There’s about as many X-Men characters in “Doomsday” as there are “Avengers” ones: Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Beast (Kelsey Grammer), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), and Gambit (Channing Tatum) are confirmed so far.
Advertisement
Many are assuming this means the main source material of the film will be “Avengers vs X-Men.” Rather than start anew with a new X-Men cast and build up to such a battle, Marvel Studios might be using the event as one last hurrah for the previous X-Men actors.
In the comics, “Avengers vs X-Men” ran through 2012, authored by a team of writers (the aforementioned Mr. Hickman, Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, and Matt Fraction) and artists (Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, and John Romita Jr.). The titular conflict, trying to recapture the magic of earlier events like “House of M” and “Civil War,” was over the Phoenix Force. Cyclops wanted to control the Phoenix for the greater good, while the Avengers wanted to destroy it.
Advertisement
The X-Men got their wish; Cyclops and his four disciples (Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor) bonded with the Phoenix Force and briefly took over the world. Once the Avengers overthrew the Phoenix Five, the whole episode left mutants more hated than ever. (What else is new?)
Of course, “Avengers vs X-Men” is an open enough premise that you don’t have to do the specific story the comic did. I’d even say “Doomsday” probably won’t.
Now, this team of X-Men probably comes from the world seen at the end of “The Marvels.” Based on Grammer’s cameo as Beast in that movie, it’s got the actors from the Fox movies but with Jim Lee-’90s “X-Men” costumes and aesthetics. Perhaps this world and the Avengers’ will experience an Incursion, pitting the teams against each other for their own survival?
“Secret Wars” #1 did something similar, where Classic Marvel (Earth-616) and Ultimate Marvel (Earth-1610) were the only two realities left and then combined for the final Incursion. There’s no onscreen analogue to the Ultimate Universe, but the X-Men’s world could fill a similar role, so the Incursion is between two familiar worlds.
Avengers: Doomsday boasts one of the biggest Marvel casts since Avengers: Endgame, so we’re looking to the comics to see what the film’s story could hold. Read More