliding universes to unite performers from entirely different franchises under one massive production. It is the kind of convergence that fans spent years theorizing about, and it is now a reality that even those working on it are still struggling to fully process.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the film features an ensemble cast led by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, and is scheduled for release in the United States on December 18, 2026, as part of Phase Six of the MCU. Legacy ‘X-Men’ actors including Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn are all part of the cast, with their characters, Beast, Professor X, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and Mystique, set to appear in the MCU proper. The scope of it is genuinely unprecedented for a superhero film.

It was during a recent interview with Collider that Romijn opened up about what it was actually like to stand on that set. When asked about a particular shooting day where reports suggested around 35 people were on set at once, Romijn said, “That was a very surreal day. I’ll never forget it. There were two days back-to-back where we were all just kind of looking at each other, going, ‘This is crazy.'” Her words capture something that no production announcement or cast reveal photo really could, the raw human experience of being in the middle of something genuinely historic.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige provided additional context on the scale of the production, revealing that there are typically between 30 and 35 actors on set at the same time, representing the sheer volume of heroes involved. To manage the complexity, the Russo Brothers have reportedly returned to a strategy they used on ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’, using baseball cards featuring every Marvel actor and character, now with magnets, to keep track of the volume of characters they are working with.

For Romijn personally, the experience carried an added emotional weight. She described returning to the role of Mystique, a character she first played in 2000, with full confidence this time around, saying she went back with “full ownership” of the character after admitting she had experienced imposter syndrome during her early appearances.

She also shared that she had “crazy dreams” during a large chunk of the shoot, describing them as regressive, with her brain seemingly trying to organize the experience of portraying a character she had last played decades earlier.

Romijn was also balancing filming for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ with her ongoing work on ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, describing the dual commitment as “surreal and overwhelming” while expressing gratitude that both productions were able to accommodate her schedule, which involved a significant amount of time traveling between the two sets.

With ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ arriving in December 2026, the anticipation is clearly only going to build from here. Let us know in the comments what you are most excited to see when this enormous ensemble finally assembles on screen.