After being promised big news on the MCU front, fans were told that a March 28 reveal about Avengers: Doomsday would top the announcement of Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom.
Few expected a five-and-a-half-hour stream revealing various cast members via chairs emblazoned with their names, but as the time ticked on, the 'doom' settled in.
Aside from seemingly spoiling who lives and dies in Thunderbolts* and being dubbed as a lesson on how NOT to market your movies, it's true that there were some major announcements like the Fox era X-Men and the return of Channing Tatum's Gambit.
While there's a chance that there are more to come (we don't know how they'd fit), there are some major gaps in the cast list.
Namely, where is Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
After making his debut in Captain America: Civil War and leading Spider-Man: Homecoming on his own, Holland's Peter Parker has become a fan-favourite. Despite the world forgetting who he is at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the fact he's pitched as a major player in a potential 'New Avengers' lineup meant he was always coming back for more.
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In terms of Spider-Man missing from Doomsday, it's unclear whether Marvel Studios is saving his announcement for a later date. Thankfully, it's not like Holland will be gone from the MCU for long, with Spider-Man 4 filming set to start in June 2025.
Like how Ant-Man and the Wasp explained why Paul Rudd's tiny hero wasn't in Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man 4 can fill in the gaps. Originally thought to be a street-level movie, Spider-Man 4's place between Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is now tipped to be much grander.
With filming taking place around the same time, there's always the scope for Holland to swing by for a Doomsday cameo. There has to be a reason – like with Spider-Man: Far From Home dealing with Iron Man's death – that Spider-Man 4 is being released when it is, so we'd be surprised if there's no Spidey connection.
Not many of the OG Avengers are left these days, so it seems strange that Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk is MIA.
It's true that he was last seen spending some quality time with his son in the She-Hulk finale, but with Captain America: Brave New World making The Incredible Hulk relevant again, many were already irked that he didn't pop by to try and diffuse Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk.
On a similar note, Tatiana Maslany's Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk was supposedly pitched as a big part of the MCU moving forward, but has only been glimpsed in that leaked concept art the Russo Brothers have told us all to ignore as it's apparently not theirs.
Talking of rumours, a pair of star-crossed lovers were apparently going to get their reunion in Doomsday, with both Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell expected to return as Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter.
Neither were given a chair in the announcement, so was Evans telling the truth when he told Anthony Mackie that the report was "not true" about his return? We'll have to wait and see about both of them.
There are some other notable absences and, not least for his previous connection to our wall-crawling hero, many are asking why Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange hasn't made the cut.
This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise considering said in January that he won't be in Doomsday, something that he recanted days later when he said he "got that wrong". Of any of the names here, Doctor Strange is the one we're most confident will be featured, especially as Cumberbatch has already said he'll be in Secret Wars.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 also ended with a Bond-inspired stinger that said, "The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return", but Chris Pratt could be sitting out Doomsday. As the other Guardians were noticeably absent too, maybe we won't be soaring for the stars this time around.
Talking of the stars, The Marvels left Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau marooned in a universe with Kelsey Grammer's Beast, so with him being part of Doomsday, there are questions about why Captain Marvel's BFF hasn't been confirmed.
Speaking of Carol Danvers, Brie Larson's status as one of the MCU's most powerful characters means she could have lent a hand taking on Doctor Doom. Like Ruffalo, Larson was teased as one of the 'heads' of the Avengers moving forward.
We doubt the box office bombing of The Marvels was enough to scale back Larson's role in the MCU, but it's a little fishy that she, Parris and Iman Vellani (Ms Marvel) haven't been announced.
Rounding off with some big hitters, the rumour mill went into overdrive that Wanda Maximoff would be dug from the rubble of Mount Wundagore.
A recent TVA comic book that's canon to the MCU suggested that Wanda had survived her 'death' in Multiverse of Madness, while Elizabeth Olsen has repeatedly said she'd like to get back into her witchy ways.
MCU overlord Kevin Feige has similarly teased Scarlet Witch's return and told fans in 2022, "I'd work with Lizzie for another 100 years if we could... Anything's possible in the multiverse! We'll have to see."
Even though she might be a major casting still to come, Olsen herself seemed to put the final nail in the coffin when she told The Hollywood Reporter that she's not in London currently. However, this doesn't mean that she can't be in either of the Avengers movies, whatever some other websites will try to tell you.
And we'll end with another MCU star who's been saying he hasn't been asked back. Although he never properly met the OG X-Men, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool was thrust into this world with Deadpool & Wolverine and even though he was back in his own universe at the end, who's to say he can't pop by.
Reynolds said in November 2024 that he doesn't know if he'll be back, so it's whether we trust him or not: "I'm not even being cagey. We'll see what happens there."
Likewise, we'd hoped to see Hugh Jackman suit up as Wolverine, our hopes are dashed… for now. But Jackman did have to cancel his big Hyde Park concert this summer, so who knows whether it was for Avengers purposes?
Ultimately, it seems we're not quite finished yet, so don't lose faith just yet for any of the names listed here, including Spider-Man and more.
"That's what u call a deep bench of talent… actually it's more like a row, but an extra long one… That must be it… right?," wrote Robert Downey Jr on Instagram, with the official Marvel Studios account responding: "There's always room for more."
Avengers: Doomsday is released in cinemas on May 1, 2026.
Tom Chapman is a pop culture-loving writer and NCTJ-accredited Broadcast Journalist with over seven years of experience covering the small and silver screen.
Starting his career with a post at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom took on freelancing full-time with regular stints at Digital Spy, Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources.
These days, you can still find him covering all things Marvel and Star Wars at Digital Spy, while dipping his toe in bylines at Yahoo! and IGN.
Tom likes to think his spirit animal is a cross between Gale Weathers and Olenna Tyrell.
