26 years after their introduction, the X-Men are back in Avengers: Doomsday, which means some of the OG actors many fans grew up watching in the 2000s will soon return to the silver screen. This has been a long time coming since the 2019 Disney-Fox merger opened the door for Marvel to bring back revered X-Men characters. The studio has since been pulling actors from Bryan Singer's early-2000s mutant films back into the fold, one face at a time. It started as a surprise cameo in the Doctor Strange sequel and has since grown into something closer to a full reunion tour, with Avengers: Doomsday becoming the biggest gathering of Fox-era X-Men actors the studio has assembled.
Rebecca Romijn is the latest name confirmed to be a prominent presence in the film. The actress first played shape-shifting mutant Raven Darkhölme in 2000's X-Men and is officially reprising the role for Avengers: Doomsday, marking her first credited appearance as Mystique in 20 years. Her last turn in the character's blue skin came in an uncredited cameo in 2011's X-Men: First Class, by which point Jennifer Lawrence had already taken over the role for the prequel timeline.
Marvel confirmed Romijn's involvement during its five-hour livestream cast announcement in March last year, which unveiled the Doomsday ensemble chair by chair. Fans got their first look at what she does in the movie thanks to the CinemaCon 2026 trailer, which played for theater owners in Las Vegas on April 16.
The Direct was in the room and had the pleasure of viewing the footage, which featured Mystique transforming into Yelena Belova mid-fight, setting up a Florence Pugh versus Florence Pugh showdown. The sequence is part of a broader X-Men-versus-Avengers clash that also features Channing Tatum's Gambit squaring off with Simu Liu's Shang-Chi.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18 and will feature more legendary X-Men actors, as their characters try to take down Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom with the help of the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts.
Other Original Fox X-Men Actors Already in Disney's MCU
Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)
The longest-tenured mutant of them all, Hugh Jackman, is still going strong in the MCU. The actor debuted as Logan in 2000's X-Men and played the character across nine Fox films, including Logan in 2017, which the studio billed as his definitive farewell. He reversed course for Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, the first R-rated MCU movie and the 34th entry in the franchise, which earned over $1.3 billion worldwide.
The film used the Time Variance Authority from Loki to justify bringing in a variant version of Wolverine, sidestepping the ending of Logan entirely. Kevin Feige told press at D23 Brazil that both Jackman's Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool still have a place in the MCU going forward. Jackman himself spent much of late 2025 teasing a possible return without committing to one.
Patrick Stewart (Professor X)
Patrick Stewart's MCU arrival came early and brutally. A variant of Charles Xavier showed up as a member of the Illuminati in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, only to get his neck snapped by Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch within minutes of his introduction. Stewart himself called the experience "frustrating and disappointing" on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, citing that he had to shoot the scene alone. Doomsday is his real shot at doing something substantial in the MCU, and Marvel has already used him heavily in trailer footage, including a shot of Xavier at the window of the X-Mansion as the Sentinels attack.
Kelsey Grammer (Beast)
Kelsey Grammer joined the Fox franchise later than most, playing Dr. Hank McCoy in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. His MCU debut arrived in the post-credits scene of 2023's The Marvels, where he interacted with Teyonah Parris's Monica Rambeau and Lashana Lynch's Maria Rambeau in a sequence that functioned more as a tease. Marvel confirmed his return in Doomsday during the March 2025 cast livestream, where his chair came up first among the returning X-Men.
Tyler Mane (Sabretooth)
Tyler Mane originated Sabretooth in 2000's X-Men as one of Magneto's Brotherhood henchmen. Liev Schreiber played a different version of the character in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but when Marvel wanted Sabretooth for Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, the call went to Mane. His return ran short, with Wolverine dispatching him in seconds, but it counted as an official MCU debut, 24 years after his original appearance.
Ian McKellen (Magneto)
Ian McKellen played Erik Lehnsherr across the original Singer trilogy and returned for 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, alongside the younger Michael Fassbender version of the character. Doomsday marks his first MCU role, confirmed during the March 2025 cast reveal. Marvel then put him front and center in the third Doomsday teaser, released earlier this year, which grouped the Fox X-Men lineup with Stewart's Professor X and James Marsden's Cyclops.
In that footage, McKellen gives a chilling monologue about death as chaos takes center stage at the X-Men mansion. Many fans would agree that this teaser is one of the best Doomsday teasers Marvel has released so far.
James Marsden (Cyclops)
Marsden's Scott Summers got the short end of the stick in the original Fox trilogy, dying in the opening act of X-Men: The Last Stand. Doomsday is his first return to the role in 20 years, and he appeared alongside Stewart and McKellen in the X-Men-focused Doomsday teaser. Cyclops' comic-accurate suit and his violent optic blast into the sky were one of the biggest highlights in the trailer. Hopefully, Scott is portrayed in a better light in the MCU and becomes as central to the franchise as Wolverine was to the Fox era.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
