Avengers: Doomsday to feature Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor X and Magneto

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will reprise their X-Men roles as Professor X and Magneto in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release in May 2026. The film, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, will feature a large ensemble cast including returning Marvel actors and new additions. Robert Downey Jr. will play the villain, Doctor Doom. Production has commenced in London.

Avengers: Doomsday, the first Avengers film in six years, will reunite numerous actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cast includes Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía from Black Panther; Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston from Thor; Paul Rudd from Ant-Man; Simu Liu from Shang-Chi; and Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan from Captain America.

The cast also includes the stars of the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn, as well as Florence Pugh and David Harbour from the upcoming Thunderbolts film. Several other X-Men stars will join Stewart and McKellen, including Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, and Channing Tatum.


Stewart last portrayed Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while McKellen's last appearance as Magneto was in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Elizabeth Olsen, who plays the Scarlet Witch, will not be returning for this film.

Robert Downey Jr. confirmed his role as Doctor Doom at San Diego Comic-Con. “New mask. Same task,” Downey Jr said to the crowd. “Boy, I tell you, I like playing complicated characters.”

The Russo brothers, known for directing Avengers: Endgame, return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this film. Avengers: Endgame, released in 2019, grossed over $2.79 billion worldwide.

“The only thing I’ll say about the movie is this: we love villains who think they are the heroes of their own stories,” Joe Russo said. “That’s when they become three-dimensional and when they become more interesting. And when you have an actor like Robert Downey Jr, you have to create a well-shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience. That’s where a lot of our focus is going.”