'Avengers: Doomsday' cast includes Hemsworth's Thor, Mackie's Cap, Fantastic Four and original X-Men

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'Avengers: Doomsday' cast includes Hemsworth's Thor, Mackie's Cap, Fantastic Four and original X-Men

2025-03-27 05:03 Last Updated At：05:10

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and Tom Hiddleston's Loki are all back in the Avengers ensemble, where they'll be joined by several of cinema's original X-Men.

The five veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are in the cast of 2026's “Avengers: Doomsday,” Marvel announced in a series of social media videos that the company rolled out slowly on Wednesday.

Patrick Stewart, 84, who played Professor X in the Fox’s early 2000s “X-Men” films, and 85-year-old Ian McKellen, who played his arch-nemesis Magneto, are also in the “Doomsday” cast as Disney and Marvel seek to take advantage of the acquisition of Fox’s movie library. Kelsey Grammer, who played Hank “Beast” McCoy, was also announced, as was Rebecca “Mystique” Romijn, James “Cyclops” Marsden and Alan “Nightcrawler” Cumming.

Their characters were taken on by younger actors in the 2010s “X-Men” series reboot, and their inclusion is sure to cause serious fan speculation about the direction and timelines of “Avengers: Doomsday.”

The more senior superheroes will be joined by more recent additions, including some who have yet to make their MCU debuts.

Vanessa Kirby, set to play the Invisible Woman Sue Storm in this July's “Fantastic Four: First Steps," is also set for “Avengers: Doomsday.” Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards will join the Avengers too. And they'll be joined in both movies by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who is playing Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch.

Simu Liu, who played the title character in 2021's “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," is also in the newly announced cast, as is Tenoch Huerta Mejía, who played the aquatic antagonist Namor in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the “Black Panther” films, will also be back among the Avengers, as will her “Black Panther” castmate Winston Duke.

Florence Pugh, who will reprise her MCU role as Yelena Belova in the forthcoming “Thunderbolts” will reprise her again in “Doomsday." David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Lewis Pullman will also be in both films.

Danny Ramirez, who has assumed the Marvel mantle of Falcon, is also in the cast.

Some of the biggest and most anticipated names were not among the 27 names announced, though Marvel and Disney could be sitting on them for now.

There was no mention of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine or Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, though the announcement did include Channing Tatum, who played the X-Men's Gambit in last year's “Deadpool & Wolverine."

Nor did the name Tom Holland appear. His Spider-Man became an Avenger in previous films on loan from owner Sony, whose complicated relationship with Marvel has made the character a sticking point.

Robert Downey Jr. revealed last summer that he'll be returning to the MCU to play the villain Doctor Doom in the next set of “Avengers” films.

“Avengers: Doomsday," set for release in May 2026, will be the fifth “Avengers” movie, and the first since 2019's “Avengers Endgame” became one of the highest grossing film of all time.

Marvel has been struggling to recover its cultural buzz and box office mojo ever since, with hopes that the forthcoming ensemble films will bring back the magic that dominated cinema for more than a decade.

Judge homers 3 times as Yanks go deep on Cortes' first 3 pitches and hit 9 HRs vs. Brewers

2025-03-30 06:29 Last Updated At：06:31

NEW YORK (AP) — Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three home runs on the first three pitches.

Aaron Judge followed Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to combine for unprecedented fireworks Saturday, starting one of the most memorable days of Judge's already indelible career.

“It was electric, from the stadium crowd to just the guys in the dugout locked in and fired up,” Judge said after homering three times, including a grand slam, and setting a career high with eight RBIs in the New York Yankees' 20-9 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Major League Baseball said this was the first time a team homered on its first three pitches since tracking of pitch counts began in 1988.

Before the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw Reggie Jackson, who hit three home runs on three pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

“Maybe it was that,” Boone said.

New York hit a team-record nine homers, matching the 1999 Cincinnati Reds against Philadelphia and one shy of the major league mark set by Toronto vs. Baltimore in 1987. The first of the Reds' homers that day was hit by Boone.

Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswald Peraza also homered on the unusually warm 78-degree afternoon.

“Kind of a weird, crazy game,” Boone said.

Five of the homers were off old friend Nestor Cortes, dealt from the Yankees to Brewers in December, including four in the first inning. Cortes left the ballpark without speaking to reporters in what the Brewers said was a miscommunication.

“My heart goes out to him because he’s a great, great, young man, great teammate,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Your heart just hurts for him.”

Wells homered in the first as the Yankees burst ahead 4-0 in the first four-homer first inning in team history. Volpe hit a three-run drive in the second for a 7-3 lead, and Judge's ninth career slam opened a 12-3 margin in the third against Connor Thomas.

Chisholm made it back-to-back long balls, and the Yankees became the first big league team to hit seven homers in the first three innings.

Judge added a two-run homer in the fourth off Thomas, who was making his big league debut.

With a chance to become the 19th player to hit four homers in a game, Judge hit a sixth-inning fly that short-hopped the right-field wall for an RBI double. The two-time AL MVP flied out to deep left in the eighth against former teammate Bauers, an outfielder and first baseman making a mop-up appearance.

“He told me when I was on deck, is he was going to hit me in the shoulder. He didn't want to see a fourth home run,” Judge said, smiling.

He flied out on a 55.3 mph offering.

“Gave him the best curveball I had and he still hit it pretty good,” Bauers said.

Batting leadoff for the first time in his 15-year major league career, Goldschmidt drove a fastball 413 feet into the Brewers’ bullpen in left field. Wells homered starting Thursday's opening win, also atop the lineup for the first time.

Goldschmidt had just gotten back to the dugout when Bellinger sent a fastball into the right-field bleachers.

“I was putting my equipment up and, yeah, I just heard it and looked up and I saw it flying out of there," Goldschmidt said.

Judge had to settle himself.

"Bleacher Creatures are jumping up and down. Kind of got to step out and catch your breath there for a second before you step in the box because it kind of gets the heart rate going a little bit," he said.

His first homer, on a cutter, went 468 feet and appeared to land in left field's second deck.

“It was like just bang! bang! bang!” Bellinger said.

Judge had his 40th multihomer game. While proud, he didn't want to make too much of one win, framing it within last year's World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also noted the Yankees' sloppiness: five errors that led to four unearned runs and caused Max Fried to be removed with a high pitch count after 4 2/3 innings, costing him a chance to win in his Yankees debut.

“We’re on a mission,” Judge said. “A lot of guys are disappointed with what happened last year, myself included, and it starts with and preparing ourself now.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB