Marvel has announced the list of new and returning cast members for its forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday film.
The fifth superhero movie in the Avengers franchise is scheduled for release on May 1, 2026, seven years after its latest entry, Avengers: Endgame.
In a Wednesday live stream on YouTube and its social media channels, Marvel revealed the superheroes preparing for battle.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon; Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier; Tom Hiddleston as Loki; and Paul Rudd as Ant-Man are among the first batch of returning Avengers.
Meanwhile, new superheroes joining the Avengers ensemble include Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Winston Duke’s M’Baku, Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever antagonist Namor, Kelsey Grammer’s Hank McCoy/Beast, Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres/Falcon, David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr/Ghost, and Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier/Professor X.
The lead cast of the new Fantastic Four: First Steps — Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch — are also joining the Avengers line-up. So too will Lewis Pullman, who makes his Marvel debut as Robert Reynolds/Sentry this May in Thunderbolts.
It will also add Ian McKellen, known for starring as Magneto in several X-Men movies; Alan Cumming, who appeared as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in 2003’s X2: X-Men United; and Rebecca Romijn, who originated the role of Mystique.
Robert Downey Jr. will also return to the Avengers Universe, though this time as the villainous Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom. His Tony Stark/Iron Man character died in Endgame. “New mask, same task,” the actor said at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Avengers: Doomsday is part of Marvel Phase Six, which is the studio’s next chapter after its Multiverse Saga. Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts are also a part of Phase Six.
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It will be helmed by brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo, who directed 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and both 2018 and 2019 Avengers installments.
In February, it was reported that production on Avengers 5 would begin sometime this month in the U.K.
It was originally supposed to be released this year, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars in 2026; however, both films have since been delayed until 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige previously addressed the long wait between the 4th and 5th Avengers, explaining that greater Marvel output on Disney+ has reduced the need for Avengers movies.
“The truth is, when we were doing Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3, there were [fewer] projects over more years. They were smaller projects and individual character stories, and it felt appropriate at that point, that after every two or three years that it took for a phase, we would do an Avengers film,” he told MTV News in 2022.
“As [Phases] 4, 5, and 6 were coming together, there are more projects in less years — because of all the amazing stuff we’re now allowed to do on Disney+, and getting characters from Fox — Fantastic Four and Deadpool — that it felt like, certainly after Infinity War and Endgame, that we thought Avengers movies aren’t cappers.”
