Doomsday To Make The X-Men's Return Fulfilling

Avengers: Doomsday is mere months away from uniting the Avengers, New Avengers, Fantastic Four, Wakandans, Fox-era X-Men, and more on the big screen for the very first time. Ever since the movie was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024, speculation has been rampant as to which iconic characters will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s epic crossover event film.

During an unprecedented prerecorded livestream unfolding over the course of nearly six hours in March 2025, Marvel Studios revealed 27 folding director’s chairs, each of which brandishing an actor’s name. Arguably the biggest shock of this livestream was that a number of X-Men actors from the 20th Century Fox movies would make a grand return, including James Marsden as Cyclops, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, and Kelsey Grammer as Beast.

Noticeably absent from the lineup was Hugh Jackman, despite recently making his MCU debut as one of the titular characters in the box-office smash hit Deadpool & Wolverine. During the recent D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, however, Jackman appeared in a video heavily teasing a role in Avengers: Doomsday by comically asking for one.

With Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey dead in the timeline of the Fox X-Men movies and Jackman seemingly poised to return once again, there is one integral mutant yet to be announced, but whose inclusion is essential to make the classic X-Men’s grand return to the big screen as monumental as it can be.

Storm Is A Key Member Of The Fox X-Men

Credit: MovieStillsDB

In 2000, 20th Century Fox released X-Men and forever changed public perception of superhero and comic book movies. Among the original hero team of mutants were Professor Charles Xavier, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Iceman, and Storm, the latter of whom was played by Academy Award winner Halle Berry.

Berry brought to life one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic characters, an omega-level mutant, mentor, and teacher. When she joined the cast of X-Men, Berry was already a massive, high-profile actor, whose Oscar win shortly after lent instant credibility and prestige to an admittedly risky comic book adaptation.

On screen, Storm evolved from a protective teacher at Xavier’s school into a core pillar of leadership. In battle, she provided the franchise with some of its most visually stunning set pieces due to her mutant ability to manipulate the weather. And, as a prominent Black actress, Berry’s casting broke ground for intersectional diversity in blockbuster movies.

Overall, the Fox-era X-Men movies were met with mixed reception, but Berry remains the definitive live-action face of Storm for a generation of fans. She is essential to the DNA, not only of the classic X-Men on-screen, but for the films themselves more generally.

Most Other Major Living Fox X-Men Cast Members Have Already Been Teased

The prominence of Halle Berry as a movie star and of Storm as a member of the X-Men make her exclusion from official casting announcements truly baffling, especially when one considers that virtually every other major living X-Men character from the Fox era has either been announced or heavily teased.

So far, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are confirmed to return as Professor X and Magneto respectively. James Marsden is back as Cyclops, as is Kelsey Grammer as Beast, whereas Alan Cumming and Rebecca Romijn reprise their roles as villainous mutants Nightcrawler and Mystique.

Famke Janssen has not been announced as a member of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, although her exclusion makes more sense than Berry’s given Jean Grey’s death in X-Men: The Last Stand. Janssen briefly appeared in The Wolverine as a vision of Wolverine’s, but she, unlike Charles Xavier, has not been revived since meeting her end in the 2006 film.

Rogue and Iceman, meanwhile, were important characters in the Fox X-Men movies, although their prominence faded beyond the original trilogy. Coupled with the relative stardom of Anne Paquin and Shawn Ashmore compared to Halle Berry, the absence of Rogue and Iceman doesn’t feel as egregious as Storm’s.

As mentioned, Hugh Jackman got as close to confirming that he is back as Wolverine in Avengers: Doomsday without actually saying the words when he showed up via video at this year’s D23. That leaves no original member of the X-Men unaccounted for, with the notable exception of Storm.

Seeing the Fox-era X-Men grace the screen in Avengers: Doomsday will be a momentous event for moviegoers, especially those who grew up on movies like X-Men and X2: X-Men United. However, without Halle Berry’s Storm joining the likes of Cyclops and Professor X, the grand return of the classic X-Men may not feel as complete as it could.