It's been over six years since audiences last saw Earth's Mightiest Heroes assemble on the big screen. Back in 2019, it seemed impossible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to surpass the heights reached by Avengers: Endgame and its epic cosmic narrative. However, the multiverse has opened the doors for many exciting possibilities, and now it's impossible not to think that lightning can be caught in a bottle yet again.
Avengers: Doomsday is currently being filmed in the UK, and fans' excitement is at an all-time high. Superhero veterans such as Ian McKellen will make a comeback, while Robert Downey Jr. will be back in the MCU (except as a villain, this time around). But the absolute best part is that Marvel will be able to use the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers in a single project for the first time in cinematic history. There's no denying it: We're in for a crossover of epic proportions.
However, the road towards an amazing team-up is plagued with conflicts and unlikely fights. Captain America: Civil War proved that having many different heroes with widely different personalities may lead to an impending clash. Now, we know history is bound to repeat itself thanks to an Avengers: Doomsday star.
Nightcrawler will fight Mr. Fantastic in Avengers: Doomsday
During an interview with BuzzFeed UK, Alan Cumming revealed that he's been learning stunts and fights for his role in Avengers: Doomsday. But just who is he going to face? Well, none other than Pedro Pascal's Mister Fantastic, who's set to make his debut in this year's Fantastic Four: First Steps.
"I'm sort of learning these fights, and I'm like 'What? Who am I fighting with?' and they said 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head' or something."
Alan's comments might be seen as a playful way of indicating that he's working on a complex and secretive project that has a lot of star power. However, there's also a chance that the actor was being literal, and his character is indeed battling the smartest man alive. If that were to be the case, then it could be an indication that fans' hopes became a reality, and Avengers: Doomsday might pit the X-Men against Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Marvel's First Family.
While we're focused on the next step on the road, the story will ultimately lead to Avengers: Secret Wars — a big crossover bound to be the end of the MCU's Multiverse Saga. On comic book pages, the very first Secret Wars event featured heroes fighting against each other as part of a "contest" organized by The Beyonder. With that in mind, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume a similar scenario could happen on the big screen. The only question remaining is: Why would all these MCU characters decide to face each other if we assume that The Beyonder won't be the main antagonist?
The second Secret Wars comic book storyline, published in 2015, was all about the dire consequences of incursions: apocalyptic events in which two or more universes collide and only one survives in the process. Incursions have been a growing threat in the MCU in recent years, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that one of them will be the catalyst for the events of Avengers: Doomsday. So if the universe in which Mutants exist clashes with the MCU, and only one can make it out alive, there's a chance that all these different heroes will fight for the survival of their own homeworld.
While Fantastic Four: First Steps has yet to be released at the time of writing this, it has been heavily theorized that the movie will end with Marvel's First Family moving over from their retrofuturistic universe to the MCU. If that's the case, then they could be on the Avengers' side, while the X-Men find themselves on the opposite side of the battlefield. As simple as that, we'd get a confrontation bigger than Captain America: Civil War ever was. Nightcrawler would have the chance to face Mr. Fantastic, and maybe we could even see that long-rumored fight between all three Spider-Men.
Fortunately, we don't have a long wait long to discover if Alan Cumming's coments are true, or he was just masterfully deceiving us all.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on May 1, 2026.