Avengers: Doomsday has widely been expected to serve as the farewell for the original X-Men film cast, but a new report claims the two biggest names of that era are not finished yet. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen would reportedly return once more as Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto in Avengers: Secret Wars.
The claim comes from Marvel scooper MyTimeToShineHello, who addressed the speculation head-on in a recent post. "Despite rumors saying they won't be in it Patrick and Ian will return as Xavier and Magneto in Secret Wars!!!" the scooper wrote.
Marvel Studios has not confirmed the report, and neither actor's involvement in Secret Wars has been officially announced. Until Marvel says otherwise, the returns remain unconfirmed.
What is confirmed is that Stewart and McKellen are both back for Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel announced the pair as part of the film's cast in March 2025, alongside fellow X-Men alumni James Marsden, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer.
Stewart has already made one MCU appearance as Xavier, playing a variant of the character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. McKellen's turn in Doomsday marks his first time back as Magneto since X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014.
The pairing stretches back to X-Men in 2000, where Stewart and McKellen first played the former friends turned ideological rivals. Across the original trilogy, the later sequels and their separate MCU appearances, the two actors have defined Xavier and Magneto for a generation of moviegoers.
If the report holds, the two actors would extend their run beyond the film that was expected to close their story. That would run against the prevailing assumption that Doomsday ends the road for most of the Fox-era X-Men cast, with Marvel clearing the way for its own rebooted mutant team afterward.
Kevin Feige has said Secret Wars will reset the MCU and introduce a new age of mutants and of the X-Men, with a recast team to follow. Stewart and McKellen returning for the finale would give the original Professor X and Magneto one last shared chapter before that handover.
Neither actor has sounded ready to walk away from the roles. Stewart has said he has no intention of officially retiring from acting, while McKellen has teased that Magneto "destroyed New Jersey" during his Doomsday work.
Several other Doomsday cast members have already confirmed they will be back for Secret Wars, so the finale's roster continues to grow. Filming on Secret Wars is expected to begin in late 2026, with Anthony and Joe Russo directing both films.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars follows on December 17, 2027. Whether Stewart and McKellen are truly part of that finale is something only Marvel can settle.
