Still holding out hope that Famke Janssen will reprise her role as Jean Grey in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday? Perhaps it’s time to let go, because the actress has confirmed that Marvel hasn’t asked her to play the superhero again since the end of Fox’s X-Men movies.
Famke Janssen played Jean Grey from 2000’s X-Men right up to a cameo in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Her character, as the Phoenix, died in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, with Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner taking over the role for subsequent X-Men movies.
But a number of actors whose characters died in the Fox X-Men movies are set to reprise their roles in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. For example, Sonic the Hedgehog star James Marsden is confirmed to play Cyclops in Doomsday, despite the character’s previous on-screen demise.
Other Fox X-Men veterans set for Doomsday include Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, and Rebecca Romijn. Grammer famously played Beast in the Fox X-Men franchise before making his MCU debut via The Marvels’ post-credits scene. Stewart played Charles Xavier/Professor X in the X-Men films before appearing briefly in the MCU via Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as a member of the Illuminati. McKellen, who played Magneto, has yet to appear in the MCU. Neither has Cumming, who played Nightcrawler, Romijn, who played Mystique, nor Marsden. It begs the question: is Avengers: Doomsday secretly an Avengers vs. X-Men movie?
Whatever the nature of Doomsday’s plot, it sounds like Famke Janssen won’t join the party. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she was asked if Marvel had ever asked her to play Jean Grey again after the Fox era of movies. She replied: “Never. Never ever.”
“I should be flattered, I suppose, that this character has resonated with people,” she added. “It’s been so long, but it’s nice that people are still talking about her. I’m sure every single time there’s a new movie that they’re doing, like [is it] Doomsday? … it’ll come up again.
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“Every time I do an interview, it’s mentioned. It’s interesting. I didn’t realize that was such a big part. Every interview I do, that will come up, and of everything I say, that is going to be the only thing that’s gonna be printed.”
Such is the interest in the MCU that Marvel superhero actors are often asked about reprising their roles for future films, and Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Secret Wars has only ramped interest up. Elizabeth Olsen, for example, recently said she’d “jump at” the opportunity to play Scarlet Witch again despite her character’s apparent death in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Olsen is not, however, among the confirmed cast for Doomsday. Interestingly, neither is Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman, who starred alongside Janssen in the Fox X-Men movies.
Jean Grey actress Famke Janssen and Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman promote X2: X-Men United in 2003. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.
Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. will return as Doctor Doom, and Benedict Cumberbatch will apparently return as Doctor Strange in Secret Wars. The Russo brothers have said they see Avengers 5 and 6 as a “new beginning” that will lay the foundation for whatever comes next in Phase 7 of the MCU.
“The only thing I’ll say about the movie is this: we love villains who think they’re the heroes of their own stories,” Joe Russo said. “That’s when they become three-dimensional and they become more interesting. When you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a three-dimensional, well shaped character for the audience. That’s where a lot of our focus is going.”
Avengers: Doomsday is currently set to arrive in theaters May 1, 2026 and Secret Wars arrives about a year later in May 2027.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.