Avengers: Doomsday has a lot to live up to. While Deadpool & Wolverine gave a good wink & nod to the past Marvel films released under other studios, Doomsday will attempt to blow the multiverse wide open with a teaming up of the official MCU characters and the original Fox X-Men cast. One such cast member who fans are excited to see return is James Marsden as Cyclops. Marsden portrayed the X-Men leader in X-Men, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. Many feel that the actor didn’t get his due by getting overshadowed by the focus on Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Scott Summers would have an anti-climactic end when Marsden was not available for much of X-Men: The Last Stand.
Marsden recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about his new series, Paradise, when he inevitably fielded questions about Avengers: Doomsday. The actor explained, “I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume [laughs]. I was excited because you’re a part of something gigantic, and I’ve spent 20 years listening to people say, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?'” He continues, “I’m dead. Well, maybe not. I’m going to have a tough time struggling to get into costume if they waited a couple more years. So it’s been a blast. It really has. It’s been a nice little homecoming to a role that really put me on the map. It was the first real event project that I was ever a part of, and a very beloved character, this icon from the comics. And so to step back into that role was pretty special.”
The X-Men set to return include Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique and Kelsey Grammer as Beast. Cumming has already teased that he has a little scuffle in the film with Pedro Pascal, who is currently in theaters as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He explained, “I was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene and I just think, I’m 60 years old. Twenty-three years ago, I played that superhero. I was kind of old for a superhero even then. And now I’m back doing it. And that, to me, is hilarious.” Then, he continues, “I’m sort of learning these fights and I’m like, ‘What? Who am I fighting with?’ And they said, ‘You’re hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,’ or something.”