Avengers: Doomsday: will Nightcrawler fight Mister Fantastic?

I think Avengers: Doomsday is building toward a fight that pits the X-Men against the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. An interview with Alan Cumming, the returning Nightcrawler actor, all but confirmed that at least part of that fight is coming, because he revealed he was learning a fight scene against Pedro Pascal, who plays Mister Fantastic.

At the time, Marvel Studios had two different X-Men teams in the works. The original X-Men were set to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which was filming scenes with them. Separately, the studio was making headway on a new X-Men movie with a new team, planned to come after Avengers: Secret Wars.

Alan Cumming says he is learning a fight scene against Pedro Pascal for Avengers: Doomsday

We had been hearing from insiders for a while that Doomsday would include an Avengers versus X-Men scene. Then Marvel Studios held its chair reveal and confirmed that some of the original X-Men were indeed returning. Reports from the set said a scene at the X-Mansion was being filmed in which the mansion is under attack. The belief at that point was that Doctor Doom was the one doing the attacking.

Even so, Alan Cumming gave us news that still pointed toward an Avengers versus X-Men scene. In an interview with BuzzFeed UK, he teased that he was learning new stunt choreography for a fight scene, and he revealed that the person he was fighting was Pedro Pascal. To me, that confirms that at some point we're getting a Nightcrawler versus Mister Fantastic fight.

Cumming found the whole thing funny. "23 years ago, I played that superhero. I was kind of old for a superhero even then," he said. As he learned the choreography, he asked, "Who am I fighting with?" and the answer was that he'd be hitting Pedro Pascal "against the head or something."

Visually, I think that's probably a very cool scene. Somebody who can teleport against somebody who can stretch and change shape could be an awesome thing to see, if it's done right, of course. The bigger picture of what Cumming revealed is that the X-Men are going to be fighting the Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic Four will likely meet the Avengers early in Avengers: Doomsday

We know the Fantastic Four end up in the main 616 universe. The Russo brothers and Kevin Feige said the Fantastic Four would be a big part of Avengers: Doomsday, so they had to end up in the same universe as the Avengers. On top of that, and this is a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen Thunderbolts, the post credit scene of that film confirmed the Fantastic Four will arrive in our main universe.

So in the beginning of Doomsday, I expect the Fantastic Four to meet the Avengers. That means not just the Thunderbolts, now the New Avengers, but Sam Wilson's team as well. Insider Alex Perez of The Cosmic Circus has said that Sam Wilson has already established his own Avengers team in the MCU off screen. We probably won't see him assemble them, but we will see his team come together in Doomsday.

When the Fantastic Four arrive and both Avengers teams become aware of them, I'm sure they'll go out to greet the new team and find out whether it's a threat or friendly. I don't think that meeting leads to a fight. When the X-Men interact with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, however, I do believe it will, and there's a specific reason I think that fight gets started: Doctor Doom.

Doctor Doom's attack on the X-Mansion could start the Avengers vs X-Men fight

Insiders said the scene being filmed showed the X-Mansion under attack. We've also seen leaked photos of a set with a bunch of craters on the ground, and we're not 100% sure what that's for yet. It could be that a ship from our universe travels to theirs, gets destroyed and hits the ground, leaving debris. Or it could be from an attack by Doctor Doom.

Either way, what we seem to know is that there's supposed to be a Doom versus Magneto scene, and essentially Doom and his followers against the X-Men. We also know the X-Men eventually end up in the same universe as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Put those together, and things start to add up to an Avengers and Fantastic Four versus X-Men scene.

We've heard Doom will have his own team made up of variants from different teams, and that it will most likely include some Avengers. For example, we've heard Chris Evans is returning as Captain America, and he's probably also playing a Captain Hydra variant. We've also heard Scarlett Johansson is returning as Black Widow, and she could be playing a variant of herself who is with Doom.

So imagine Doom attacks the X-Mansion with his so-called Avengers team. The X-Men then have to flee their universe because it's about to be destroyed for whatever reason, and they arrive in our main 616 universe. If they run into another Avengers team there, they're probably going to see it as hostile, since they just got attacked by an Avengers team. That in turn makes the X-Men look hostile to the Avengers, so both sides see the other as a big threat.

The Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four could end up in a three-way brawl

Keep in mind that by this point the Fantastic Four will most likely be established as allies of the Avengers, though that's not confirmed. They could also be seen as hostile, and the X-Men could arrive at the same time as the Fantastic Four. In that case, we might not get the Avengers and the Fantastic Four against the X-Men, but the Avengers versus the X-Men versus the Fantastic Four in an all-out brawl.

I still don't think the Avengers will see the Fantastic Four as hostile, and I think the Fantastic Four will most likely decide the Avengers are good too. That's especially true because Reed Richards knows so much about multiversal travel and can explain everything that happened to them. The X-Men, having just been attacked by a version of the Avengers, are the ones most likely to treat a new Avengers team in a new universe as a threat. This is speculation and not confirmed, but my guess is that the X-Men go up against both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

The first Avengers movie offers a template for how the X-Men fight might end

I see this scene playing out like the moment in the first Avengers movie when Iron Man, Thor and Captain America fought each other. That was a fairly brief fight. What we've been told about the Avengers versus X-Men scene in Doomsday is that it will probably be about the length of the scene in that same film where the Avengers fought the Hulk, and that scene wasn't short. It was a decent length.

The reason I point to the Iron Man, Thor and Captain America fight is how it ended. They fought at first, but in the end they calmed down and agreed they were allies, not enemies. I believe the same thing will most likely happen with the Avengers, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, and that they'll ultimately decide Doctor Doom is the villain.

Monica Rambeau, Professor X or Doctor Strange could stop the fight

There are a few ways they could reach that conclusion. One is that the X-Men probably have Monica Rambeau with them. When they come to our universe, Captain Marvel will most likely notice the new ship, and maybe she thinks it holds an answer about where Monica is, which would be right. Monica probably won't come out first. The X-Men's fighters would most likely step out first to assess where they are. After some good fight scenes, though, Monica might look out the ship's window, recognize Captain Marvel as her friend, and realize she's back in her own universe.

The same thing could happen with Professor X. He's probably not first in line to go out and start fighting. Once the fight has gone on for a while, he could come out, read people's minds and realize the Avengers are only fighting because the X-Men were fighting them. He could also realize that nobody on this side knows who Doctor Doom is.

Another option is that Doctor Strange shows up and explains what's going on. He could tell the X-Men they were attacked by Doom and people claiming to be some sort of Avengers team, but that the team in front of them is different and on their side, and that everyone has to work together to stop Doom. That sets things up so everybody has a reason to fight at first, but a bigger reason to come together, and I believe that's where we'll most likely get some backstory about Doctor Doom.

Whichever way it resolves, Alan Cumming essentially confirmed in that interview that the fight is happening. He is fighting Mister Fantastic, and apparently he's going to hit him on the head. I look forward to that fight scene in Avengers: Doomsday, and to me it's all but confirmed.