Disney To Assemble Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four In Upcoming Marvel Movie: Will Box Office Success Follow?

The Walt Disney Company DIS has an exciting 2025 and 2026 movie lineup with multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

This includes the highly anticipated “Avengers: Doomsday,” which announced numerous returning Marvel characters from past films on Wednesday.

What Happened: In 2024, Disney announced that the Russo Brothers, who have helmed multiple Marvel films, would return to direct two upcoming Avengers films.

Marvel also shocked the live audience at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024 when it was revealed that Robert Downey Jr. would play villain Doctor Doom in upcoming films.

After previously playing Avenger and good guy Iron Man, Downey Jr. will now turn to portraying the iconic villain in the upcoming films, including "Avengers: Doomsday" set for a May 1, 2026 release date.

Marvel made multiple cast announcements for the next Avengers film in a livestream that slowly revealed names on the backs of director's chairs.

Video clips were also shared on social media, quickly leading to Marvel and other topics related to the trending film, as Variety reported.

The cast announcements included many stars from previous “Avengers” films, as well as the upcoming “Thunderbolts” and "Fantastic Four” movies.

The X-Men — now fully controlled by Disney after it acquired 21^st Century Fox in 2019 — are among the top headliners, too. Here’s the confirmed cast:

Patrick Stewart: Professor X
Ian McKellen: Magneto
Kelsey Grammer: Beast
James Marsden: Cyclops
Alan Cumming: Nightcrawler
Channing Tatum: Gambit
Rebecca Romijn: Mystique

Wednesday's announcement also included multiple characters from "Thunderbolts" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," which hit theaters this year on May 2 and July 25, respectively. Here are the actors from those two films:

Vanessa Kirby: Invisible Woman, Fantastic Four
Sebastian Stan: Bucky Barnes, Thunderbolts
Wyatt Russell: U.S. Agent, Thunderbolts
Ebon Moss-Bachrach: The Thing, Fantastic Four
Florence Pugh: Yelena Belova, Thunderbolts
Joseph Quinn: Human Torch, Fantastic Four
Lewis Pullman: Sentry, Thunderbolts
David Harbour: Red Guardian, Thunderbolts
Hannah John-Kamen: Ghost, Thunderbolts
Pedro Pascal: Mister Fantastic, Fantastic Four

Other announced cast members for "Avengers: Doomsday" include:

Chris Hemsworth: Thor
Anthony Mackie: Captain America
Letitia Wright: Black Panther
Paul Rudd: Ant-Man
Tenoch Huerta Mejia: Namor
Simu Liu: Shang-Chi
Danny Ramirez: Falcon
Winston Duke: M'Baku
Tom Hiddleston: Loki

Movie fans may notice that several popular Avengers actors are missing from the new lineup. That could mean more announcements or a chance to move on to new characters and storylines inspired by Marvel comics.

There is also the possibility that some of these popular characters, who have not yet been confirmed for "Avengers: Doomsday," will make their way into "Avengers: Secret Wars," which is set for a May 7, 2027, theatrical release.

Why It's Important: There are likely two big takeaways from the latest casting announcements. Marvel is going all in on X-Men and its new 2025 films.

Fans have been begging for new X-Men films since Disney acquired Fox. Outside of the new Deadpool films, characters from the franchise have been minimally involved. The new Avengers film brings back many characters from the old X-Men films and could also set the table for more standalone X-Men films.

It was likely strategic that Marvel announced the large participation of characters from "Thunderbolts" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" ahead of those two movies’ release in theaters later this year.

Those films will introduce several characters to be featured in the upcoming Avengers movie. While both films are question marks on box office performance, Disney may see better than expected results now for box office performance this year.

Avengers films have been among the highest-grossing ever. Moviegoers haven’t gotten one of these superhero composite films since 2019's "Avengers: Endgame,” which remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Here is the box office performance of the past Avengers films and their all-time ranking:

"Avengers: Endgame": $858.4 million domestic (2^nd), $2.8 billion worldwide (2^nd)
"Avengers: Infinity War": $678.8 million domestic (8^th), $2.05 billion worldwide (6^th)
"The Avengers": $623.4 million domestic (14^th), $1.52 billion worldwide (12^th)
"Avengers: Age of Ultron": $459 million domestic (29^th), $1.41 billion worldwide (17^th)

"Captain America: Civil War," which featured many Marvel characters and was almost a mini-Avengers, grossed $408.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion worldwide.

"Endgame" and "Infinity War" are two of only six films to ever earn $2 billion at the worldwide box office.

The Russo Brothers directed "Civil War," "Infinity War" and "Endgame." They also directed "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

Expectations will be high for the upcoming Marvel films. Disney hopes to rebound after recent disappointing returns from efforts like "Eternals," "The Marvels," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." The past success of Avengers films and the Russo Brothers could again lead to success for Disney and Marvel.

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