10 Absences From ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast (And 4 We Didn’t Expect)
Despite the massive five-hour livestream
ensembling the cast of next year’s
Avengers: Doomsday, many notable names are still missing from its all-star roster, omissions even more head-scratching considering the cross-over nature of the film, encompassing heroes from across the
Avengers,
The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the
X-Men.
Here are 10 absences from the cast of
Avengers: Doomsday that fans were surely expecting, as well as a few surprising additions that made the cut:
10 NOTABLE ABSENCES
1) Doctor Strange
With the next two
Avengers films leaning into the concept of the multiverse, it’s strange that the one character who has actual experience dealing with the subject matter, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, is notably missing from the line-up. Granted, this was already alluded to beforehand, with the star previously stating via an interview with
Variety that the character would be skipping
Doomsday due to him “not aligning with this part of the story”, instead playing a pivotal role in its sequel, 2027’s
Avengers: Secret Wars. Who knows? Maybe he’s off exploring the multiverse on his own after meeting Charlize Theron’s Clea in the post-credits scene of
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. One thing’s for sure, though: he’ll definitely be back for the next one, hopefully bringing some friends along with him.
2) The Hulk
As the linchpin of the Avengers, it’s surprising that Mark Ruffalo’s The Hulk won’t be returning to face the next Avengers-level threat. Perhaps Bruce Banner has chosen to spend some quality family time with his long-lost son, Skaar, and his cousin Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk), and trusts in the rest of the team to deal with Dr. Doom without him. He’s not the only notable Hulk missing, too, with Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross, who gets turned into the Red Hulk in
Captain America: Brave New World, being a no-show as well, which makes sense since Ross was eventually restored to human form, but it still would have been interesting to see Samuel Sterns (the Leader), who is self-proclaimed to be “always six moves ahead”, breaking out of prison to transform Ross once again and throw a spanner in the works.
3) Guardians of the Galaxy
Despite a tease that Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord would return after the events of
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the absence of not only him but his entire team of misfits like Drax, Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam Warlock or Phyla-Vell is still surprising. Maybe Peter Quill is actually content with hanging out with his grandpa (as seen in
Vol. 3’s post-credits scene), even amidst all the multiverse shenanigans going on, and the newly revamped Guardians team probably needs some more time to get used to each other. Maybe Rocket simply forgot to refuel the ship and left the team stranded – it’s the Guardians, after all.
4) The Young Avengers And Other Marvel Disney+ Characters
Apart from Loki, who already played a major role in previous Marvel films, there was a decided lack of characters across the plethora of Marvel Disney+ shows like Vision, Moon Knight, Cloak and Dagger or Echo. In a similar vein, the next generation of heroes, the Young Avengers, are also nowhere to be seen, such as the likes of Ms Marvel, Cassie Lang, America Chavez or Kate Bishop, but maybe the kids are still busy preparing for a superpowered team-up of their own in Marvel Studios’ potential
Young Avengers project.
5) Deadpool And Wolverine
With the return of the X-Men, this would have seemed like the perfect time to have Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool finally be a part of the team and grant the wish he’s had since the first
Deadpool movie. The X-Men legacy casting also provided the opportunity to bring back its most famous star and mutant, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but even though the pair has already been a big hit with fans after their appearance in 2024’s
Deadpool & Wolverine, both are bafflingly excluded from the upcoming Avengers flick.
6) Spider-Man
With 2021’s
Spider-Man: No Way Home being a massive success for Marvel in its post-
Endgame era, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man seemed like an obvious choice to include in the next big team-up film. Adding to the fact that Spider-Man has had a good relationship with the Fantastic Four in the comics, especially as a close friend to Johnny Storm, with the team welcoming him as a part of the family, and even accepting him as a member of the team on multiple occasions, his appearance in
Avengers Doomsday certainly made a lot of sense. Still, nobody can remember who Peter Parker is after the events of
No Way Home, which probably explains his absence.
7) The Defenders
Similar to the lack of characters from Disney+ shows, appearances from Marvel’s previous small screen run on Netflix are missing, notably the likes of the Defenders team of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, or other characters introduced in that era like the Punisher. Granted, some of these characters lean more towards vigilantes rather than having full-fledged Avengers-level threat-stopping powers, but including at least some of them would have been a huge win for the little guys.
8) The Eternals
The omission of the
Eternals doesn’t really come as a surprise, considering how poorly the 2021 movie faired at the box office, but its cliffhanger ending with Arishem, alongside its mid-credit reveal of Harry Styles’ Eternal Eros and the fact that
Captain America: Brave New World addressed the giant dead Celestial in the ocean seemed to allude to their appearance in some form. Perhaps the immortal protectors of Earth are saving their appearance for a far greater threat in
Avengers: Secret Wars instead.
9) Captain Marvel
As one of the most powerful Avengers and one who played a critical role in their fight against Thanos in
Avengers: Endgame, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel would have been a no-brainer choice when facing any world-ending threat. Add to that the fact that she now has an increased focus on the multiverse after losing Monica Rambeau to the X-Men universe at the end of 2023’s
The Marvels (which also featured a cameo from Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, who is in the upcoming film), its strange then that both Rambeau and Captain Marvel are sitting on the sidelines during such a multiverse-threatening event.