The Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially welcomed the X-Men. A new teaser for Avengers: Doomsday places Patrick Stewart’s Professor Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen’s Magneto and James Marsden’s Cyclops front and centre, marking the first time these iconic characters from the 20th Century Fox era appear together under the MCU banner.
The teaser, which surfaced online after a week of leaks before its official release, opens at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Once a symbol of hope and safety for young mutants, the school is now shown in ruins. This hints at the scale and darkness of the threat looming over this new chapter of Marvel storytelling.
One of the most striking moments sees Xavier and Magneto seated across a chessboard. This is a familiar image that instantly calls back to the original X-Men films. The nostalgic calm of that scene is quickly disrupted by a haunting visual of Cyclops removing his visor and unleashing a devastating optic blast. This signals that this reunion comes with heavy consequences.
Magneto’s voiceover adds weight to the teaser’s ominous tone. “Death comes for us all. It’s all I know for sure,” he says, before posing the chilling question: “Who will you be when you close your eyes?” The dialogue suggests that Avengers: Doomsday will explore not just spectacle, but moral choices and identity across the multiverse.
Fans also caught details in the updated costumes. Cyclops appears in a more comic-accurate blue-and-yellow suit, while Xavier sports a black-and-red X insignia on his jacket. The designs nod to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s acclaimed New X-Men run from the early 2000s, signalling Marvel’s intent to blend nostalgia with reinvention.
While the teaser focuses on Xavier, Magneto and Cyclops, several other X-Men have already been confirmed for the film. These include Channing Tatum as Gambit, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique and Kelsey Grammer as Beast, further expanding the mutant presence in the MCU.
The move has been years in the making following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has previously noted that logistical delays meant the X-Men couldn’t immediately be integrated into the MCU. Since then, audiences have seen early hints through appearances by Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Beast in The Marvels, and the wider mutant chaos of Deadpool and Wolverine.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Doomsday will unite characters from across the multiverse in a reality-shattering conflict led by Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor Von Doom. The story will continue into Avengers: Secret Wars, which Feige has described as the gateway to “a new age of mutants and of the X-Men.”
