Meet the X-Men Set to Replace the Avengers After Secret Wars

Marvel looks like it’s heading from multiverse chaos to mutant business. If/when the OG Avengers finally take a bow after Avengers: Secret Wars, the X-Men aren’t exactly short on people who can fill those shoes. Not just power-for-power, but the vibe, the role, the leadership — all of it. And if the rumored 2026 mash-up Avengers: Doomsday really does put Avengers and X-Men in the same frame, consider this your pregame scouting report.

The setup

The pitch is simple: as the Multiverse saga winds down, Marvel pivots to a full-blown Mutant Saga. The claim floating around is that Avengers: Doomsday will bring the X-Men into the main MCU fold, with familiar Fox-era faces potentially in the mix. So let’s play the matchup game — who replaces who if the Avengers step back?

If the Avengers step back, here are the X-Men who can slide into their lanes

1. Cyclops as the new Captain America
   Cyclops has always been the X-Men’s field general. Despite what the bald guy in the floating chair suggests, it’s Scott who runs point on the ground. He’s brave, principled, and relentless — the same qualities that make Steve Rogers Steve Rogers. If we ever get an Avengers vs X-Men showdown, Cyclops vs Cap is the main-event leadership clash. (And yes, in the Fox era James Marsden suited up as Scott.)
2. Forge as the Iron Man analog
   Forge is basically a mutant think tank with hands. He’s got a freakishly deep understanding of tech and has even served as a longtime weapons contractor for the US government. His path to the X-Men is tied to his relationship with Storm, but the Tony Stark parallels are obvious: genius-level engineering, gear for days, and a tendency to build his way out of impossible corners.
3. Storm as the Thor stand-in
   Thunder god, meet weather goddess. It’s not complicated: Thor cracks the sky with Mjolnir; Storm cracks the sky because she’s Storm. Halle Berry brought her to life in the Fox films, and she’s rumored to show up in Avengers: Doomsday. Expect lightning. A lot of lightning.
4. Colossus as the Hulk-level bruiser
   Colossus is a steel-skinned wrecking ball who has literally gone toe-to-toe with Juggernaut using nothing but metal fists. In raw smash factor, he sits in Hulk territory. The difference? Colossus (and even Juggernaut) keep their heads. Hulk… does Hulk things.
5. Wolverine as the X-Men’s Hulk
   If we’re talking pure rage engines, Logan is absolutely the team’s Hulk: functionally immortal, fueled by anger, and allergic to giving up. Wolverine and Hulk have brawled and teamed up more than once in the comics, and the MCU’s Deadpool & Wolverine even teased that brutal matchup.
6. Gambit as the Hawkeye-style marksman
   Gambit charges everyday objects with kinetic energy — the playing cards are just for style points. He can turn a staff into a shockwave and absolutely ruin your day from mid-range. That puts him in the Hawkeye lane: give the guy something to throw and he can turn a structure into confetti.
7. Jean Grey as the Captain Marvel counterpart
   Phoenix/Jean Grey and Carol Danvers both operate at 'cosmic glow that can erase a city' levels. They fly, they fling energy like it’s nothing, and when their eyes light up, duck. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) leaned into Jean’s overwhelming power — that movie was even headed for a darker ending at one point — which tracks with Captain Marvel’s 'I am the energy' presence.
8. Beast as the Black Panther mirror
   Yes, he’s a powerhouse. But Beast’s brain, restraint, and statesman vibe line him up more with Black Panther than Hulk. Both are scholar-warriors who move like big cats and can switch from soft-spoken to 'you will not survive this' in a heartbeat — if you’re on the wrong side of things.
9. Mystique as the Black Widow of the mutant world
   Shapeshifter versus master spy is an easy comp. Mystique can look like anyone — President included — and play you into a corner. Black Widow infiltrated a rotten S.H.I.E.L.D. in The Winter Soldier and famously outmaneuvered Loki in The Avengers. Mystique has seduced Wolverine; Natasha extracts secrets for breakfast. The word is that the Fox-era Mystique is set for Avengers: Doomsday too, alongside Professor X, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and more.
10. Shadowcat as the Ghost parallel
    Kitty Pryde phases through anything — walls, floors, whatever — which makes her the clean, surgical version of Juggernaut’s Kool-Aid Man approach. That lines up with Ghost from Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018), played by Hannah John-Kamen. Ghost started as a villain and found her way toward heroics, and she’s part of Marvel’s team-up movie Thunderbolts*, rolling with Bucky Barnes, U.S. Agent, and Sentry — the last of whom is played by Lewis Pullman.

Point is, if Marvel really does swing into a Mutant Saga after Secret Wars, there are more than enough X-Men to cover every lane the Avengers leave open. Who are you drafting first?

Both franchises are streaming on Disney+.