X-MEN Star James Marsden On Returning As Cyclops For AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY: "These Worlds Are Ready To Collide"

James Marsden debuted as Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, in 20th Century Fox's first X-Men movie, and went on to reprise the role in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and (briefly) X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Though most fans felt that Marsden did a pretty good job with what he had to work with, the character was severely underutilized.

Marsden, along with quite a few of his OG X-Men cast mates, will return as Cyclops for Avengers: Doomsday, and the hope is that we will finally get to see what the team's fearless leader is really capable of on the big screen.

While speaking to Variety on the red carpet of last night's Emmy Awards, Marsden was asked about his Doomsday return.

“You can feel that it’s something special. The world is ready for this movie and these worlds are ready to collide.”

Alan Cumming will also be back as Nightcrawler, and told Variety that he initially thought he was being pranked when Marvel Studios asked him to return as a "60-year-old superhero."

We're still not sure exactly how the mutant heroes will factor into Doomsday, but rumor has it that we will see Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Children of the Atom do battle. The prevailing theory is that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) will orchestrate this conflict, possibly even enlisting the X-Men to join his cause.

James Marsden says "it's exciting" to return as Cyclops for #AvengersDoomsday: "You can feel that it's something specia. The world is ready for this movie and these worlds are ready to collide." pic.twitter.com/7yWd3bMS9u

— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025

Alan Cumming thought he was being pranked when Marvel called him to return as Nightcrawler in #AvengersDoomsday. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/nzK7gkBio3

— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.

Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. 

"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.

You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.

• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man

• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi

• Tom Hiddleston as Loki

• Lewis Pullman as Sentry

• Florence Pugh as Yelena

• Danny Ramirez as Falcon

• Ian McKellen as Magneto

• Sebastian Stan as Bucky

• Winston Duke as M’Baku

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor

• Kelsey Grammer as Beast

• James Marsden as Cyclops

• Channing Tatum as Gambit

• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent

• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm

• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique

• Patrick Stewart as Professor X

• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler

• Letitia Wright as Black Panther

• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor

• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards

• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost

• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm

• David Harbour as Red Guardian

• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom

• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing

• Anthony Mackie as Captain America