Avengers: Doomsday is sidelining Jean Grey in the fight against Doctor Doom for this one key reason. Marvel Studios' 2026 MCU crossover is set to feature a plethora of Fox's X-Men actors reprising their roles to team up with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in the battle to save the Multiverse from incursions. Some of the returning legacy stars include Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, and Rebecca Romijn as Mystique. While this lineup is already a powerhouse, there is a key missing member that could completely turn the tide against Doom: Jean Grey.
Speaking at her panel at Spacecon San Antonio 2026 (via Nerdtropolis), Fame Janssen, the actress who portrayed Jean Grey in Fox's X-Men movies, confirmed she has no involvement in Avengers: Doomsday, even admitting that Marvel Studios is making a mistake for not bringing her back in the crossover event:
"I am so bad at keeping secrets that I always say to everyone I’m the worst actor in the world. It’s all on my face. You right away will read it. I think they made a mistake, but hey, who am I? I’m just a little me who thinks that."
Marvel's choice to keep Famke Janssen's Jean Grey absent appears to be more of a storytelling safeguard, given that sidelining her would be ideal, as she would be too powerful in the fight against Doctor Doom. Jean isn't just another hero in this Multiversal chaos. She is a force of nature that demands careful handling to keep Avengers: Doomsday's stakes feeling epic rather than inevitable.
Some fans, though, claimed that Jean Grey is being sidelined in Doomsday because Sadie Sink is already rumored to debut as the MCU's version of Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Either way, the decision reflects Marvel's strategic approach to power scaling and legacy characters ahead of the studio's biggest on-screen crossover yet.
Marvel Already Confirmed How Truly Powerful Jean Grey Is
The official Marvel.com power grid positioned Jean Grey as one of, if not the most powerful, hero on the superhero scale.
In a previous tally of Avengers: Doomsday characters, powerful enough to presumably take down Doctor Doom (rated across six categories, including durability, fighting skills, intelligence, speed, strength, and energy projection), the power scale of the likes of Professor X (28), Shang-Chi (25), and even Sentry (28) sit lower than Doctor Doom, which amassed a score of 31. Meanwhile, Thor and Loki have a score of 32, meaning that the Odinson brothers have a good chance of defeating Doctor Doom.
Despite that, Jean Grey stacks up exceptionally high, racking up a score of 33, making him the most powerful hero poised to defeat Doctor Doom (on paper).
- Durability: 7
- Fighting Skills: 7
- Intelligence: 3
- Speed: 7
- Strength: 2
- Energy: 7
• Total = 33
Base Jean is already an Omega-level mutant with elite telepathy and telekinesis. When fully bonded with the Phoenix Force, she ascends to cosmic entity-level status. Her stats frequently max out categories like Energy Projection, Durability, Fighting Skills, and Speed, giving her the raw tools to withstand Doom's sorcery, technology, and Multiversal schemes.
Phoenix Force Jean has an overwhelming edge. She can reshape matter at the atomic level, generate or absorb energy on a supernova scale, create time and space warps, resurrect the dead, and project telepathy on a greater scale.
At one point in Marvel Comics, Phoenix Jean even defeated Galactus and Terrax the Tamer with ease. With the Phoenix Force imbued within her, she essentially embodies a prime force of life and rebirth. Jean's god-tier abilities and feats place Phoenix Jean in a league above almost every hero Marvel Studios assembled in Avengers: Doomsday.
While Thor and Loki edge out Doctor Doom's 31 with their 32 totals, Jean's 33 score reflects a being who operates on an entirely different plane. When a Phoenix Force Jean meets Doctor Doom in a one-on-one, no-holds-barred clash, Doom risks becoming an afterthought.
Why It's Okay to Omit Jean Grey In Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday heavily teases that the X-Men in the film come from a world where Jean Grey is already dead. This makes sense, considering that a version of Jean would've swooped in to join the fight against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom if given the chance. With Jean possibly dead, this could explain her absence in the film and fix potential narrative balance issues.
It's reasonable to assume that the X-Men team in Doomsday had gone through a lot, meaning that they might have already dealt with Phoenix Force Jean. In their reality, Jean could have died after the Phoenix Force incident, following the same trajectory as in Marvel Comics' Dark Phoenix Saga (one of the storylines fans want to adapt in the MCU's Mutant Saga).
A full Phoenix Jean could casually rewrite reality, absorb massive energy, manipulate matter, and dominate telepathically. Including her at full power in Avengers: Doomsday risks making the conflict feel lopsided and positioning Doom as a lesser threat. This mirrors how comics sometimes depower or separate Jean from the Phoenix Force for storytelling purposes. It keeps tension high while setting up bigger payoffs.
It's worth noting that Sadie Sink is slated to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars. If she is truly Jean Grey, then it's possible that her version of the character has yet to encounter the Phoenix Force, and including her in the Multiverse Saga capper could mean that they are simply setting her up as a more grounded, pre-cosmic mutant still coming into her own.
Sidelining Jean Grey in Avengers: Doomsday preserves Doom as a credible, epic villain and lets the film's massive ensemble shine. Her raw stats and lore make her the ultimate last resort, but reinforce her role as narratively inconvenient for a team-up movie.
