One ‘X-Men’ Star Says Marvel Never Asked Him to Return For ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

On March 26, 2025, the world’s attention was transfixed by Marvel Studios’ livestream, which slowly but surely revealed the cast of Avengers: Doomsday.

Leading up to the presentation, fans had speculated about which heroes would suit up for the next Avengers. While Kevin Feige had previously revealed that Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts would return in the film, the rest of the star-studded cast remained a secret.

Through the six-and-a-half-hour livestream, Marvel revealed that many MCU stalwarts, including Ant-Man, Black Panther, Thor, Loki, Shang-Chi, and Namor, would be suiting up again. While this was exciting enough on its own, the real surprise was that the Fox X-Men will make their MCU debut in Doomsday.

Photo: BBC

Among the returning mutants will be Beast (Kelsey Grammer), Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) and Cyclops (James Marsden).

What About Iceman?

While fans were thrilled to see the returning roster of X-Men, they were also quick to point out that some characters were noticeably missing. One of the most glaring omissions from the X-Men roster was Shawn Ashmore’s Bobby Drake/Iceman.

Photo: Fox

After making his debut as Bobby Drake in the 2000s X-Men, Ashmore would go on to reprise his role in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

With his character’s foil, Pyro (Aaron Stanford), returning for Deadpool & Wolverine, many fans would love to see Ashmore’s Iceman return.

Photo: Collider

Unfortunately, it does not sound like that will happen.

Shawn Ashmore Says Marvel Never Asked Him to Return

In a recent interview with Nerd Reactor, Ashmore was asked if he would be suiting up for Avengers: Doomsday. While noting that some fans may not believe him, the actor was adamant that he would not be returning.

“So this is the weird part of it … It’s like, if I was, I couldn’t say that I was, but I’m not,” Ashmore said. “There’s been no contact. I’m not cast in it. I mean, I’ve been getting that since the last Deadpool movie. Everyone’s like, ‘Are you in it?’ And I’m like, ‘No.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay [winks].’ But no, no, I’m actually not. And again, I’m always open to coming back and playing that character. But yeah, so far, no, no contact.”

Photo: Fox

As Ashmore points out, due to Marvel’s veil of secrecy, it is hard to take any denials seriously. For now, however, we have to take the actor at his word.

Will More X-Men Return?

In addition to Iceman, both Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Halle Berry’s Storm were noticeably absent from the Avengers: Doomsday roster. It is hard to imagine that Marvel would reunite the Fox X-Men without the team’s most recognizable characters.

Photo: Marvel

With the studio admitting that more Doomsday characters will be revealed, perhaps Ashmore, Jackman, and Berry will show up after all. Additionally, with Avengers: Secret Wars on the horizon, it is also possible that Marvel is holding back some characters.

Photo: Fox

For now, we will just have to wait and see.