Every Confirmed Original X-Men Actor Making Their MCU Debut in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

The mutants are finally crashing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it turns out Marvel Studios didn’t just cherry pick one or two familiar faces. Marvel has confirmed the return of several stars from Fox’s early 2000s ‘X-Men‘ films as part of the ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ cast, joining MCU veterans like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Anthony Mackie’s Captain America in the ensemble.

For fans who grew up with the original ‘X-Men’ trilogy, this is the crossover event they never thought Disney and Fox’s corporate history would actually allow. Several of the original Fox X-Men are set to return in ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘, likely for one last hurrah before the franchise gets its full MCU reboot.

Patrick Stewart – Professor Charles Xavier

Patrick Stewart is returning as Professor Charles Xavier after last appearing in ‘Logan’ in 2017. This marks the eighth time Stewart has stepped into the role of the X-Men’s telepathic leader.

Stewart first portrayed the character in live action in ‘X-Men’ back in 2000. Given the somber history of Xavier’s various on screen deaths, fans online have already started speculating about whether he’ll survive this outing either.

Ian McKellen – Magneto

Ian McKellen is reprising his role as Erik Lehnsherr, better known as Magneto. McKellen played the character across the original Singer trilogy and returned again for 2014’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, and ‘Doomsday’ marks his first ever MCU role, which was confirmed during the March 2025 cast reveal.

Marvel later put McKellen front and center in the third ‘Doomsday’ teaser, which grouped the Fox X-Men lineup alongside Stewart’s Professor X and James Marsden’s Cyclops. In that footage, McKellen delivers a chilling monologue about death as chaos takes over the X-Men mansion, and many fans consider it one of the strongest teasers Marvel has released for the film so far.

James Marsden – Cyclops

James Marsden is also confirmed to return as Scott Summers, known to comic readers as Cyclops. Marsden last played the role in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ in 2014.

Marsden’s version of Cyclops famously got the short end of the stick in the original Fox trilogy, dying in the opening act of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’. His resurrection for ‘Doomsday’ is exactly the kind of continuity wrinkle that has multiverse theorists working overtime.

Kelsey Grammer – Beast

Kelsey Grammer is coming back as Dr. Hank McCoy, better known as Beast, after his surprise appearance in the post credits scene of ‘The Marvels’ made his return feel like a no brainer. Grammer has long been a fan favorite in the role, and his blue furred alter ego getting another shot on the big screen has been welcomed warmly by longtime ‘X-Men’ viewers.

Robert Downey Jr, who is stepping into the MCU as Doctor Doom, even weighed in on the energy the returning cast brought to set. During a post Hall H interview at San Diego Comic-Con, Downey described how the excitement generated by Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer, who are reprising their roles as Mystique and Beast, immediately energized the cast that had already assembled for the film.

Rebecca Romijn – Mystique

Rebecca Romijn is rounding out the blue mutants of the cast, returning as the shapeshifting Mystique. Romijn hadn’t played the character in nearly twenty years, not since ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.

Her return is one of the more unexpected reveals given how long she’d been away from the franchise, and it has fans revisiting her earliest appearances in the original trilogy with fresh eyes.

Alan Cumming – Nightcrawler

Alan Cumming, who played Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, in ‘X2: X-Men United’, is confirmed to return as well. Cumming reportedly hated the makeup process for the character so much that he never came back for any subsequent ‘X-Men’ sequels, which makes his ‘Doomsday’ return even more of a surprise.

Notably Absent From the Reunion

Despite the star power assembled, Famke Janssen, Shawn Ashmore, and Ben Foster are not currently set to return as Jean Grey, Iceman, or Angel respectively. Some fans have pointed out this leaves out the original five X-Men from the 1963 comics, since ‘Doomsday’ features six actors from the original Fox films plus Channing Tatum’s Gambit, who got his moment in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’.

There’s already speculation that Marvel may be saving Jean Grey for a future reboot instead, especially with rumors pointing to Sadie Sink playing a young version of the character in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’.

With this many original ‘X-Men’ faces confirmed for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, which reunion has you the most excited to see play out on screen this December?