Marvel dropped a surprise announcement today in the form of a nearly five-and-a-half-hour livestream that revealed the cast of Avengers: Doomsday. A new chair was added every 10-15 minutes with the name of an actor who will be part of this highly-anticipated film, and there were some big surprises alongside the return of familiar faces.
As expected, the internet at large had some very entertaining and insightful reactions to the news, including the return of Channing Tatum’s Gambit and other X-Men to this big movie that will see the MCU’s Avengers take on Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. We’ve gathered some of our favorites below and would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section as well
Avengers: Doomsday Cast Reveal Reactions
All in all, there were 27 chairs for 27 actors who will be part of Avengers: Doomsday, and it all started with Chris Hemsworth (Thor). There weren’t too many surprising reveals at the start as we learned Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky), and Letitia Wright (Black Panther), would be part of the film. The first big moment, however, came when the chair of Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) was shown. Unlike the others, Rudd’s chair was a bit smaller as a nod to his ability to shrink in size. As @JuanEdits noted, “the little chair announcing Paul Rudd is back as Ant-Man is genius ngl.”
the little chair announcing paul rudd is back as ant man is genius ngl pic.twitter.com/JYuc5h5sAu
— juan (@JuanEdits) March 26, 2025
The chairs continued to reveal that other actors like Wyatt Russell (U.S. Agent), Tenoch Huerta MejÍa (Namor), Ebon Moss-Bacharach (The Thing), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), and Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova) will be part of Avengers: Doomsday, but this was also the point were some people started poking fun at how long this whole process was taking.
This was summed up quite nicely by Heavy Spoilers, who shared a clip from Saving Private Ryan of Matt Damon growing old very quickly.
Me by the time the full Avengers Doomsday line-up gets announced pic.twitter.com/AThBwqPPbk
— Heavy Spoilers (@heavyspoilers) March 26, 2025
Simu Liu also took the time to celebrate this moment of Shang-Chi’s return with a funny joke; “*pokes head out of karaoke booth*”
The next chair was another one the biggest surprise of the stream as it opened so many possibilities. Yes, it was confirmed that Kelsey Grammer would be returning as Beast after his post-credits appearance in The Marvels. This was the long-awaited official confirmation that the X-Men will be part of Avengers: Doomsday. The fun didn’t stop there either as it was also unveiled that Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler) would be joining the roster as well.
While there was a lot of excitement about these additions, it started to have MCU fans like @ResonantJustice question if this was the early signs of Avengers: Doomsday secretly being an Avengers vs. X-Men movie with Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom pulling the strings.
Is Avengers: Doomsday secretly an Avengers vs X-Men movie, just with RDJ as Doom pulling the strings in the background? 
Looking more and more like it…. pic.twitter.com/RqGb7LNjNg
— RJ (@ResonantJustice) March 26, 2025
IGN writer Carlos Alonzo Morales also put forth a theory that Doctor Doom will kill “most of the OG X-Men in this movie as his big ‘what a bastard!’ moment, freeing up budget for the more traditional MCU cast to be in the next one. He likely causes an Incursion of the Fox universe so we know what the stakes are for Secret Wars.”
While we may have to wait until May 1, 2026, to find out what secrets Avengers: Doomsday holds, there was one major surprise left for today’s big reveal – Channing Tatum’s Gambit will actually be returning after his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine.
I could share how special this moment was, but I thought I’d let this clip of @BrandonDavisBD, @FitDadCEO, and @KhleoThomas do the heavy lifting.
Gambit got hands down the biggest pop of the entire 5.5 hour live stream. HE’S BACK@KhleoThomas @fitdadceo pic.twitter.com/v0wNwGgjNR
— Brandon Davis (@BrandonDavisBD) March 26, 2025
We wrote about how 2024 became the year of Gambit, but now it’s looking like 2026 may be his biggest moment yet.
The stream ended with Robert Downey Jr. appearing on camera with his chair, and that was it! Well, RDJ did comment on Marvel Studios’ Instagram post about this big reveal, saying, “That’s what u call a deep bench of talent… actually it’s more like a row, but an extra long one… that must be it… right?” To which Marvel Studios responded, “there’s always room for more…”
The Most Surprising Avengers and Marvel Characters Not Announced for Doomsday
There were a lot of exciting reveals today, but the characters not announced for Avengers: Doomsday were just as big a talking point. We may have already known that Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange would not be part of this first film, but some of the more shocking omissions were Spider-Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Rhodey, Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, Deadpool, Valkyrie, Korg, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Young Avengers, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Spectrum, Binary, Wong, Agatha Harkness, Daredevil, Kate Bishop, Blade, and so many more.
Yes, we know Marvel has a ton of characters and also wants to keep some character reveals a big secret, but this didn’t stop the Internet from sharing their sadness about their favorite characters not getting a chair.
The Avengers: “Doom is attacking!”
New Yorker #3: “should we call Spider-Man?”
The Avengers: https://t.co/14ZwajnfUx pic.twitter.com/MSY6GzoXgz
— Officer Martinez ➐ (@CBMovieFan) March 26, 2025
announcing an avengers movie without their strongest most powerful avengers is crazy pic.twitter.com/C3Wuc0t55r
— rhaenyra targaryen’s lawyer (@Targ_Nation) March 26, 2025
@bereliciiouz summed up the feelings of a lot of Marvel fans with a NSFW clip from The Bear we just had to share.
.@MarvelStudios WHERE IS SPIDERMAN??? DAREDEVIL??? WOLVERINE??? MOON KNIGHT??? GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY??? WANDA AND STRANGE??? pic.twitter.com/RwZ9LjgfIg
— 𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓮 (@bereliciiouz) March 26, 2025
There were some fans, like @blurayangel, who had a cooler head and reminded everyone that Avengers: Doomsday is just the beginning and Avengers: Secret Wars is just behind the corner on May 7, 2027.
“If you thought the chair announcement of Avengers: Doomsday was insane… just wait for the cast of Avengers: Secret Wars,” @blurayangel wrote. “WESLEY SNIPES. HUGH JACKMAN. TOBEY MAGUIRE.”
We love your wishful thinking! And you never know, dreams can come true!
It’s also important to note that, as @demetherself points out, only five of the 27 chairs revealed for today’s Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal belonged to women. Here’s hoping that divide shrinks in the final film.
“Out of 27 announced cast members for Avengers: Doomsday, only 5 are women,” @demetherself wrote. “That’s not just a small number, it’s a glaring reminder of how skewed things still are. How does this ratio even happen?”
The Internet Had a Lot Of Fun With the Avengers: Doomsday Cast Reveal
To end this reaction roundup, we had to share some of the funniest posts from people and brands who casted some of their favorite character from completely unrelated shows and films and much more.
wait, what? pic.twitter.com/LClAB4S381
— IGN (@IGN) March 26, 2025
Somehow Palpatine will return in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY pic.twitter.com/BuSerc7948
— Ema Sasic (@ema_sasic) March 26, 2025
Jennifer Coolidge will return as Tanya in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/s3Se7ASQCt
— out of context the white lotus (@oocwhitelotus) March 26, 2025
Andy Serkis will return as Gollum in Avengers: Doomsday pic.twitter.com/WskZoGR149
— Josh RR Jokien (@joshcarlosjosh) March 26, 2025
i have a chair too pic.twitter.com/nyPk6jE1VA
— SAW (@Saw) March 26, 2025
Knack will return as Knack in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/aVfGz639jO
— PlayStation UK (@PlayStationUK) March 26, 2025
Hugh Laurie will return as House in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/wVnChYC6TD
— out of context house m.d. (@nocontexthousem) March 26, 2025
The cat from ‘FLOW’ will return in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/f2mFcbDeMN
— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) March 26, 2025
And for our last post, we are proud to present that one time we were just ever so close to getting James Marsden to reveal his role in Avengers: Doomsday. Maybe next time!
James Marsden will return in Avengers: Doomsday. #AvengersDoomsday pic.twitter.com/rJT9WOmtCZ
— IGN (@IGN) March 26, 2025
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
