With Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom soon making his arrival, a checklist is growing for MCU fans on what they’re hoping to see from Avengers: Doomsday, particularly concerning the cast list that was recently revealed. Carefully placed chairs and well-timed X-Men theme music has confirmed that besides Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer, and Alan Cumming reprising their roles as Charles Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, and Nightcrawler, respectively, James Marsden is back as leader of the X-Men, Cyclops. It’s a role reprisal that fans hope will rectify what was one of the most underutilized characters and castings in comic book movie history, with the pitch-perfect Marsden taking on the role of Scott Summers only to be put on the sidelines as the one-note love of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who isn’t listed as returning.
Comic book history and the opening season of X-Men ’97 prove that Cyclops is a far tougher hero than the films made him out to be, which is precisely what fans hope they’ll end up with in this year’s superhero extravaganza. On a Reddit thread, one fan chimed in, hoping that Summers’ powers would be depicted more accurately than they were in the movies from the early 2000s. “I really hope they’ll nail Cyclops’ power right in Doomsday,” wrote the OP. “His power is emitting concussive beams from his eyes, not laser beams like in the movies. His powers don’t really go through anything, unlike in the movies like for example, in X-Men: Apocalypse, Scott shoots laser beams out of his eyes that split a tree and set it on fire.” It was a hope that other fans were quick to jump on with one even replying, “Guys, remember this comment. I can almost guarantee that Cyclops will deflect his beam off of Anthony Mackie’s Captain America shield in a combo move.”
One fan echoed the sentiments of many others on the thread, hoping that they’d use the animated series released last year as a point of reference. “Just take [X-Men] ’97 as inspiration, and we will be happy. That series nailed Nightcrawler and Cyclops’ power perfectly.” Others quickly referred to Cyclops’ superhero beam landing from the animated series, which saw Scott use his blast to slow his fall from thousands of feet in the air. At this point, it feels like a signature move that needs to appear if Scott sticks it out in the film, but there’s also one other special skill that fans are hoping doesn’t fail to make the list – his skills as a leader.
“Honestly, f his superpowers. His main power is that he’s a good leader. I am pretty sure that’s impossible to nail in a movie where he won’t be a lead character, but I will be happy to be proven wrong,” one fan wrote. We’ll have to see if those leadership skills come into play taking on Victor Von Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) when he arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026 for Avengers: Doomsday. Have a look at everything we know about the film here.