American comic book writer Chris Claremont, the brilliant mind behind the X-Men saga, recently attended a panel at the Huntsville Pop Culture Expo 2025 and dropped a few major spoilers about Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. And if any of this is true, two things are certain: 1. He is getting fired. 2. The MCU is about to become really wild. Here’s the breakdown, straight from the horse’s mouth.
Firstly, according to Claremont, Robert Downey Jr. is set to play more than just Doctor Doom in the two films: “We’ve got Robert Downey Jr. playing evil Iron Man… and then he’s playing two other roles.”
The actor, known for his iconic portrayal of Tony Stark, already caused quite a stir when he announced his return. Just imagine the shock of Downey returning as multiple characters. While Claremont only mentions Doom and “evil Iron Man”, who could the third be?
But that’s not the biggest surprise by far. According to the X-Men writer, Chris Evans will also be returning – in multiple roles too: “Chris Evans is playing Captain America, young Captain America, evil Captain America, and… Captain Hydra or something that Lord Hydra.”
This is shaping up to be a much more complex— and fun —version of the characters we know and love.
But Claremont wasn’t done yet. He dropped a bomb about Elizabeth Olsen’s return as Scarlet Witch: “What’s her face… is coming back as Scarlet Witch—not the Widow, Scarlett, no, not Scarlett Johansson—but Elizabeth.” Yes, the WandaVision star is set to return, and she’s not just playing any version of Scarlet Witch—she’s coming back as a “good Scarlet Witch.”
And it gets even juicier. Claremont confirmed that X-Men favorites are making a comeback, and not in the way you might expect. Famke Janssen will reprise her role as Jean Grey—but this time, she’ll be donning the Phoenix Force once again. “Famke Janssen is coming back but she’s coming back as Phoenix,” says Claremont. Psylocke is also returning, though she won’t be portrayed as an Asian character anymore. “Apparently, Psylocke’s coming back but she’s no longer Asian, still wearing the same outfit,” Claremont revealed. And let’s not forget about Wolverine: “Apparently Wolverine’s going to kill somebody important.” Who? Well, that remains a mystery for now.
As Claremont sums it up, the scale of Secret Wars is beyond anything we’ve seen before: “There are somewhere between 20 and 40 mainstream characters in this film.” That’s a lot of actors, and according to Claremont, there will be plenty of chairs with labels on them for all of them to sit while waiting to be called. “The number of cool chairs with labels on them… will stretch from here to Mississippi.”
In the end, Claremont seems both excited and skeptical about the size and scope of the film. With so many characters and so many storylines, he wonders if it’ll all be worth the wait: “You’ll need three and a half hours in the first movie just to get everybody on stage.”
This isn’t just a scooper shouting out rumours. Chris Claremont isn’t just a nobody. He’s been involved with the X-Men movies for 20th Century Fox and was also involved with writing on the Legion TV show for FX. So, it’s very likely that what he is revealing is true. But if it is, these are huge spoilers that Marvel won’t be happy about.
What do you think of Chris Claremont’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars spoilers? Watch the video below.
