Written by Julianna Iovino
On March 26, 2025, Marvel Entertainment ran a YouTube livestream, which announced 27 names of actors for their upcoming movie Avengers: Doomsday.
Actor Robert Downey Jr., who is set to play the antagonist, Doctor Doom, had been announced to be a part of the movie before the livestream. Other actors, like James Marsden and Alan Cumming, who played superheroes from the X-Men movies for 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment, were surprise additions to the cast announcement and now welcomes them to being apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, which are Marvel movies produced by Marvel Studios and released under The Walt Disney Company.
The list of livestream announcements is as follows [in order of announcement]:
Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
Vanessa Kirby (Invisible Woman)
Anthony Mackie (Captain America)
Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes)
Letitia Wright (Black Panther)
Paul Rudd (Ant-Man)
Wyatt Russell (John Walker)
Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing)
Simu Liu (Shang-Chi)
Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova)
Kelsey Grammer (Beast)
Lewis Pullman (Sentry)
Danny Ramirez (Falcon)
Joseph Quinn (Human Torch)
David Harbour (Red Guardian)
Winston Duke (M’Baku)
Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost)
Tom Hiddleston (Loki)
Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier)
Ian McKellen (Magneto)
Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler)
Rebecca Romijn (Mystique)
James Marsden (Cyclops)
Channing Tatum (Gambit)
Pedro Pascal (Mister Fantastic)
Robert Downey Jr. (Doctor Doom)
Five actresses were announced out of the 27 names, equating to about 18.5% of the announcement. Left out characters such as Captain Marvel, played by actress Brie Larson, and Monica Rambeau, played by actress Teyonah Parris, were some of the names pointed out by MCU fans on social media amongst the excitement for the stream.
While it is unclear if those characters will have a role in the movie, many are expressing their overall disdain with the lack of gender diversity within the cast so far.
"only 5 women in avengers doomsday is crazy no elizabeth olsen? no brie larson? no kathryn hahn? no hailee steinfeld? no teyonah parris? no iman vellani? no karen gillian? (...) i don’t know how one wouldn’t want angelina jolie in their movie?" stated user @dorotheaivys, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Those announced are not exclusively the cast members set to appear in the movie, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. However, fans are still displeased by the lack of importance and respect for the female actors and their respective characters.
"Out of 27 announced cast members for Avengers: Doomsday, only 5 are women. That’s not just a small number, it’s a glaring reminder of how skewed things still are. How does this ratio even happen?" wrote @demetherself, on X.
It has not yet been announced if Marvel Entertainment plans to hold another livestreamed cast announcement.
Avengers: Doomsday, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, will release on May 1, 2026.
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