The first trailer for Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday has offered a glimpse of its star-studded cast, but a significant number of established MCU veterans are conspicuously absent. This includes major players like Tom Holland's Spider-Man, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, despite the film's expected cosmic crossover nature involving Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four.
Several omissions were anticipated, such as Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, who have reportedly been confirmed for other projects or are otherwise unavailable. However, the trailer's silence on other popular characters is notable.
Characters from the core Avengers lineup who are not featured include Spider-Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, and Rhodey. Even supporting figures like Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan appear to be missing, along with Captain Carter, who was rumored to be involved at one point.
The X-Men roster also shows significant gaps, with no sign of Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, or Deadpool. This extends to other mutants like Colossus, Iceman, and members of the First Class and New Mutants iterations of the team.
While Thor's presence was confirmed early on, his fellow Asgardians, save for a Loki variant, are also absent. This means no Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, or Lady Sif are currently slated for the film. The potential inclusion of Thor's adopted daughter Love and the teased appearances of Zeus and Hercules from Thor: Love and Thunder remain to be seen.
Despite previous teases of Star-Lord's return at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, neither he nor the new Guardians lineup—Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam, Phyla, and Blurp—are part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast revealed so far.
Captain Marvel, a pivotal figure in Avengers: Endgame, is also not announced for Doomsday. The poor box office performance of The Marvels may have impacted the inclusion of its characters, including Ms. Marvel, Spectrum, and Binary, though Binary's apparent connection to the X-Men universe via Beast, who is confirmed for Doomsday, makes this absence curious. The trailer also indicates a general scarcity of female characters in the ensemble.
The absence of Doctor Strange has been clarified by Cumberbatch himself, stating his character will appear in Secret Wars but not Doomsday. However, the lack of Wong, the MCU's current Sorcerer Supreme, is surprising for a cosmic-level event. Similarly, Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness are not present.
Characters introduced in Disney+ series are also largely missing, with no confirmation for Daredevil, Punisher, Vision, Sylvie, Moon Knight, Echo, She-Hulk, Werewolf by Night, Agent Mobius, or the TVA, apart from Loki. Riri Williams, or Ironheart, who debuted in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and stars in her own Disney+ series, has also not been announced.
The underperformance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania appears to have sidelined its characters, with the exception of Scott Lang. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne are not listed, and Evangeline Lilly's previous announcement of stepping away from acting likely contributes to Wasp's absence.
No characters from Eternals, including Harry Styles' Eros, are confirmed. This is unsurprising given the film's box office results, though the movie's cliffhanger ending and plot threads from Captain America: Brave New World could potentially lead to their inclusion in Secret Wars.
Teased Young Avengers members such as Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Cassie Lang, Skaar, Eli Bradley, Iron Lad, and T'Challa's son are also not featured in the Doomsday trailer.
Finally, Blade, despite being teased in Eternals and still awaiting his own film with Mahershala Ali, is not set to appear. Wesley Snipes' version of the character apparently perished in Deadpool & Wolverine.
These omissions represent some of the most surprising absences from the initial roster for Avengers: Doomsday, leaving many MCU veterans unaccounted for as the film's development continues.