26 Years Later, The Greatest Marvel Team Is Finally Getting Their Due
The first teaser trailers for Avengers: Doomsday are coming, and in addition to Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), another group of iconic Marvel heroes is making a return to the big screen. For fans of the original X-Men movies, the latest teaser, released on Tuesday, might be the most exciting yet.
The third trailer for Avengers: Doomsday features Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops. All of the characters are played by the same actors who played the roles in the Fox X-Men movies, the first of which was released just over a quarter-century ago. The spot reveals a run-down Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters where a haggard-looking Professor X (Patrick Stewart) plays chess with his old frenemy, Magneto (Ian McKellen).
"Death comes for us all. It's all I know for sure," the voiceover says. "The question isn't, 'Are you prepared to die?' The question is, 'Who will you be when you close your eyes?'"
The spot concludes with a shot of Cyclops (James Marsden, who unlike the other two hasn't reprised the character since 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand) crying out as he lets his optic blast go all out. He is wearing a comics-accurate costume and there appear to be the giant feet of a hulking Sentinel—a robot from the comics designed to eliminate Mutants—behind him.
How, exactly, the X-Men will feature into the plot of Avengers: Doomsday remains to be seen, and it's also unclear if they are the same versions of the characters from the Fox movies or are from a different corner of the multiverse and are simply being played by the same actors.
The X-Men Have Gotten Lots of Big Screen Farewells, But This Is Still Exciting
Doomsday, which seems to be drawing inspiration from a great Marvel Comics storyline about various universes crashing into one another until none remain, is bringing back all sorts of characters from the MCU and, as evidenced by the X-Men, other Marvel movies. The X-Men are arguably Marvel's greatest superteam, and it's neat to think that we'll be able to see them in action one more time—especially Cyclops, who never quite got his due in the old films. (It doesn't appear that things are going especially great for the X-Men based on this trailer, however.)
For fans of the old X-Men movies, it's an exciting development that seems like it's making good on the promise of Disney's 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which meant one company now owned the film rights to both the Avengers and the X-Men.
However, it's worth noting that this is hardly the first time that the original X-Men have made a seemingly final return to the big screen. After 2004's The Last Stand, you'd be forgiven for thinking that we'd seen the last of Stewart and McKellen's versions of Professor X and Magneto once 2011's First Class recast James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as younger versions of the Mutants. However, the original pair appeared in 2014's Days of Future thanks to a time travel plot. Then Stewart reprised the role in 2017's Logan, which at the time was viewed as a swan song for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Stewart's Professor X. It wasn't; Stewart played a different version of Professor X in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness while Jackman gave his claws another "SNIKT" in 2024's Deadpool and Wolverine.
So, yes, it is neat that the original X-Men are coming back to the big screen. (Especially Cyclops!) It's just perhaps worth remembering that it's happened before. Doomsday will probably be an epic chance to see this team in action one more time. It remains to be seen how (and if) the MCU will introduce an all-new group of Mutants rather than bringing back the nostalgic favorites.