Even though Logan originally marked Patrick Stewart’s final appearance as Charles Xavier’s Professor X, he’s again returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Doomsday, creating the perfect opportunity for a huge nine-year-old mystery to be addressed. Stewart portrayed Professor X, one of Marvel’s most powerful mutants, for almost two decades between 2000’s X-Men and 2017’s Logan, which featured the character’s emotional death. He reprised the role as a variant in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but his appearance as a member of Earth-838’s Illuminati did not address any of Logan’s loose ends.
Patrick Stewart was one of several returning X-Men actors confirmed to be returning in Avengers: Doomsday as part of Marvel’s chair-laying ceremony at the end of March. It’s thought that these stars will be returning as the versions of their mutant characters from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, which means Doomsday must be set prior to Charles Xavier’s death in Logan. This means that a previously-unseen era of Professor X’s story can finally be seen in live-action, but this may spell bad news for the rest of the X-Men.
Professor X Killed the X-Men Before 2017’s Logan
As a relatively standalone instalment in Fox’s X-Men franchise, Logan took us into the future of 2029, where no new mutants had been born in 25 years, almost rendering the species extinct. Logan (Hugh Jackman) resided in an abandoned smelting plant with Caliban (Stephen Merchant) and a dementia-suffering Xavier, whose illness causes destructive telepathic seizures that only Wolverine is able to withstand for a short time thanks to his own mutant abilities – though even these powers are weakening due to the adamantium lacing his skeleton.
We saw a number of these seizures in Logan, specifically towards the beginning of the movie at the smelting plant, where Wolverine and Caliban were the only individuals affected, and then again in Oklahoma City, where far more people came under attack. The true destructive potential of these seizures was only hinted at, as it was revealed that one a year before the events of the movie had injured over 600 people, killed seven mutants, including several members of the X-Men team, and destroyed Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, with Xavier’s mind being declared a weapon of mass destruction.
James Mangold originally planned to have Logan open with this scene playing out on-screen, but decided instead not to show it at all in an effort to keep Logan character-driven and grounded. While this worked for Logan, Professor X losing control of his powers and wiping out the X-Men team might be just the spectacle we need in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. Since Patrick Stewart and so many other X-Men actors are returning, now is the perfect time for this destructive scene to play out in live-action, leading perfectly into Logan’s narrative.
Avengers: Doomsday Will Include Several Classic X-Men Actors (Including Patrick Stewart)
Patrick Stewart is just one of seven returning X-Men stars confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, and more could be on the way who haven’t yet been announced. Stewart will be joined by Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, and Channing Tatum, who made his debut as Gambit in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. This will bring Magneto, Beast, Mystique, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler, though it’s important to note this is the original, older X-Men cast, rather than the younger cast of Fox’s revised timeline, suggesting it’ll be the original X-Men roster returning.
This means that the likes of Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, and more could also be confirmed to return in Avengers: Doomsday. These characters returning would put any number of them on the chopping block, should Marvel Studios explore Professor X’s seizure wiping out the X-Men team and injuring many more. This event – known as the Westchester Incident – could even be explained thanks to Doctor Doom’s introduction in Avengers: Doomsday, as Robert Downey Jr.’s new MCU supervillain could have manipulated Xavier into wiping out his superhero friends.
The likes of Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Lashana Lynch, and more from X-Men-related heroes from recent MCU projects also haven’t yet been confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday. Nevertheless, it seems the Russo brothers’ 2026 crossover movie is gearing up to bid a final farewell to Fox’s X-Men team before Marvel Studios reinvents the mutant superhero team in the MCU’s own X-Men reboot. Scheduled for release on December 18, 2026, Avengers: Doomsday might be the MCU’s biggest movie yet, at least before December 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, and seeing Patrick Stewart back in action as Professor X will be very exciting.
Do you want Avengers: Doomsday to show Professor X killing the X-Men team? Let us know in the comments!
The post Avengers: Doomsday Has the Best Chance to Finally Address a Huge Professor X Mystery 9 Years After Logan appeared first on ComicBook.com.
