With the idea of the Marvel Multiverse colliding in Avengers: Secret Wars, former X-Men actor James Marsden shared his thoughts on returning as Cyclops in the MCU sequel.
In the same way that Avengers: Endgame was the ultimate celebration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers 6 is seemingly shaping up to be the same thing for all of Marvel's storied movie-making history.
This has included rumors of Tobey Maguire coming back as Spider-Man and Hugh Jackman reprising his Wolverine role.
Much has been made about the idea of past X-Men actors popping up in the Multiversal sequel, with one report saying the film would feature "several X-Men cast members."
James Marsden on a Cyclops Return
Cyclops actor James Marsden addressed the idea of coming back as the X-Men hero as the MCU reboots the Mutant heroes.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, Marsden was asked if he would be interested in reprising his X-Men role in any way, to which the actor answered, "sure." He noted that he "[misses the role] dearly" and would "love to explore that" world again:
“Sure. Yeah, I mean, I’m all about material, and what the story is, and what the character would be doing, but it’s a character that I played and it’s very close to my heart. And that family, I miss it dearly. We created a very special thing with the first couple of 'X-Men' movies and yeah, I’d love to explore that. But you know, [I] would want to see what that looks like first, I guess.”
This is not the first time Marden broached the idea of coming back to Cyclops. Back in the lead-up to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the 49-year-old actor said he wanted to "bring [the character] back now 22 years later” when the idea of a Doctor Strange cameo was brought up:
“Interesting. Oh now, I’m listening. [joking] Yes, let’s bring him back now 22 years later… right, what is the [Multiverse]?
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is seemingly interested in having these former Fox X-Men actors come back for Avengers 6, with reports revealing that the Marvel executive wants a "similar scene to the Portals one at the end of Avengers: Endgame" in Secret Wars, but "instead of just being restricted to MCU characters," it would include "multiple Marvel franchises converging:"
“Feige’s dream and his vision is to have a similar scene to the Portals one at the end of Avengers: Endgame. However, instead of just being restricted to MCU characters, we’ll have multiple Marvel franchises converging at this point. This will include Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, several X-Men cast members, Fantastic Four ones, and so on and so forth. Kang will have ravaged multiple dimensions at this point, and there will be a final stand against him.”
Cameos To Expect in Avengers: Secret Wars
At this point, it feels like Avengers: Secret Wars is going to be the Multiversal story to end all Multiversal stories. It is unknown just how many of these franchise-spanning cameos will happen in the film; however, there is a feeling that that number is growing by the day.
What is nice to hear is that James Marsden is game for coming back as his X-Men character. Other actors - like James Macavoy - have said they have "[moved] on" and would say "no" if they were asked, so knowing that Marsden is ready should be a reassuring sign for the Marvel Studios brass.
Marsden's X-Men co-star Kelsey Grammer (who played Fox's Hank McCoy/Beast) has also made it known that he'd "love" to come back as the character, and Colossus actor Daniel Cudmore feels the same way and is ready should Marvel need him.
Whether these particular characters and actors pop up in the Avengers sequel is unclear, but it is certainly looking like the MCU is going to have its pick of legacy mutants to include should they need them.
Avengers: Secret Wars comes to theaters on May 1, 2026.
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