In a full-circle moment, James Marsden is returning to the role that first put him “on the map.”
The Paradise actor and newly minted Emmy nominee sat down with Vanity Fair recently to discuss reprising his X-Men character Cyclops in the Russo Brothers’ forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
“I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume,” he said, laughing. “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?’”
The Westworld and Dead to Me alum continued, “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.”
Marsden first portrayed Scott Summers/Cyclops in Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000), reprising the role in subsequent sequels X2: X-Men United (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Though his character is killed off early on in the latter movie by Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey alter ego Dark Phoenix, Marsden returned in a brief cameo role in 2014’s time-warping X-Men: Days of Future Past, which erases his death and that of other X-Men characters.
Though much is under wraps about Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled for theatrical release on December 18, 2026 as part of Marvel’s Phase Six, it will center on supervillain and Fantastic Four arch nemesis Dr. Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). In addition to Marsden, confirmed cast members include Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Letitia Wright, Florence Pugh, Simu Liu, Tom Hiddleston, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Danny Ramirez, Hannah John-Kamen, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer, Channing Tatum, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Lewis Pullman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps actors Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
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