There are less than three months to go until Marvel Studios unveils Avengers: Doomsday to the world. It's going to be a cinematic event for the ages, as this franchise is more than used to delivering those to its devoted fans. And, despite some missteps along the way throughout the Multiverse Saga, there's little reason to think that the Marvel Cinematic Universe won't deliver again.
It's also going to welcome in a host of returning Marvel heroes from prior to the MCU's existence. That includes the cast of the X-Men movies, as multiple stars from the Fox film series will reprise their roles one more time before the MCU sets the stage for the next X-Men stars to take over. This has been a trait of the Multiverse Saga already, with variants of Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine appearing in previous films, and both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield returning as their respective versions of Spider-Man.
That beign said, don't be expecting to see one former pre-MCU Marvel star back in action as the studio already introduced a new version of her just before the spectacular film arrives in movie theaters.
Marvel's own Fantastic Four headline Avengers: Doomsday, ruling out returns from classic stars
If you're a longtime fan of the previous non-MCU Fantastic Four movies, then you might be excited at the prospect of seeing a cameo or two from them in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, then you should prepare yourself: No classic Fantastic Four will have major roles like the classic X-Men do. While Marvel's First Family are main characters in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, it will be the MCU's official Fantastic Four that appear - not the previous ones.
After years of anticipation, Marvel Studios officially introduced the iconic quartet of heroes in 2025's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with Vanessa Kirby taking over as Sue Storm, Pedro Pascal stepping into Reed Richards' shoes, Joseph Quinn flaming it on as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach becoming the newest Ben Grimm. Although the film takes place on a separate earth - just as the previous Fantastic Four movies do - these characters are considered canon to the main MCU timeline in a way that their predecessors are not. And that is largely down to the fact that the events of Avengers: Doomsday have brought them to Earth-616 to meet Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
With that in mind, this rules out the possibility of 2005's Fantastic Four cast - Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis - from playing major roles in the same way that the 2000s X-Men stars are. Evans is obviously playing a major role in the film, but he will be reprising his MCU role of Steve Rogers (a.k.a. the original Captain America) and not Johnny Storm. Although this particular quartet of heroes were faces of the Marvel brand in the mid 2000s (thanks to the popularity of both the 2005 film and its 2007 sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer), the films weren't as revolutionary for the comic book genre as the X-Men films were.
Of course, this doesn't particularly rule out a cameo appearance from any of them, it's unlikely that it would take place in Avengers: Doomsday. Gruffudd has confirmed that he isn't appearing in the film, while Evans is obviously busy playing Steve Rogers, but there is scope to have them all make a cameo appearance in the upcoming sequel Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. Alba has confirmed that she would "jump at the chance" to return while Gruffudd has said that he would do it "in a heartbeat".
While there was a separate Fantastic Four reboot released in 2015 (the infamous Fant4stic), it's no surprise to learn that those iterations of the characters will be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday. Although actors Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell did what they could, the darker take on the light-hearted characters was a critical and commercial failure - resulting it in going down in history as one of the worst superhero movies ever made.
The thing that separates the classic X-Men's role in Avengers: Doomsday from the classic Fantastic Four is that Marvel Studios has not yet introduced its new X-Men. Although the studio has begun announcing the cast for the upcoming X-Men reboot movie, they will not be appearing in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Therefore, the scope is totally there for a return for the classic X-Men stars instead. With Marvel having already introduced its own version of the Fantastic Four, there is less of a need for the original iteration of Marvel's First Family to be as heavily involved as the X-Men are. Instead, the past will meet the present as the X-Men of old will cross paths of the current Fantastic Four.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars then arrives on December 17, 2027.
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