Kevin Feige says X-Men's Avengers: Doomsday return 'just felt right'
Feige recalled Hugh Jackman's old hope for an X-Men and Avengers crossover; whether Jackman appears remains unclear.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Empire that the original X-Men’s return in “Avengers: Doomsday” “just felt right” as a way to culminate a quarter-century of storytelling.
The film opens in theaters Dec. 18, uniting the Avengers and the Fantastic Four with mutants from 20th Century Fox’s original X-Men movies. Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, James Marsden as Cyclops, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and Kelsey Grammer as Beast. The actors signed on last year.
“It just felt like the fun way to culminate a quarter-century of storytelling,” Feige said in the magazine’s cover story on Avengers: Doomsday, which Empire promoted Friday on X.
EXCLUSIVE 🧬
— Empire (@empiremagazine) November 13, 2026
The original X-Men return in Avengers: Doomsday – appearing alongside the rest of Marvel’s heroes.
“It just felt right,” Feige tells Empire of their return, promising it will “culminate a quarter-century of storytelling.”
Read more:
Feige pointed to an old hope from Hugh Jackman. “You see interviews of Hugh Jackman 15, 20 years ago saying, ‘People say it’s impossible, but maybe someday the X-Men and the Avengers can all get together,’” he said.
Whether Jackman or Wolverine, the character he plays, appears in the film was unclear.
Feige began his Hollywood career with the original movies: He was an associate producer for 2000’s “X-Men.”
In “Doomsday,” a multiverse collapse forces heroes from multiple Earths to join against Doctor Doom, including stars of the original live-action X-Men franchise. Robert Downey Jr. plays Doom.
The Russo brothers direct both “Doomsday” and its follow-up, “Avengers: Secret Wars.” Stephen McFeely wrote both screenplays, while Michael Waldron, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were enlisted for story work.
Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Paul Rudd are among the cast. So are Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn, the leads of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
Channing Tatum plays Gambit, whom Feige called “a standout.” “It’s fun to see Gambit be as charismatic as he was in Deadpool & Wolverine, and yet in Doomsday it’s not all for laughs,” Feige said, in excerpts carried by ComicBookMovie.com.
A newly released still places Tatum’s Gambit alongside Cyclops in front of the X-Mansion. Cyclops wears a comic-accurate costume and leads the charge against the invading X-Men and Doctor Doom’s Sentinels.
“I like to think of Scott as a noble and good man, who, at the end of the day, will do the right thing,” Marsden told the magazine.
Marsden discussed the Incursions that have laid waste to Earth-10005, saying, “It’s not black and white.” The situation “has a lot of very serious, potentially catastrophic implications,” he added.
ComicBookMovie.com noted that Jean Grey, Wolverine and Storm are absent from the returning lineup. The site wrote that “Doomsday” is expected to serve as a final farewell to this X-Men era, ahead of a 2028 reboot. Gizmodo’s io9 said it is ready for Marvel to move on from the Fox-era X-Men to new blood once the crossovers are over.
“Avengers: Secret Wars” follows “Doomsday” in 2027. Jake Schreier’s “X-Men,” a new Marvel Cinematic Universe film, premieres May 5, 2028, with Kit Connor playing Cyclops and Sadie Sink playing Jean Grey.
