Millions of Marvel fans have spent the better part of the day watching a surprise livestream showing a lineup of official cast members for Avengers: Doomsday, which is the next MCU sequel scheduled for release in 2026.
The livestream began at 8am PT this morning on Marvel’s YouTube and X pages, revealing cast members on the backs of a line of director’s chairs. It finally concluded around 1:30pm with an appearance from Robert Downey Jr.
After nearly 5.5 hours of cast reveals, the music swelled dramatically and a door opened in an out-of-focus section of the video. A silhouetted man walked down the row of chairs to take a seat in his spot, with the camera panning to reveal “Robert Downey Jr.” on the back of the chair. Downey himself then turned to camera, made a shushing motion, gestured to the chairs, and walked off.
The feed then changed to reveal a title card reading “Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday Now In Production.”
Which cast members have been revealed for Avengers: Doomsday so far?
Here’s the rundown of cast names revealed in order. Although their roles have not been officially announced, we’ve listed each name alongside the character they’re known to play in the MCU.
- Chris Hemsworth – Thor
- Vanessa Kirby – Sue Storm/Invisible Woman
- Anthony Mackie – Sam Wilson/Captain America
- Sebastian Stan – Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
- Letitia Wright – Shuri
- Paul Rudd – Scott Lang/Ant-Man
- Wyatt Russell – John Walker/US Agent
- Tenoch Huerta Mejia – Namor
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach – Ben Grimm/The Thing
- Simu Liu – Shang-Chi
- Florence Pugh – Yelena Belova
- Kelsey Grammer – Beast
- Lewis Pullman – Bob Reynolds/Sentry
- Danny Ramirez – Joaquin Torres/Falcon
- Joseph Quinn – Johnny Storm/Human Torch
- David Harbour – Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
- Winston Duke – M’Baku
- Ava Starr / Ghost – Ava Starr/Ghost
- Tom Hiddleston – Loki
- Patrick Stewart – Charles Xavier
- Ian McKellen – Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
- Alan Cumming – Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
- Rebecca Romijn – Mystique
- James Marsden – Scott Summers/Cyclops
- Channing Tatum – Gambit
- Pedro Pascal – Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic
- Robert Downey Jr. – Doctor Doom
Based on the revealed names, we can expect a ton of returning heroes in Avengers: Doomsday. Most of these characters haven’t been seen together on-screen since 2019’s Endgame, when they defeated Thanos.
What else happened during the livestream?
Since a blurry figure placed the very first chair reading “Chris Hemsworth,” the very slow-moving stream didn’t deviate much from the style of the chair reveals. There were a couple of cheeky moments, such as the reveal of a tiny director’s chair for Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, and some changes in the music. The livestream on X got over 10M views, but you can watch a shortened version of it below.
(Endgame spoiler here!) Everything culminated in Robert Downey Jr. arriving to sit in the final chair. Downey played Tony Stark/Iron Man up through his sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame. But after he was confirmed in a new role as villain Victor Von Doom last year, fans were waiting for his name to appear throughout the livestream.
One highly-awaited name that never appeared is Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the MCU. After hinting that she may not return to the rule in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel fans were left speculating. Given Marvel’s notorious secrecy around the film production, things could go either way.
The next Marvel movies on the horizon include Thunderbolts* on May 2, 2025 and The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25, 2025. Avengers: Doomsday comes to theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.
Who are you most excited to see in Avengers: Doomsday?