Marvel fans think they might have spotted a hidden clue in the cast announcement for Avengers: Doomsday.
Earlier this week, Marvel Studios announced the cast for the new movie via a livestream that showed a set chair being brought into a hangar with Chris Hemsworth’s name on it. It was followed every 12 minutes or so by a new chair with a new star’s name on it, until the final cast was unveiled.
Chair-by-chair the cast was revealed, with each chair leaving a shadow that joined up with the one next to it. Looking closely at the livestream, fans have pointed out that part of the shadow looks suspiciously like an ‘X’ and an ‘A’ joined together, with many wondering if the subtle clue could hint at an Avengers/X-Men crossover for the new film, which is currently set for release in May 2026.
On a Reddit post discussing the potential clue, one fan wrote: “Good catch! I think this movie is going to have both Avengers AND X-Men!”
Another wrote: “Are you really a fan of the MCU if you’re not becoming a Marvel conspiracy theorist?”
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“All you have to do is look at the cast list. It’s got 4 major names coming back from x-men movies,” wrote another fan, while one person joked: “Only 4?!”
The Doomsday cast would certainly have all the characters needed for such a crossover, with the mega cast list including characters from across the MCU. It includes Avengers’ Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man.
From X-Men, the likes of Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier/Professor X), Alan Cumming (Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), Ian McKellen (Erik Magnus Lehnsherr/Magneto), Kelsey Grammer (Hank McCoy/Beast), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique) and James Marsden (Scott Summers/Cyclops) have all been listed as returning to the franchise.
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The last time fans saw the original 20th Century Fox X-Men cast together on the big screen was for X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.
Fans will have to wait until next summer to see how their theories play out, but there’s two more MCU movies heading to cinemas before then, with Thunderbolts* (out May 1 in UK, May 2 in US) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (out July 25) arriving first.
Avengers: Doomsday is released in cinemas on May 1, 2026.
