Kevin Feige Says AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Will “Culminate A Quarter-Century Of Storytelling” With the X-Men

Marvel is bringing the original X-Men back into the fight for Avengers: Doomsday, and this is the kind of comic book movie insanity fans have been waiting more than 25 years to see.

The mutants who helped kick Hollywood's superhero obsession into high gear are finally crossing paths with the Avengers, and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feigesees it as the payoff to decades of storytelling.

Before the MCU became a box office monster, 2000's X-Men helped prove that audiences would show up for big-budget comic book movies. The Fox franchise introduced Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, and Ian McKellen as Magneto, helping pave the way for the superhero takeover that followed.

Now Marvel is bringing those worlds together through the Multiverse Saga, giving the original X-Men movies a place within the MCU's expanding continuity.

The returning mutants include James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Stewart as Professor X, and McKellen as Magneto. They'll be sharing the screen with MCU heavy hitters, including Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards and Anthony Mackie as Captain America.

For Feige, who worked as an associate producer on the original X-Men, this crossover has been a long time coming. He told Empire:

“You see interviews of Hugh Jackman 15, 20 years ago saying, ‘People say it’s impossible, but maybe someday the X-Men and the Avengers can all get together.’ It just felt right. It just felt like the fun way to culminate a quarter-century of storytelling.”

It's pretty wild that the characters who helped build the modern superhero movie business are now returning to play a major role in Marvel's biggest crossover.

One of the more exciting aspects of Doomsday is the return of Marsden's Cyclops, a character who deserved a hell of a lot better than what Fox gave him.

Scott Summers was supposed to be the X-Men's field leader, but his story was cut short with an unceremonious death in X-Men: The Last Stand. Thankfully, the timeline-changing events of X-Men: Days of Future Past reversed that fate, leaving the door open for his return.

Now Marsden has another shot at portraying Cyclops as the leader fans have wanted to see. He said: “I like to think of Scott as a noble and good man, who, at the end of the day, will do the right thing.”

Of course, doing the right thing becomes a hell of a lot more complicated when entire universes are on the verge of destruction. Marsden suggests Cyclops will face some brutal decisions as the multiverse begins falling apart.

“It probably reveals quite a lot about your character, what you’re willing to do,” he teases. “And it’s not black and white. It has a lot of very serious, potentially catastrophic implications.”

It'll be interesting to see Cyclops finally get some serious attention, especially with the fate of multiple realities hanging in the balance.

The movie is also bringing back Channing Tatum as Gambit, following his debut in Deadpool & Wolverine, which fans loved.

After spending years attached to a solo Gambit movie that Hollywood couldn't get off the ground, Tatum finally got to play the card-throwing Cajun mutant. Now he's graduating from the madness of Deadpool & Wolverine to the X-Mansion and a much bigger Marvel adventure.

Feige says fans can expect more from Gambit than his hilarious introduction might suggest. “He’s a standout,” promises Feige. “It’s fun to see Gambit be as charismatic as he was in Deadpool & Wolverine, and yet in Doomsday it’s not all for laughs. He’s a fully-rounded character.”

Marvel has spent years building toward this collision between the Avengers and the X-Men. Now the studio has an opportunity to give these returning mutants some proper character moments while throwing them into a massive superhero event.

The real trick will be making these characters matter rather than treating them like expensive nostalgia props. Fans already know these actors can play their roles. What they want now is to see Cyclops lead, Magneto cause trouble, Professor X make impossible choices, and Gambit finally get his due.

Avengers: Doomsday has the ingredients for something pretty freakin’ awesome. Hopefully, Marvel remembers that bringing back beloved characters is only half the job. Giving them a story worth returning for is what really counts.