The Apparent Lack of Actual Avengers in Doomsday May Give Us Big Secret Wars (and X-Men) Hints

It’s happening, Marvel fans: Avengers: Doomsday is officially in production. Marvel Studios posted a live stream cast announcement for the new film, surprising many with a slew of X-Men actors, quite a few shocking characters missing entirely, and how goddamn long the whole thing took (five and a half hours!). But as fans process all of the reveals, one question rises above the rest: Where are all the Avengers in this new “Avengers” movie?

27 characters were confirmed in the video, but there are very few official Avengers members in that list. Much of the roster is taken up by actors associated with the Fox X-Men franchise, the Thunderbolts, and the Fantastic Four, ultimately leaving us with only a handful of proper Avengers. However, examining the in-universe and real world implications of this may lead to some massive hints at the plots of both Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Let’s get into it.

Why the Thunderbolts Are More Important to Doomsday Than We Thought

The only characters revealed in the announcement who are traditionally associated with the Avengers in either the comics or the MCU 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 will most likely be Avengers even though Joaquin Torres and Shuri aren’t the versions who are typically part of the team. There are also some characters like Namor or the Fantastic Four who have dabbled with Avengers membership in the comics, but aren’t considered big players in the team’s history.

So what gives? Where are Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Don Cheadle’s War Machine, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, etc.? Well, part of the answer may lie in the Thunderbolts*, and the title’s asterisk that fans have theorized about for months. (And yes, we know some international posters indicate the asterisk indicates an “Avengers are not available” message, but that could just be marketing fun.)

Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Ghost, U.S. Agent and the Sentry are all confirmed to be in Avengers: Doomsday. Why so much focus on a team of characters who aren’t all that powerful (minus the Sentry) and aren’t generally considered Avengers? Because the MCU appears to be changing that in a big way. Now that we know the Thunderbolts are going to be players in Doomsday, this hints that the asterisk means they will be referred to as the New Avengers by the end of the film. At least in the trailers, Red Guardian seems to be the only one who likes the “Thunderbolts” name, with Bucky insisting they “can’t call ourselves that.” Perhaps the lack of a team name is a running gag over the course of the film, but between team benefactor Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine purchasing Avengers Tower and her commenting on the lack of Avengers in the trailer, it seems the Thunderbolts will be taking over the Avengers’ role as the MCU’s de facto superhero team.

The Thunderbolts being named the New Avengers or some variation by the end of the film would also make sense with the Sentry being a major player, and his evil counterpart the Void presumably being the film’s main antagonist. The Sentry was first introduced in a self-titled miniseries in 2000, but he was properly reincorporated into the Marvel universe in 2005 as part of Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers comic.

Once the team is established in the MCU, they can then be recruited to fill out a proper Avengers roster, presumably led by Sam Wilson’s Captain America. Remember, a plot point in Captain America: Brave New World was President Ross asking Sam to help him rebuild the team. Since Cap doesn’t have access to a lot of the more traditional Avengers, maybe he has to make do with the less powerful Thunderbolts, putting the team at a disadvantage in their initial confrontation with Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom.

Are the X-Men Doomed in Avengers: Doomsday?

Speaking of Doom, one of Doomsday's biggest concerns is establishing RDJ’s take on the character as a credible threat. Since Doom appears to be MIA in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, with Galactus taking up villain duties in that film (although we may still get a cameo in a post-credits scene), it’ll be up to Doomsday to set the stage for Doom as the Multiverse Saga’s ultimate antagonist. And what better way to do that than for Doom to wipe out several major characters that fans thought were safe? In the same way Thanos snapped away half of all life and many fan favorite characters in Infinity War, Doctor Doom may be poised to eliminate a wide swath of Doomsday’s cast. Looking at the confirmed characters, it appears that the Fox X-Men are the ones most likely on the chopping block.

Consider: We know that Secret Wars is coming, and Incursions (multiple universes colliding, leading to widespread destruction), a major plot point in the 2015 Secret Wars comic storyline, have already been namechecked in Multiverse of Madness. Seeing an Incursion first hand is likely the best way to establish the stakes for Secret Wars, which means an entire universe will need to die at Doctor Doom’s hand. Knowing this, the Fox X-Men universe getting destroyed makes the most sense. Not only would it make for an excellent “you bastard!” moment for Doom, but similar to the way Infinity War temporarily killed off many newer characters so Endgame could focus on the original six Avengers, Doom wiping out the Fox X-Men would also free up space and budget for the more traditional MCU cast to return in Secret Wars.

Having characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and the like return to take the fight directly to Doom and avenge the destroyed universe would make for a triumphant finale to the Multiverse Saga. It’s also likely the only way for Marvel Studios to potentially match the excitement of the epic conclusion of Endgame that they’ve been trying and failing to follow up on in Phases 4 and 5. We won’t know for sure if this is the route Marvel is taking until the film arrives on May 1, 2026, but for now, this looks like the most appropriate explanation for why there are so few Avengers in the Doomsday cast.

What do you think will happen in Avengers: Doomsday? Let us know in the comments!

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.