"Doomsday's Lack of Avengers Hints at Secret Wars, X-Men Involvement"

Attention all Marvel enthusiasts: *Avengers: Doomsday* is now officially in production! Marvel Studios kicked off the excitement with a live stream cast announcement that left fans buzzing for hours on end—clocking in at a whopping five and a half hours. The big reveal included a surprising lineup featuring numerous X-Men actors, but curiously, several major characters were missing entirely. As fans process these announcements, one burning question emerges: Where are all the Avengers in this new "Avengers" movie?

The cast announcement confirmed 27 characters, yet only a small fraction are traditional Avengers members. The majority of the roster is filled with actors from the Fox X-Men franchise, along with the Thunderbolts and the Fantastic Four. This leaves us pondering the in-universe and real-world implications for both *Avengers: Doomsday* and the upcoming *Secret Wars*. Let's dive deeper into what this could mean.

The Most Surprising Avengers and Marvel Characters Not Announced for Doomsday

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Why the Thunderbolts Are More Important to Doomsday Than We Thought

The only characters from the announcement traditionally linked to the Avengers are Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. Danny Ramirez’s Falcon and Letitia Wright’s Black Panther are likely to join the Avengers, despite their comic counterparts not typically being part of the team. Other characters like Namor and the Fantastic Four have occasionally been Avengers, but aren't central to the team’s history.

So, where are the likes of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Don Cheadle’s War Machine, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange? The answer may lie with the Thunderbolts*, and the asterisk in their title, which fans have been theorizing about for months. Some international posters suggest the asterisk means “Avengers are not available,” but that could be just clever marketing.

Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Ghost, U.S. Agent, and the Sentry are all confirmed for *Avengers: Doomsday*. Why so much emphasis on a team of less powerful characters (except for the Sentry) who aren't traditionally Avengers? The MCU seems to be setting up a major shift. With the Thunderbolts playing a significant role in *Doomsday*, the asterisk might hint that they’ll be dubbed the New Avengers by the film's end. In the trailers, Red Guardian seems to be the only one fond of the “Thunderbolts” name, while Bucky insists they “can’t call ourselves that.” The lack of a team name might become a running gag, but with Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine buying Avengers Tower and commenting on the Avengers' absence, it's clear the Thunderbolts are poised to take on the Avengers' role.

The Thunderbolts transitioning to the New Avengers would align with the Sentry's importance and his evil counterpart, the Void, likely being the film’s main antagonist. The Sentry was reintroduced to the Marvel universe in 2005 as part of Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers comic.

The Thunderbolts: The Tumultuous History of Marvel's Twisted Super-Team

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Once established in the MCU, the Thunderbolts could be recruited to bolster a new Avengers roster, likely led by Sam Wilson’s Captain America. Recall that in *Captain America: Brave New World*, President Ross asked Sam to help rebuild the team. Without access to many traditional Avengers, Sam might have to rely on the Thunderbolts, putting the team at a strategic disadvantage when facing Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.

Are the X-Men Doomed in Avengers: Doomsday?

Speaking of Doom, *Avengers: Doomsday* needs to establish Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal as a formidable threat. With Doom absent from the upcoming *Fantastic Four* reboot—where Galactus will be the main villain (though a Doom cameo might appear in a post-credits scene)—*Doomsday* has the task of setting up Doom as the ultimate antagonist of the Multiverse Saga. What better way to showcase his menace than by eliminating several key characters fans thought were safe? Just as Thanos snapped away half of all life in *Infinity War*, Doom may be ready to decimate much of *Doomsday*’s cast, with the Fox X-Men seeming most at risk.

Eliminating the Fox X-Men would not only create a powerful narrative moment for Doom but also free up space and budget for the traditional MCU cast to return in *Secret Wars*. Consider that *Secret Wars* is on the horizon, and Incursions—multiple universes colliding, leading to widespread destruction—have been mentioned in *Multiverse of Madness*. Experiencing an Incursion firsthand is the perfect setup for the high stakes of *Secret Wars*, which would require a universe to be destroyed by Doom. The Fox X-Men universe is the logical choice. This move could mirror *Infinity War*, where newer characters were temporarily removed to focus on the original Avengers in *Endgame*. Having characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, and others return to confront Doom and avenge the destroyed universe would provide a triumphant conclusion to the Multiverse Saga. This could be Marvel Studios' strategy to match the epic finale of *Endgame*, which they've been trying and failing to replicate in Phases 4 and 5. We won’t know for sure until *Avengers: Doomsday* hits theaters on May 1, 2026, but this seems the most plausible explanation for the absence of many Avengers in the cast.