5 Marvel Characters Guaranteed To Miss Avengers: Doomsday

"Avengers: Doomsday" is going to be a massive movie. A March cast announcement confirmed more than two dozen cast members who will be facing off with Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom in the film. Subsequent months have revealed further performers (like Kathryn Newton) set for roles in a story that will bring together at least three different realities across the Marvel multiverse. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo will unite the X-Men, two different Avengers teams, the Fantastic Four, and the Wakandans in a production seemingly determined to make "Avengers: Infinity War" look like a chamber piece.

Still, just because "Doomsday" is going to be gargantuan, it doesn't mean that every MCU superhero is set to reappear in this project. On the contrary, "Doomsday" has clearly been emphasizing established big-screen MCU characters. That means there's little chance that TV characters like The Hood, Gi'ah, or She-Hulk will be showing up to save the day at the last minute in "Doomsday." 

But they're not the only folks destined to be MIA — there are some especially notable Marvel characters guaranteed to sit this dance out. Even when it's all hands on deck to take out Doctor Doom, these Marvel figures won't be around to help for a multitude of reasons. There'll still be tons of heroes in "Avengers: Doomsday," but these five won't be among them.

Part of the untold truth of the Wasp in Marvel Comics history is that she was one of the founding members of The Avengers. She was even responsible for solidifying the team's name. Despite that, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's de facto version of the Wasp, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), has only appeared briefly in one "Avengers" movie, 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."

In the past, Evangeline Lilly declared it was time for a Wasp spin-off movie, while Hope and Paul Rudd's Scott Lang/Ant-Man were inseparable across three solo "Ant-Man" movies. However, it doesn't look remotely likely that Hope will finally add a second "Avengers" film appearance with "Avengers: Doomsday."

Chiefly, Evangeline Lilly has retired from acting and has also faced recent health challenges, making it even more unlikely her Wasp is returning for "Doomsday." While it's possible that Marvel Studios could recast the role, it's more likely, given how many people "Doomsday" has to service, that they'll just keep her sidelined, especially since Scott Lang and his daughter will be around to represent the "Ant-Man" franchise.

On paper, the Wasp being absent from "Doomsday" is strange, given both the character's importance in the comics and the dearth of women superheroes in "Doomsday." However, health and safety should always be prioritized above art, which means Lilly's winged wonder woman will be MIA in "Doomsday."

"Avengers: Doomsday" is only happening because Marvel Studios could no longer use Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) as its villainous new successor to Thanos. After a Kang variant debuted in "Loki" and Kang himself appeared in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," it seemed clear that Marvel Studios was going to have the Avengers confront the various variants of Kang from Marvel's comic history. The fifth "Avengers" movie was even initially titled "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty," indicating just how central Kang was going to be to the MCU in Phases Five and Six.

But in 2023, Jonathan Majors was found guilty on misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and second-degree harassment of his ex-girlfriend. Around this time, allegations also surfaced of Majors exhibiting abusive behavior earlier in his career. These disturbing developments led Marvel to quickly drop Majors and go back to the drawing board, landing on Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom as the new multiversal big bad for the Avengers to face. 

Given Majors' deluge of legal troubles and "Doomsday" focusing squarely on Doctor Doom, there's no way the movie makes time for even a Kang cameo. Perhaps an offhand reference in a line of dialogue is the most one should expect of him in "Doomsday." Marvel's clearly eager to move on to the future rather than linger on the "Kang Dynasty" days of its past.

Poor "Eternals." This bold 2021 attempt by writer-director Chloé Zhao to translate the obscure superhero team created by Jack Kirby into a tonally complex epic was an often frustrating film to watch due to its incessant sequel teases, lack of a distinct personality for lead character Sersi (Gemma Chan), and proclivity towards dim lighting. It soared in key respects, though, namely in its cool visual depictions of the various Eternal superpowers, the casting, and use of practical locations. It was a messy production, but also an intriguing one rife with more personality and ambition than subsequent 2020s MCU efforts like "Quantumania" and "Deadpool and Wolverine."

After "Eternals" did just an okay $402 million worldwide, Marvel Studios has only sporadically referred back to the film. While Marvel did later clarify where "Eternals" fit into the MCU timeline, Kingo's lore was featured in a "What If...?" episode, while that big Celestial from the "Eternals" finale was utilized in "Captain America: Brave New World." But otherwise, the characters have been absent from the broader franchise. 

Still, even with the Eternals largely getting the cold shoulder in the MCU, it wouldn't be unthinkable for Sersi or Kingo to cameo in "Doomsday." But if any Eternal is especially guaranteed to skip the film, it's the adolescent Sprite (Lia McHugh), since "Eternals" ended with Sprite giving up her superpowers. In addition, Lia McHugh has largely shifted away from acting to focus on more academic pursuits, meaning that Sprite is almost certainly the one Eternal destined to remain on the sidelines.

While one of the "Avengers: Endgame" encore credit scenes seemingly confirmed that various "Loki" characters related to the Time Variance Authority will show up in "Avengers: Doomsday," the movie is otherwise emphasizing figures from various movies rather than TV shows. Among the superheroes (not supporting characters like the TVA folks) assembled to fight Doctor Doom, the only TV-originating heroes confirmed for "Doomsday" are John Walker aka U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Danny Ramirez's Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon (both of whom debuted in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier").

This means it would be wise to assume that Oscar Isaac's portrayal of the various personalities of Moon Knight will also be absent. For one thing, "Moon Knight" was a standalone enterprise that hardly ever referenced other MCU projects (even "Eternals" had multiple conversations about the events of "Avengers: Endgame"). That means its titular supernatural superhero is already predisposed to stay in his own little corner of the franchise. Marvel also seems content so far to largely ignore its post-2021 Disney+ shows in its new movies, with very few of their characters making the jump to the big screen.

Since no connections to "Secret Invasion" or "Werewolf by Night" (among other properties) have been announced for "Avengers: Doomsday," that just makes it all the more likely that Moon Knight's future MCU exploits won't include any kind of "Doomsday" appearance either.

After Scarlett Johansson finished portraying Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the MCU following 2021's "Black Widow," she's been consistently busy throughout 2025 and 2026 with projects like directing her first film ("Eleanor the Great"), promoting "Jurassic World Rebirth," and shooting movies like "Paper Tiger," "The Exorcist: Martyrs," "The Batman: Part II," and Ari Aster's "Scapegoat." All these acting gigs almost certainly reflect very distinctive creative pursuits on Johansson's part and the exciting chance to work with acclaimed filmmakers like Aster, Matt Reeves, and Mike Flanagan.

However, one also has to wonder if Johansson has been doing wall-to-wall movies just to fully ensure she's as busy as possible while "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Secret Wars" shoot. Johansson's spoken fondly about her Marvel experiences, but has also visibly been making sure she's known for more than just her "Avengers" shenanigans. Given that career trajectory and how jam-packed her schedule has been, it'd be shocking if even a variant of Natasha Romanoff (or at least one played by Johansson) shows up in "Doomsday."

Plus, there's already a Black Widow (Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova) set for "Doomsday," and she's apparently supposed to be a crucial character in the proceedings. It wouldn't make sense to crowd her out with Scarlett Johansson's return. Thankfully for Johansson fans, they can get their fix of this actor in tons of other 2020s movies.