Famke Janssen mentioned throughout a latest look at Spacecon 2026 (through Popverse), that Marvel “made a mistake” by not bringing her again as Jean Gray for December’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“I am so bad at keeping secrets that I always say to everyone I’m the worst actor in the world. It’s all on my face. You right away will read it,” Janssen mentioned. “I think they made a mistake, but hey, who am I? I’m just a little me who thinks that.”
Janssen first appeared because the telepath Jean Gray, aka Phoenix, in 2000’s “X-Men,” after which reprised the position for 2003’s “X2: X-Men United” and 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” She additionally briefly appeared as Gray in 2013’s “The Wolverine” and 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
Janssen’s absence from “Doomsday” is notable, contemplating Marvel is bringing again lots of her “X-Men” co-stars for the movie. Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler) and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique) are all set to return.
In an October 2025 interview with Leisure Weekly, Janssen mentioned in each interview she does, she’s requested about the way forward for Jean Gray within the MCU.
“It’s interesting,” Janssen said. “I didn’t realize that was such a big part. Every interview I do, that will come up, and of everything I say, that is going to be the only thing that’s gonna be printed.”
“I should be flattered, I suppose, that this character has resonated with people,” she added. “It’s been so long, but it’s nice that people are still talking about her. I’m sure every single time there’s a new movie that they’re doing, like [is it] ‘Doomsday?’ … it’ll come up again.”
