AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Confirms Five More MCU Characters Are Returning
Marvel Studios just added five familiar faces to Avengers: Doomsday, and one of them is a pretty great surprise.
The new additions were revealed through extra footage attached to Avengers Endgame: Encore, officially confirming several MCU veterans for the upcoming Avengers movie. Among them is Mark Ruffalo, who will return as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, along with some key players from the TVA.
When Marvel Studios unveiled the initial Avengers: Doomsday cast last March, it did so with that massive four-hour chair reveal. The stunt delivered plenty of surprises and established the core ensemble, but it clearly wasn't the complete roster.
More names have surfaced since then, including Hayley Atwell and Kathryn Newton, while Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will also obviously appear after their teases. Now we can officially add Ruffalo, Owen Wilson, Ke Huy Quan, Eugene Cordero, and Tara Strong to the mix.
Ruffalo's return is particularly interesting because previous rumors suggested Doctor Doom might unleash a Maestro-like Hulk Variant against the Multiverse's Mightiest Heroes. Instead, the new footage confirms we're getting Earth-616's Bruce Banner.
That puts Hulk back in the Avengers game and gives Ruffalo another shot at smashing his way through Marvel's increasingly chaotic Multiverse.
The TVA is also getting involved. A post-credits scene features Wilson as Mobius, Quan as O.B., and Cordero as Casey. Strong also returns as the voice of Miss Minutes, who apparently has some explaining to do.
The TVA's inclusion isn't exactly shocking considering the Multiverse is at the center of everything happening here, but having these characters officially enter Avengers: Doomsday gives us a better idea of just how much the film will pull from the events of Loki.
One notable absence is Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie. Her absence will likely add more fuel to speculation that the character could be connected to Doctor Doom's rumored Latverian Witches.
The additional Avengers Endgame: Encore scenes reportedly come from Avengers: Doomsday itself rather than being created specifically for the re-release. Banner's appearance is the one sequence that feels like it may have been made specifically for Encore, but the rest appears to give audiences an early peek at footage from the upcoming movie.
Marvel Studios still has time to reveal a few more surprises before Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters, and there are almost certainly some major names the studio would rather keep under wraps for as long as possible. But the way things leak online these days… good luck.
Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man remains one of the characters fans are hoping to see. If he's actually part of the movie, Marvel could send excitement through the roof by dropping him into one of the upcoming trailers.
For now, Ruffalo's Hulk and the TVA crew are officially joining the fight, making an already huge Avengers: Doomsday ensemble even bigger.
A new promo and poster for Avengers Endgame: Encore have also been released, offering another look at Marvel's return to one of the MCU's biggest movies before Doomsday arrives.