Hugh Jackman Needs To Miss Avengers: Doomsday For One Reason

Marvel recently revealed the cast for Avengers: Doomsday, which confirmed that the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie will have an X-Men presence. Marvel is kicking the multiverse wide open by bringing back many of the original actors from the Fox movies that helped to make superhero movies popular in the first place, but one name was notably absent.

Avengers: Doomsday isn’t going to feature Hugh Jackman, despite how big of a role he typically played within previous X-Men movies. It’s a situation that has divided a lot of fans, but ultimately not featuring him is going to be a positive situation for one reason.

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Avengers: Doomsday Features Many Original X-Men Actors

Audiences Will Be Hit With Nostalgia

The Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement was a long and tedious process, but it served its purpose of getting millions of views to build the hype around the movie. The majority of the names announced were already expected, but it was with the X-Men that people were given a genuine surprise. Marvel added Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, and Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler. On top of that, it was revealed that Channing Tatum would also be reprising his role as Gambit, which he had played in Deadpool & Wolverine. It was a massive reveal on Marvel’s behalf and was the big talking point coming out of it, as audiences hadn’t expected to see the popular mutants until after Avengers: Secret Wars, and even then, they thought it would be a fresh cast.

Even though a few notable people are missing, such as Halle Berry’s Storm, the fact that so many of the Fox X-Men actors are set to be involved is exciting. Marvel wanted to get some buzz going for Avengers: Doomsday, and adding them achieved that. However, not having Jackman involved in that reveal was an equally big talking point for many people, especially since he’s already been introduced to the franchise.

Marvel Needs To Allow The X-Men To Thrive

Wolverine Often Overshadowed Them All

Not having Jackman be part of Avengers: Doomsday might seem strange in many ways because he was always the star of Fox’s X-Men movies, but that is precisely why not having him in the cast is a positive thing. If Wolverine was announced as part of this movie, he would likely be all people were focusing on, and whether or not he’d be teaming up with Deadpool again. Audiences would automatically expect him to be involved in most, if not all, of the scenes involving the group, and that’s not a good thing. The Fox movies arguably over-relied upon Wolverine, and while that helped create one of the most iconic superhero characters in movie history, it also ended up hurting the rest of the X-Men stars.

Wolverine was so focused on, that characters such as Cyclops would end up being overlooked. Fans wouldn’t appreciate the rest of the team and how powerful they were as much as they should be, and that’s a shame because the X-Men group has a lot of amazing characters that deserve the spotlight. Therefore, not having Wolverine as part of this particular movie would allow that to happen, as Marvel can showcase the strengths of each individual while shining on their abilities as a group, which is also an important factor in the X-Men. If Marvel wants X-Men to be a huge franchise within the MCU moving forward, it’s important to establish each character properly so that when they’re eventually recast, people are excited about seeing them and not just Jackman reprising his role again.

Marvel Obviously Has Other Plans For Wolverine

Hugh Jackman Will Be Back In A Featured Role

The decision not to include Jackman alongside the other mutants is a good thing for the other X-Men roles, but it’s likely to be positive for the future of Wolverine as well. He’s not the only huge character who has been omitted from this movie, as the likes of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Deadpool are also not expected to be in the film. When it comes to Wolverine, there has been a lot of speculation about his future, and it’s clear that he has a big role to play at some stage moving forward. Whether that’s in a film alongside Hulk, another movie with Deadpool, or by being introduced with the new version of the X-Men whenever Marvel decides to do that, after all, it’s highly unlikely that Marvel will be running with the original Fox lineup as their full-time X-Men stars in the long term.

Instead, keeping Wolverine out of that group will allow him to feel more special in certain ways when he is reintroduced. Wolverine could be the leader of the new X-Men group, and it would make sense not to place him alongside this cast if that’s the case, as it would run the risk of confusion. Jackman is a huge star, especially when he takes on the role of Wolverine. Therefore, keeping him special to ensure that the new version of the X-Men lineup, which he’s likely to feature, feels important will be crucial. Even if it means Avengers: Doomsday is ever so slightly weaker due to not having him, it’s a movie that can afford to take that risk due to how many stars are already part of it.

Avengers: Doomsday

Release Date

May 1, 2026

Director

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

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  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman

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  Joseph Quinn

  Johnny Storm / Human Torch

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  Ebon Moss-Bachrach

  Ben Grimm / The Thing

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  Pedro Pascal

  Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic