Before becoming the main producer behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kevin Feige worked on several surprising films, and now seems to be bringing many of his former stars into the MCU with Avengers: Doomsday. With new details coming out concerning Avengers: Doomsday’s cast, anticipation is high for the film. After reviewing Kevin Feige’s filmography, the shape of the new movie actually makes a lot of sense, and feels like a cumulative event in Feige’s long and illustrious career.

While some of the cast confirmed for the upcoming Avengers film were unexpected, there are even more surprising cast members missing from Doomsday‘s cast. However, understanding the arc of Kevin Feige’s career actually helps to explain this. Rather than just an ending to the Multiverse Saga, similar to how Avengers: Endgame thematically closed out the Infinity Saga, these upcoming films seem to actually be a cumulative look back at Kevin Feige’s entire career. With that in mind, it is worth looking at Feige’s past to understand Marvel’s future.

Kevin Feige’s Marvel Career Started With Fox’s X-Men Movies

Feige Was An ᴀssociate Producer On 2000’s X-Men

Kevin Feige has become one of the most successful producers in the history of Hollywood, building out the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. However, the first Marvel film that Feige worked on was actually with Fox, where he worked as an ᴀssociate producer on 2000’s X-Men. The film was an exciting reinvention of the superhero genre, taking the themes and ideas from the comic books and reworking them to seem more palatable to the audience of the 2000s, although Feige did his best to keep the movie like the comics.

From there, Feige continued to work on pre-MCU Marvel movies. He worked as a co-producer on Daredevil and X2, and as an executive producer on all kinds of Marvel projects, including Elektra and X-Men: The Last Stand. Clearly interested in Marvel comic adaptations from the beginning, Feige was able to use his experience and connections forged over these years in order to get Iron Man made alongside director Jon Favreau. From there, history was made, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born.

Avengers: Doomsday Is Bringing Back So Many Classic X-Men Actors

Many Members Of The Doomsday Cast Have Appeared In X-Men, X2, And X-Men: The Last Stand

The cast list for Avengers: Doomsday includes several surprising X-Men franchise actors, including Alan Cumming and Ian McKellen. These actors returning suggests several X-Men characters will come back after being away from the movie world for years, meaning the movie already looks set to directly follow up on several older Marvel releases. With such a surprising cast, full of all kinds of characters from the franchise that Feige previously worked on, there is already a great deal of speculation about who else could appear from that series in the upcoming film.

Feige has already gone out of his way to bring Hugh Jackman back to the MCU, and there is still hope that Wolverine could appear in the film. After the incredible box-office success of ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, it is all but certain that Marvel will be doing everything they can to get Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Doomsday. If not, then they are surely planned to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars, especially since it seems that Feige is planning to bring back as many Marvel characters from his past work as he can.

Doomsday Has Turned Into An X-Men Reunion Too

Several X-Men Characters Who Haven’t Been Seen In Some Time Are Set To Reappear

While the return of Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier in Doomsday is exciting, what is even more exciting is the stacked cast of performers who left the franchise but are now set to return. Kelsey Grammer was recast in the franchise as Beast until he returned at the ending of The Marvels, and will now presumably have a larger role here. Rebecca Romijn, too, was recast in the franchise with Jennifer Lawrence, and other than a cameo in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, has not played the role since 2006.

Seeing these stars, alongside Ian McKellen and James Marsden, who both last appeared as their X-Men characters in X-Men: Days of Future Past, is so exciting. With such a large cast, there is interest in seeing the Avengers characters interact with these X-Men. However, this cast list also suggests a significant reunion for the X-Men themselves, with many of these characters not having shared the screen with any of the others in a long, long time. This is a promising prospect, and may allow Doomsday to function as a sequel to Fox’s universe as well as the MCU.

The story of Avengers: Doomsday remains to be seen, but the cast is certainly exciting. Looking at the shape of the film, it seems that Kevin Feige has gone back to the beginning of his career and, between this film and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, has brought back almost every one of the characters he has worked on in the past. All of this points to how important Avengers: Doomsday will be, not just for audiences, but even for Feige himself. Hopefully, this results in a genuinely satisfying and excellent film.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  Release Date

  
  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

  Release Date

  
  July 31, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date

  
  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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