After 17 years of being absent from the MCU"s team, I need Avengers: Doomsday to make an original Marvel Comics Avenger part of the story. The story of Avengers: Doomsday is currently in development, with the returning directing team of the Russo Brothers filming the project in the U.K. This comes only a few weeks after the surprise announcement of Avengers: Doomsday"s cast list, which included MCU characters like Sam Wilson and Thor, the Thunderbolts team, The Fantastic Four, and even the heroes of the Fox X-Men franchise.
Evidently, the Marvel movies of 2025 - Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps - will be vastly important to Avengers: Doomsday. How the film will balance its endless cast members remains to be seen, but there is one I feel is still missing from the overall story. Since the Marvel movies of the MCU began 17 years ago, an original Avenger from the source material has never been included on the team, and I feel as though Avengers: Doomsday needs to rectify this.
Wasp Was An Original Avenger In Marvel Comics, But Not In The MCU The Wasp Has Been Underutilized In The MCU Close The character in question is Wasp. In the original stories, Wasp was one of the earliest major characters in the 1960s era of Marvel Comics, alongside her husband, Ant-Man. Although the MCU has included Ant-Man and the Wasp in its movies, they have focused on Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne as opposed to the comics" Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. The latter two are part of the MCU"s Ant-Man movies also, but it is the former two who possess the bigger storylines within the live-action franchise.
The five heroes - Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk - agreed to stick together as a team, with Wasp herself coming up with the name, The Avengers...
This marks a big difference from Marvel Comics, with Hank and Janet being two of the founding members of The Avengers. In the comics, Ant-Man and the Wasp once teamed up with Iron Man and Thor to stop a rampaging Hulk who was tricked by Loki. After doing so, the five heroes - Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk - agreed to stick together as a team, with Wasp herself coming up with the name, The Avengers.
Hulk was shortly replaced on the team by Captain America, with the latter since being dubbed a founding member of The Avengers too.
In the MCU, this was not the case. The live-action version of the team was founded by the six characters of 2012"s The Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. This means that arguably the two most important members regarding The Avengers" foundation in Marvel Comics were not part of the MCU origin of the team, with Wasp being continually absent 17 years later.
The MCU's Avengers Sequels Did Not Make Wasp A Proper Member Of The Team Like They Did With Ant-Man Wasp Did Not Follow In Ant-Man's Footsteps Despite Ant-Man and Wasp not being original Avengers in the MCU, many felt that future movies would rectify this by at least making them team members. Where Ant-Man is concerned, this has proven to be the case. Ant-Man was introduced to the MCU in the 2015 movie of the same name, later being introduced to Sam Wilson/Falcon and becoming an ally of Captain America in 2016"s Captain America: Civil War. In 2019"s Avengers: Endgame, Ant-Man"s impressive power feats proved integral to reversing Thanos" snap, proving himself to be a true member of the MCU team.
Related Ant-Man's Complete MCU Timeline Ant-Man went from unappreciated hero to a worldwide celebrity, & the road to that wasn"t easy at all. Here"s how much Ant-Man has changed in the MCU.
Posts Unfortunately, Wasp was not inducted into The Avengers as Ant-Man was. In fact, Hope Van Dyne did not even officially become Wasp until 2018"s Ant-Man and the Wasp. This meant that the character was not involved in Avengers: Age of Ultron or Avengers: Infinity War, with even her appearance in Avengers: Endgame being limited and included as a matter of circumstance, unlike Ant-Man, who was vital to the story. This means that, 17 years after the MCU began, Wasp - an original Avenger from Marvel Comics - is yet to be officially made part of the live-action team.
Thunderbolts* & Avengers: Doomsday Make Wasp's Avengers Absence Even Worse Wasp's Future Is Uncertain Close Even going into such a massive era where upcoming Marvel movies are concerned, Wasp"s Avengers absence is being made worse. 2026 will see the release of the aforementioned Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to include a massive cast of Marvel heroes. This was confirmed in March 2025, yet Wasp actor Evangeline Lilly was not part of the extensive list of names confirmed to appear in the film. An actor who was included, however, was Paul Rudd, meaning Ant-Man will once again return as a member of The Avengers without Wasp.
Actor
Character
Franchise
Last Seen
Chris Hemsworth
Thor
Thor
Thor: Love & Thunder (2022)
Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
The Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Anthony Mackie
Sam Wilson/Captain America
Captain America
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Sebastian Stan
Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier
Captain America, Thunderbolts*
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Letitia Wright
Shuri/Black Panther
Black Panther
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Paul Rudd
Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Wyatt Russell
John Walker/US Agent
Captain America, Thunderbolts*
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
Tenoch Huerta Mejia
Namor
Black Panther
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ben Grimm/The Thing
The Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Simu Liu
Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Florence Pugh
Yelena Belova/Black Widow
Black Widow, Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Kelsey Grammer
Hank McCoy/Beast
X-Men
The Marvels (2023)
Lewis Pullman
Bob (rumored to be Sentry)
Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Danny Ramirez
Joaquin Torres/Falcon
Captain America
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Joseph Quinn
Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
The Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
David Harbour
Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Winston Duke
M"Baku
Black Panther
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Hannah John-Kamen
Ava Starr/Ghost
Ant-Man, Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Tom Hiddleston
Loki
Thor
Loki season 2 (2023)
Patrick Stewart
Charles Xavier/Professor X
X-Men
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Ian McKellen
Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
X-Men
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Alan Cumming
Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
X-Men
X2 (2003)
Rebecca Romijn
Raven Darkhölme/Mystique
X-Men
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
James Marsden
Scott Summers/Cyclops
X-Men
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Channing Tatum
Remy LeBeau/Gambit
X-Men
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Pedro Pascal
Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic
The Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Robert Downey Jr.
Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom
Avengers
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Interestingly, another 2025 Marvel movie made Wasp"s absence all the more baffling. In the post-credit scene of Thunderbolts*, the titular team was made into The New Avengers, who were also confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. One of the characters involved was Ghost, the villain of 2018"s Ant-Man and the Wasp. After these developments, it now means that two of the three main characters of that film are part of the future iteration of The Avengers in some way, one a former villain, while the third, who is a founding member of the team in the comics, is still absent.
I Need Avengers: Doomsday To Finally Give Wasp Her MCU Spotlight Wasp Deserves A Chance To Shine With all that being said, I am still holding out hope that Avengers: Doomsday gives Wasp her chance to shine in the MCU as a true member of The Avengers. The original plan for the fifth Avengers movie tied directly to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, Jonathan Majors" assault charges meant that Marvel Studios changed direction in favor of Doctor Doom and Avengers: Doomsday. Had the initial plan taken place, Evangeline Lilly likely would have had a big role due to her ties to Kang the Conqueror"s storyline and the fact that Ant-Man 3"s writer, Jeff Loveness, was writing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Evangeline Lilly announced that she was stepping back from acting in 2024, but also stated that she would be open to a return at some point in the future.
With all that being said, it seems only fitting that Wasp continues to be a big part of The Avengers" future, despite the move away from the Kang storyline. Marvel Studios" president, Kevin Feige, confirmed that more actors will be announced as part of Avengers: Doomsday. Hopefully, Lilly is one such actor, allowing Wasp to be more integral to an Avengers story than she has been in the MCU thus far.
That said, even if Lilly does not wish to return, the multiversal story of Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, allows the MCU to give Wasp her due in other ways. For instance, the expected exploration of other universes across the MCU multiverse could even include a version of Wasp as a leader of The Avengers. Beyond that, a multiversal variant of the hero could become integral in the fight against Doom, finally allowing an original Marvel Comics Avenger to play a big role in the team"s live-action battles.
Like Follow Followed Avengers: Doomsday Superhero Adventure Action Sci-Fi Release Date May 1, 2026 Director Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writers Stephen McFeely, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee Cast See All Chris Hemsworth Thor Vanessa Kirby Sue Storm / Invisible Woman Joseph Quinn Johnny Storm / Human Torch Ebon Moss-Bachrach Ben Grimm / The Thing
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