Marvel movies are always a big game of "who's going to cameo in this one?", but the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday has widened the pool of possibilities significantly. Just look at its blockbuster cast, which features multiple stars from the classic 20th Century Fox X-Men movies - which weren't canon to the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's all down to the franchise's Multiverse Saga, which has been bringing back actors from across the extensive Marvel movie library - yes, even those that pre-date the MCU.
That makes predicting the surprises in Avengers: Doomsday that much more difficult, as we aren't just looking at MCU stars - we’re looking at actors from projects well beyond just those. And yet, there is one MCU star that fans have been hoping to see make his presence felt in the movie - one who hasn't been announced as part of the main cast.
Unfortunately, this new report may have just ruled that out.
Tom Holland's Spider-Man won't return in Avengers: Doomsday, reports say
We've already seen Tom Holland headline an MCU movie this year, with the webslinger leading this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day - a movie so successful that it ended up becoming the third-highest-grossing film of all time at the box office. However, fans were also holding out hope that he might make his Marvel return as soon as Avengers: Doomsday. After all, Spidey was one of the larger ensemble of the original Avengers, and he now knows Yelena in a post-Endgame world where nobody else knows who Peter Parker is. Unfortunately, it sounds like that won't be happening after all.
According to industry insider Alex Perez (via The Cosmic Circus), Holland is not currently in Avengers: Doomsday. They also added that the film will have "limited recontextualization" of the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home with the exception of Doctor Strange's arc. The 2021 movie, of course, saw Strange cast a spell that would erase everyone's memories of Peter Parker's existence - which is why Spidey is no longer a direct member of the Avengers. And, honestly, that makes sense, because the arc will more likely be resolved in a future Spider-Man movie instead of an Avengers movie - as it is more important to supporting Spider-Man characters than the new wave of Avengers.
It's no too surprising that Tom Holland won't appear in Avengers: Doomsday considering that Marvel Studios didn't announce his name as part of the movie's massive cast, but as we know that there are some surprises being held back, fans were hoping that he might surface at some point. And there was good reason for that school of thought. Remember, Chris Evans' name wasn't a part of that announcement but he did ultimately take center stage in the very first teaser trailer for the movie, confirming that original Captain America, Steve Rogers, would be back.
Furthermore, Holland's webslinger was an integral part of the two previous Avengers movies, with 2018's Infinity War seeing him among the many who were blipped out of existence by Thanos and 2019's Endgame featuring the iconic moment where he and the blipped returned to ultimately defeat the Mad Titan. With Doctor Doom posing a similar threat in Doomsday, it is understandably why fans hoped that he might be involved here, too.
Spider-Man could still appear in Avengers: Secret Wars
It's also worth noting that the lack of a role in Avengers: Doomsday doesn't rule out a return in 2027s sequel Avengers: Secret Wars. That film is expected to have an even bigger cast and, as it will be the official grand finale of the Multiverse Saga, it would feel incomplete without some kind of role for Spider-Man. And, again, there is good reasoning as to why he could, should, and probably will appear.
Doctor Doom isn't just any big bad; he also happens to be an all-powerful threat who looks exactly like Tony Stark (with Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU to play the role). Considering how attached Peter was to his original mentor, it's highly likely that the pair will share at least one pivotal scene to allow him to react to the new villain's familiar face.
And, as the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Brand New Day alluded to the wall-crawler ending up off-world, it's not too out-there to assume that it has something to do with Doctor Doom's multiversal shenanigans across the upcoming two Avengers movies. Perhaps that showdown with the Tony Stark variant is inevitable.
Although we know that Spider-Man 5 is in development, it's highly unlikely that this will be the next time that we see Spider-Man himself. Even if Holland's fan-favorite hero doesn't make his presence felt in Avengers: Doomsday, there's a really strong possibility that he will be involved in Avengers: Secret Wars in some capacity. It would be a huge missed opportunity not to have him feature - and Marvel knows that.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars comes out the very next year, arriving on December 17, 2027.
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