SDCC '26: Russo Brothers stay coy on Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Storm & Jean Grey absences from AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY

Avengers: Doomsday tickets are officially on sale everywhere, expanding beyond INFINITY VISION-certified Premium Large Format theaters to standard cinemas nationwide. Tickets can be purchased at Fandango.com/AvengersDoomsday or wherever tickets are sold, and Marvel Studios has debuted a new poster alongside the on-sale news — the latest jolt of momentum for a film that's dominated headlines since its San Diego Comic-Con showcase.

That Hall H presentation was buoyed by costume reveals that included multi-colored Latveria-coded witches, sparking speculation about a possible Wanda Maximoff variant lurking somewhere in the sprawling roster. But when pressed on the film's actual absences — Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Brie Larson's Captain Marvel chief among them — Joe Russo kept things vague in a press-line chat with Entertainment Tonight, offering only: "There are always more surprises."

Olsen herself has been open in the past about wanting Scarlet Witch to come back under different circumstances. Speaking with ScreenRant (quote obtained via Variety) in 2023, not long after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness left the character going into the Darkhold to prevent anyone else from using the Book of the Damned in the way that she did, Olsen said of a potential comeback: "We can do anything with her now!" 

She added that she saw room for the character to explore "a lot more humor" and, ideally, some form of redemption. 

Given the MCU's multiverse mechanics — the same loophole letting Hugh Jackman's Wolverine return in Deadpool & Wolverine despite dying in Logan — a Scarlet Witch variant remains very much on the table regardless of her "official" MCU fate. Even Kevin Feige said in 2022 that he'd keep working with Olsen indefinitely, noting Wanda's comics history is still largely untapped — although between Agatha All Along, VisionQuest, and Doomsday, all the cards are now on the table to bring Wanda back into the fold via a storyline inspired right out of the Marvel Comics storyline, Children's Crusade.

Photo Credit: Marvel Comics

The line of questioning directed at the Russos at SDCC 2026 extended to the film's deep X-Men connections. With so much of the original cast returning for Doomsday, reporters wanted to know whether Halle Berry's Storm and Famke Janssen's Jean Grey (or even Sadie Sink's interpretation of the character), both of whom have said in the past they weren't approached, might still factor into the story. Anthony Russo didn't confirm anything, but didn't dismiss it either: "We won't answer specifically. But I will say this: the history of the X-Men is really special to us; all of those characters are loved. And we really thought about their history, so they feed into this movie in a very meaningful way."

Then there's Teyonah Parris's Monica Rambeau, sidelined since The Marvels despite waking up in that film's final moments face-to-face with Kelsey Grammer's Beast and a Binary variant — an after-credit scene that supposedly set up the incursions that are rumored to be at the heart of the Doomsday plot. Speaking with Deadline at the convention, Parris sounded resigned rather than hopeful about a Doomsday return: "I miss Monica as much as you guys do... I wish her well, and I'm excited to see what they do next."

Notably, Grammer's Beast is among the enormous cast confirmed for the film, which also includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Wyatt Russell, Channing Tatum, Simu Liu, Ian McKellen, Hayley Atwell, Tom Hiddleston, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, Joseph Quinn, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Letitia Wright, Lewis Pullman, Kathryn Newton, Danny Ramirez, Winston Duke, Alan Cumming, Hannah John-Kamen, Rebecca Romijn, Mabel Cadena, and Tenoch Huerta Mejia. The Russo Bros direct the film, with Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Jonathan Schwartz helming production.

Per Marvel Studios, the film will send "beloved heroes from three distinct universes" hurtling toward "a deadly collision course" against "an existential threat unlike anything they've ever encountered" — plot language vague enough to keep the Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Storm, Jean Grey, and Rambeau speculation alive right up until release.

Avengers: Doomsday opens exclusively in theaters December 18, 2026, and with tickets now available nationwide, it'll be worth watching whether the film can match the critical reception of the Russos' earlier MCU efforts.

Watch the trailer below: