{"id":283970,"date":"2025-10-07T12:40:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T12:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283970\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T12:40:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T12:40:22","slug":"doomsday-directors-share-mysterious-set-photo-which-fans-believe-is-a-big-x-men-tease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283970\/","title":{"rendered":"Doomsday Directors Share Mysterious Set Photo, Which Fans Believe is a Big X-Men Tease"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russo brothers have shared a teasing photo from the Avengers: Doomsday<\/a> set, alongside the caption: “look hard.”<\/p>\n

The monochrome image, below, shows one of the brothers sat in a director’s chair facing away from the camera, surrounded by objects that look to have been carefully positioned to resemble a series of letters.<\/p>\n

If this sounds familiar, well, the Russo Brothers shared a very similar photo<\/a> \u2014 monochrome, with one of the brothers in a director’s chair, surrounding by objects that look to resemble letters \u2014 with the exact same caption back in September 2018, during the production of Avengers: Endgame.<\/p>\n

Back then, fans deduced the movie’s name from the objects in the photo, which had been positioned to resemble the letters A and E. But we already know the name of Avengers: Doomsday now \u2014 so, what are the Russos up to this time?<\/p>\n

Discussing the image on reddit<\/a>, fans believe there’s an obvious A and X on either side of the new photo, with potentially a V shape in the middle. What could this mean? Well, many have surmised that the photo is teasing an “AvX” battle \u2014 Avengers v X-Men \u2014 which we already know is a strong possibility.<\/p>\n

Of course, Marvel has officially announced numerous members of the Fox-era X-Men films as part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, though the exact nature of their role in the movie’s plot hasn’t been disclosed. All we know for certain is that Patrick Stewart will once again reprise his role as Professor X, alongside Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, and Ian McKellen’s Magneto.<\/p>\n

The Most Surprising Avengers and Marvel Characters Not Announced for Doomsday\"DespiteDespite five hours of streamed casting announcements, there are still several characters and actors fans are surprised won\u2019t be in Avengers: Doomsday. <\/p>\n

Some we knew about \u2013 such as Elizabeth Olsen\u2019s Scarlet Witch and Benedict Cumberbatch\u2019s Doctor Strange \u2013 but the following omissions are notable given the cosmic cross-over nature of what\u2019s shaping up to be an Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four cinematic extravaganza.<\/p>\n

\"MissingMissing Avengers <\/p>\n

No Spider-Man (not that anyone can remember who Peter Parker is now, mind you), no Hulk, no Hawkeye, no Nick Fury, no Rhodey (the real one we found out about in Secret Invasion). Not even Pepper Potts or Happy Hogan to tag along for old times\u2019 sake. And while Captain Carter was reportedly in the mix at one point, Hayley Atwell wasn\u2019t among those announced today.<\/p>\n

\"X-MenX-Men X-Ceptions <\/p>\n

No Hugh Jackman\/Wolverine, no Halle Berry\/Storm, no Famke Janssen\/Jean Grey, no Anna Paquin\/Rogue, no Ryan Reynolds\/Deadpool. Ditto Colossus, Iceman, or any of the First Class incarnations of the X-Men. Oh, and no New Mutants either (remember them???).<\/p>\n

\"Asgard,Asgard, Where Art Thou? <\/p>\n

While Chris Hemsworth\u2019s Thor was the first announced cast member of this particular Avengers lineup, none of his fellow Asgardians \u2013 whom he split from at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder \u2013 seem to be involved save for the Loki Variant. So no Valkyrie, Korg, Miek or Lady Sif. Maybe his adopted daughter Love will show up though? And we\u2019ll see if Zeus or Hercules ever do catch up with Thor despite what was teased in the Love and Thunder post-credits scene.<\/p>\n

\"GuardiansGuardians of the Galaxy <\/p>\n

Star-Lord\u2019s return has been previously teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so his inclusion in the Avengers ranks for Doomsday seemed likely. But alas neither Star-Lord nor any of the new Guardians lineup introduced in Vol. 3 \u2013 Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam, Phyla, and Blurp \u2013 are part of this movie.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Marvels <\/p>\n

Captain Marvel\u2019s importance in Endgame would have suggested that, as one of the most powerful Avengers, she would be in Doomsday. But with The Marvels tanking at the box office, none of those characters \u2013 Ms. Marvel, Spectrum, Binary, or even Nick Fury \u2013 were announced for Doomsday. This is all the more curious as we know Binary ended up in the X-Men universe with Kelsey Grammer\u2019s Beast, who will be in the movie. In fact, there\u2019s a noticeable lack of female cast members overall in Avengers: Doomsday\u2026<\/p>\n

\"MissingMissing the Magic <\/p>\n

While Benedict Cumberbatch did say his Doctor Strange will be in Secret Wars but not Doomsday, it\u2019s weird that such a cosmic event wouldn\u2019t see the MCU\u2019s reigning Sorcerer Supreme, Wong, show up. (We can assume Doc Strange and Charlize Theron\u2019s Clea are off galavanting on some other plane as the events of Doomsday play out.) No Scarlet Witch or Agatha Harkness either.<\/p>\n

\"DisneyDisney Plus Minus <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a decided lack of Disney+ show characters in Avengers: Doomsday. So no Daredevil, Punisher, Vision, Sylvie, Moon Knight, Echo, She-Hulk, Werewolf by Night, Agent Mobius or the TVA.<\/p>\n

\"QuantumaniaQuantumania Fallout? <\/p>\n

Given the dismal box office and critical results of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it shouldn\u2019t be too surprising that Marvel is putting those characters, with the exception of Paul Rudd\u2019s Scott Lang, on the sidelines for this installment. So no Hank Pym or Janet Van Dyne. And Evangeline Lilly previously announced that she was stepping away from acting so that might be another key reason why Wasp is sitting this one out.<\/p>\n

\"EternalsEternals Are Not Forever <\/p>\n

Not a one. Not even Harry Styles as Eros! This is probably not surprising since the film disappointed at the box office, but given the movie\u2019s cliffhanger ending with Arishem and the fact that Captain America: Brave New World addressed the giant dead Celestial in the ocean, maybe we\u2019ll see Sersi, Kingo, Sprite (or not since she was made human in the end), Phastos, Makkari, Druig, and Thena show up in Avengers: Secret Wars instead.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Young Avengers <\/p>\n

The MCU has been teasing a Young Avengers lineup for a few years now \u2013 Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Skaar, Eli Bradley, possibly Iron Lad and T\u2019Challa\u2019s son \u2013 but not one of them is in Doomsday.<\/p>\n

\"BladeBlade Didn\u2019t Make the Cut <\/p>\n

This shouldn\u2019t be surprising since they still haven\u2019t shot the Blade movie with Mahershala Ali despite teasing him in Eternals. And while Channing Tatum\u2019s Gambit (somehow) managed to survive to fight in Doomsday, Wesley Snipes\u2019 Blade perished in Deadpool & Wolverine.<\/p>\n

However, thanks to comments from chatty Nightcrawler actor Alan Cumming, it sounds like the Avengers and X-Men do indeed face off against each other (Cumming previously discussed being in a fight with Pedro Pascal’s Mr. Fantastic<\/a>, though later suggested that due to the amount of green screen shooting involved, he was no longer certain<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Such a face-off would perhaps make sense, if the Avengers arrived within the X-Men universe and were perceived to be a threat \u2014 especially if Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom is involved, and manipulating one team against the other. We’ve already seen a character travel over to the X-Men universe, too \u2014 Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau ended up there alongside Beast at the end of The Marvels.<\/p>\n

So, is this what the Russo brothers are now teasing? Or is there even more to the image than expected? It seems unlikely at this point that Doomsday might get a last-minute name change to Avengers vs. X-Men, though some fans have suggested the movie’s story, which will continue in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars<\/a>, still seems too big for just two films.<\/p>\n

Could we see a third Avengers movie, turning this latest crop of blockbusters into a full trilogy? Alas, this also does seem unlikely \u2014 especially as Disney replaced a spare 2027 movie release date it had reserved for Marvel this week with the freshly-announced Simpsons Movie 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, we know Marvel has big plans for X-Men in the future. Following the events of Secret Wars, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has said that a semi-rebooted timeline will see a\u00a0new, younger X-Men team come to the fore<\/a>, in a fresh X-Men movie set to be directed by Thunderbolts*\/The New Avengers’ Jake Schreier. Hopefully we find out the true meaning of the Russo brothers’ tease before the arrival of that.<\/p>\n

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n