Six years on from Avengers: Endgame, I am convinced that Avengers: Doomsday does not need a team that appeared in the former due to two new 2025 groups. Interestingly, what Avengers: Doomsday‘s story does and does not need has been a big conversation since the movie’s announcement. Be it the questions over whether the film needs Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom or whether Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast list is simply too big to sustain a concise, compelling story, the film has faced a lot of discussion.

Admittedly, this is part of the fun of being an MCU fan. Speculation around upcoming Marvel movies is what many people enjoy, myself included, so long as it is respectful and any movie or show is judged on its own merits once it is released. It just so happens that Avengers: Doomsday is one of the biggest Marvel movies since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, meaning the speculation is growing bigger every day. Concerning the theorizing over who else will be cast in Avengers: Doomsday, I am convinced a team prominent in The Avengers’ past will not be needed for the first time since 2019.

Avengers: Doomsday Does Not Need The Guardians Of The Galaxy Thanks To The New Avengers & The Fantastic Four

The 2025 Teams Will Fill In For The Guardians

The team I am talking about is the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians appeared in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as big allies of the тιтular Avengers, providing a few key differences from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. For one, the Guardians were a found family, as opposed to The Avengers’ more coworker dynamic, recently highlighted in Thunderbolts* via Bob/Sentry’s story. Secondly, the Guardians were space-based characters who had a wider knowledge of the MCU universe beyond Earth, which The Avengers did not possess outside of Thor.

In Avengers: Doomsday, both of these roles will be filled by The New Avengers and The Fantastic Four. Both teams will have the aforementioned family dynamic, with Thunderbolts*’ ending solidifying the heroes as more than friends thanks to their shared trauma and The Fantastic Four being dubbed Marvel’s First Family for decades. The latter will also capture the space-based elements of the Guardians, thus plugging that gap in the latter team’s absence.

No Guardians Of The Galaxy Members Have Been Confirmed For Avengers: Doomsday As Of Yet

The Team Is Nowhere To Be Seen

Concerning why the Guardians even need heroes to fill in for them, Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast reveal did not include any members of the team. The special live-stream announcement of the film’s cast included several known Avengers, The New Avengers from Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four, and heroes from Fox’s X-Men movie timeline. Evidently, the Guardians are not going to be part of the battle against Doom.

While Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige has hinted that more cast members would be announced, it remains the case that, as of yet, the Guardians are absent. This explains why the likes of The New Avengers and The Fantastic Four are being used in the film. While they bring their own elements to the story, the familiar familial and space-traveler qualities the heroes possess will lessen the disappointment that the Guardians will, seemingly, not be involved.

Why It Makes Sense To Leave The Guardians Of The Galaxy Absent From Avengers: Doomsday

Avengers: Doomsday Should Not Be Too Overstuffed

Despite the disappointment that the Guardians might not be part of Avengers: Doomsday, it makes sense for them not to be. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the iteration of the team that was part of the Infinity Saga was dissolved. Characters like Star-Lord, Gamora, Nebula, Drax, and Mantis moved on to other adventures, while Rocket and Groot were left putting together a new team. As such, many of the old Guardians appearing would somewhat sour their MCU conclusions.

Regarding the new Guardians team, including them in Avengers: Doomsday would simply make the film feel too crowded. Instead, the 2025 Marvel movies that have been scheduled for years – Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps – make more sense as tie-ins to the 2026 Avengers movie. This way, Avengers: Doomsday will be populated by heroes who audiences are familiar with as teams, whereas the new Guardians are yet to have their own movie. For these reasons, perhaps Marvel does not need the Guardians in Avengers: Doomsday, despite needing them only six years ago.