Patrick Stewart has set a major Marvel record with his casting in Avengers: Doomsday (& here's how it can be broken)

Patrick Stewart is now officially a part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast as Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, after Marvel's hours-long announcement in a livestream yesterday. When he was first approached by Bryan Singer in 1997 for X-Men (2000), he wouldn't have known his journey would be so long that it would bring him to become the longest-serving character in Marvel's film universe.

But he isn't the only one. A few other X-Men are joining him for the next Russo Brothers' film. That isn't likely to be the end, as more characters might come to light—at least, that's what Robert Downey Jr.'s comment suggests. We may see the younger versions of Magneto and Professor X, who are, to say, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.

If they come, they won't be the longest-serving characters in Marvel, so Patrick Stewart is now this record’s holder, right? Wrong. Because that record can be broken easily. Wolverine may end up in Avengers: Doomsday and then in Secret Wars, so there goes the record. But we can say the same for Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn, who are also reprising their roles from the 2000 film.

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Charles Xavier would want to avoid this in Avengers: Doomsday

Professor X gave Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) a visit with fellow X-Men after learning about her survival, vying for her loyalty. But the Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey's alternate godlike personality, emerges, and Charles Xavier is disintegrated by her powers. The end. Well, of the 2006 film.

Then, eleven years later, when Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) of the Sacred Timeline is living his final days in Logan (2017), X-24, a younger variant of him, comes and buries his adamantium claws in Charles Xavier's resting chest. That's the end of the 2017 film.

It seemed like he was gone for good, but then we saw him in a different universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) as part of the Illuminati, a group that thinks the Sacred Timeline's Doctor Strange brings doom with him (ah, no, not Doctor Doom). In it, Scarlet Witch just twists his neck in a dream-like state, and there we go—a killing streak. Just wow.

This is what we are talking about. If the Russo Brothers are bringing him back to reprise his role in Avengers: Doomsday, they better not kill him again. But that brings us to the possibility of him appearing once more, maintaining his longest-serving Marvel character status in films.

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But there's a chance his record can be broken

We must not forget the fact that he is joined by three other cast members in Avengers: Doomsday—Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn—who have an equal chance to break his record if history repeats itself and Professor X somehow finds death on his doorstep in the film.

But that wouldn't be enough, as these characters, if they survive the events of Avengers: Doomsday, need to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars. That would put them one step ahead of Patrick Stewart’s role. Whoever does that becomes Marvel's longest-serving character.

The cast announcement last night is said to be the initial one, and more cast members may arrive in future updates. If that happens, more characters from the 2000s X-Men may challenge this record.

Avengers: Doomsday is set for release on May 1, 2026.