I Have A Theory Why Captain Marvel (And A Bunch Of Big Heroes) Aren’t In The Avengers: Doomsday Cast

After there’d been crickets regarding the upcoming Marvel movies aside from the ones coming out this summer, this week, Marvel Studios announced that Avengers: Doomsday is in production with a five-hour livestream announcing the cast. Like many fans, the reveals has me getting excited about the return of heroes like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, along with the inclusion of the Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four and X-Men. But all the missing names really stuck out to me, too.

One big Avenger hero we’ve already discussed is the absence of Tom Holland, who is currently filming The Odyssey with Christopher Nolan, but now I need to talk about my thoughts about why a big chunk of other heroes are being left out of the Avengers: Doomsday cast.

I Noticed Captain Marvel, And A Bunch Of Other Key Heroes Are Not In The Avengers: Doomsday Announcement

While I can see Spider-Man being left out considering the fourth Spidey movie is coming out just a few months after Doomsday in 2026, I was really confused about Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel being left out, along with there being no Nick Fury, Rhodey, Hulk, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange or Eternals. That’s just too many big players to leave out of an Avengers movie. Check out the roster that was announced:

But then, I quickly went back to the cast list and realized that there are already 27 names part of Doomsday, which is interestingly the same amount of main stars that were in Avengers: Infinity War. It would just be too crowded if everyone was all in the same movie at this point. Which leads me to my theory…

I Think The Answer As To Why Could Connect Directly With The Marvels End Credits Scene

I think Doomsday will start things off between multiple universes before bringing in more of the missing heroes from the original universe in the second part, Avengers: Secret Wars, which is set to hit theaters about a year after Doomsday.

Other than the logistics of having too many cast members in Doomsday (which I’ll get to a bit later), I think the inclusion of the X-Men as introduced in The Marvels is the biggest hint as to why Captain Marvel and others can and will wait. As you may recall, during the end credits of The Marvels, Monica Rambeau realizes she’s in a parallel reality when she is confronted by a variant of her dead mom, Maria Rambeau, and then she sees she’s under the care of Kelsey Grammer’s Beast.

Beast even name drops Professor X in the scene, pointing to Rambeau being in a universe where there's a fully-formed team of X-Men similar to the one we saw in the original movies. What if the X-Men are already on a mission that has to do with stopping RDJ’s Doctor Doom, and Monica is able to clue them in that there’s a whole other universe she just fell out of full of more heroes who could help, and start to bridge the gap? Maybe it takes the whole movie for her to get into contact with Captain Marvel alongside the X-Men, and making contact is how Doomsday will end in a desperate hour.

Beast has been confirmed to be in Avengers: Doomsday, along with all sorts of original X-Men, including Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Rebcca Romijn’s Mystique and James Marsden’s Cyclops. We also know that the MCU's Fantastic Four will also be from another universe, and Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom has to come from another one from what we know as well. Storywise, it's just too much to juggle if all the Avengers came together in Doomsday. It will be just half the story.

Doctor Doom Must Be Targeting Multiple Worlds, And There’s More To Assemble

Since Avengers: Infinity War left fans on one of best movie cliffhangers we’ve ever seen, I feel like Marvel Studios will absolutely want to leave us hanging again with a finale that perhaps leaves half of the heroes in danger and more who have yet to be assembled needed to take down Doctor Doom. And who would be an excellent secondary leader aside from Anthony Mackie’s Captain America? Captain Marvel, of course! Oh, and I can see Doctor Strange coming into play in the second half as well as the life-saving B-team through the use of America Chavez – who has the power to jump between worlds.

Now, the question hanging over my head is how the Thunderbolts, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America and others from the original MCU world we know will become part of the A-plot in Doomsday? I have a feeling the upcoming Thunderbolts* movie might answer that question, but for the time being, we do know from the Captain America: Brave New World end credits that Cap has just been caught up on not being “the only ones”, so multiverse talk is already brewing.

Perhaps him, Danny Ramirez’s Falcon, the Thunderbolts and other heroes he can collect first (like Ant-Man, Black Panther, Shang-Chi and Loki) begin the mission on our side of the universe, and the whole team will officially come together in Secret Wars. But perhaps they are in a totally different universe than the X-Men, and it's Captain Marvel that will ultimately bring all the Avengers together.

And, Avengers: Doomsday Waiting On Key Cast Members Makes Me More Excited For The Next Two Avengers Movies

While I could 1) be absolutely wrong, and/or 2) Marvel just decided to release part of the cast to get us theorizing, the idea of more heroes being held for Avengers: Doomsday has me excited. That's because I think my number one worry about new Avengers films is having an overwhelming amount of cameos and battles without attention to forwarding each character in the MCU and making it feel like the good ol’ days of Marvel.

I like that some of the newer characters in the MCU are blended with beloved vets in the Doomsday cast (like the X-Men) along with Avengers who have experienced the prior era. However, if the script is not handled well and there’s too big of an Avengers team, I don’t think it will have the same impact on audiences. For example, I want Marvel to spend time seeing how Shang-Chi becomes an Avenger and works within a team, and for the return of the X-Men to be impactful. I think that’d be less likely to happen if they shoe-in every Avenger from the beginning.

Now, Robert Downey Jr. did just tease something that has us very confused about what Marvel Studios has up their sleeves next. But for the time being, knowing the cast, rather than being completely in the dark, has me more interested in Avengers: Doomsday. I know that heroes like Captain Marvel are going to have to appear at some point, but the curiosity about how all these heroes will come together has my attention.