Avengers: Doomsday Will Challenge Fans' Opinions of These 5 Characters

Avengers: Doomsday will challenge how fans see several of its characters, and some long-held opinions may not survive the movie. Joe and Anthony Russo’s crossover unites the Avengers, the New Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the original X-Men against Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom when it hits theaters on December 18. Nearly every hero on that roster arrives with history attached, whether from earlier MCU projects or from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films.

Five of these characters stand out simply because general audiences have already made up their minds about them. Given how Marvel Studios and Fox originally portrayed these figures, fans naturally have rigid expectations. However, viewers should prepare for surprises, as Avengers: Doomsday is set to completely alter those long-held preconceptions.

Avengers: Doomsday Will Challenge How Fans View the Film’s Major Characters

One of the most interesting changes that will likely happen is with Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, who has only ever been a villain on screen. She served as Magneto’s deadliest soldier in X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, infiltrating and killing on his orders, and her final bow was a short uncredited cameo in X-Men: First Class. Fans who know Mystique solely through those films largely view her as an antagonist.

However, Jennifer Lawrence later played a younger Raven who drifted toward heroism, which softened the character’s public image, but Romijn’s version didn’t enjoy that sort of goodwill. Doomsday now places the original Mystique among the legacy X-Men standing against Doom. Footage screened at CinemaCon showed her shapeshifting into Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in the middle of a battle at the X Mansion, so her old tricks obviously remain. However, this time, she will help the good guys take down the film's main threat.

James Marsden, on the other hand, faces a different problem than Romijn. His Scott Summers never got room to properly shine in the original trilogy, which kept him in Wolverine’s shadow. He was then killed off early in The Last Stand, a move many comic book fans loathe to this day. Cyclops was heavily disrespected, and a brief return in the rewritten timeline of X-Men: Days of Future Past did little to right those wrongs. This depiction led casual fans to believe Cyclops was the stiff and boring one in the group, which is far from the case.

X-Men ’97 recently redeemed Cyclops in the eyes of general audiences, though, finally portraying Scott Summers as the commanding leader he was always meant to be. Doomsday is set to toe the same line and depict Cyclops better than the Fox movies did. The film’s X-Men teaser put Scott in his classic blue and yellow comic suit and ended with him ripping off his visor to unleash a massive optic blast amid burning wreckage at the X Mansion. Marvel Studios chose that image to close the teaser, which says plenty about how central Scott could be this time.

Then there is Steve Rogers, whose challenge goes in the opposite direction. Fans do not think poorly of him; many believe his story was perfect and should stay untouched. Avengers: Endgame sent him back in time to live a full life with Peggy Carter, and he returned as an old man to pass the shield to Sam Wilson. A large part of the audience sees that ending as sacred and views any return as a mistake waiting to happen.

Doomsday will test that belief head-on, proving that indeed Steve's return was a genuine necessity. The film’s first teaser showed Chris Evans' Rogers riding up to a quiet farmhouse and holding a newborn baby. The official billing order revealed at CinemaCon also placed Evans second, behind only Downey. This suggests he will play a pivotal role in the film, as Marvel rarely revives a character unless it is necessary for the narrative. Evans even said there's a "very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers now." If the movie backs that up, fans who swore Endgame should be left alone may walk out glad it was not.

Gambit will also surprise many people when he returns. Channing Tatum finally played Remy LeBeau in Deadpool & Wolverine after his solo film fell apart, and the character worked as pure comic relief. His thick Cajun accent became a running gag, one Deadpool mocked to his face, and audiences embraced him as a punchline with playing cards.

Doomsday will take a different route with Remy when the multiversal war begins. Tatum confirmed a more grounded approach to Variety, saying, "I’m not gonna go full Cajun," explaining that the Russos want the humor kept in check so the drama stays intact. He also teased a major fight between Gambit and Doctor Doom.

Sentry will also challenge viewers' opinions on him in a fascinating way. Lewis Pullman’s Bob Reynolds debuted in Thunderbolts* as a hero described in the film as "Stronger than all of the Avengers rolled into one," and many people weren’t too fond of how overpowered he was. In the eyes of fans, having Bob on the hero roster means most villains, even Doctor Doom, wouldn’t be much of a challenge. 

However, Doomsday will prove that Sentry isn’t as indestructible as many think, and Thunderbolts*' ending even teased that. Bob's final scenes in that film showed him refusing to use his abilities at all, terrified that calling on the Sentry would also unleash the Void, the destructive presence living inside him. Pullman also noted that Bob’s "biggest Achilles Heel is himself." With Bob struggling to use his powers, Sentry will be nerfed to an extent, meaning he might not unleash the brutal levels of power seen in Thunderbolts*.