The Dr. Doom actor “nerded out” over Kelsey Grammer and Rebecca Romijn returning as Beast and Mystique, respectively.

Robert Downey Jr. says OG X-Men ‘lit up this constellation of excitement’ on *Doomsday *set (exclusive)

The Dr. Doom actor “nerded out” over Kelsey Grammer and Rebecca Romijn returning as Beast and Mystique, respectively.

By Mike Miller

Mike Miller

Mike Miller is the executive editor on the movies team at . He previously worked as a writer-reporter for PEOPLE and TMZ.

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July 26, 2026 12:08 p.m. ET

Robert Downey Jr.; Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in ‘X2’. Credit:

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Moviestore/Shutterstock

- Robert Downey Jr. says original X-Men stars Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer injected excitement into the *Avengers: Doomsday *set.

- “I have to say, we nerded out,” the Dr. Doom actor said of their return to the MCU.

- The trio of Marvel actors sat down with EW for a post-Hall H interview at Comic-Con on Saturday.

Even Dr. Doom is stoked about the return of the original X-Men.

The *Avengers: Doomsday** *cast sat down with * *for a post-Hall H interview at Comic-Con on Saturday, where former Iron Man and now-Doom star Robert Downey Jr. raved about OG mutants Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer joining the cast of the upcoming film.

“It was a big moment, you and Kelsey being back,” Downey Jr. told the actors, who played Mystique and Beast in the first X-Men trilogy.

Rebecca Romijn in ‘X-Men: Last Stand’.

Kerry Hayes/Fox

“I have to say, we nerded out,” he added, referring to his other costars in the room: Lewis Pullman (Sentry), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Letitia Wright (Shuri), and Pedro Pascal (Mister Fantastic).

While the *Iron Man *star declined to reveal any details about the pair’s role in the top-secret plot, he said their presence on set “lit up this constellation of excitement,” adding, “It’s just incredible.”

Both Romijn and Grammer’s last substantial appearances as Mystique and Beast came 20 years ago, in 2006’s *X-Men: The Last Stand,* the final film in the original X-Men trilogy, which also included 2000’s *X-Men *and 2003’s *X2*. Romijn later had a brief cameo in 2011’s *X-Men: First Class*, and Grammer appeared in a post-credits scene in 2023’s* The Marvels*.

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Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence took over the roles in four newer X-Men films, which followed younger versions of the mutant superheroes, *X-Men: First Class* (2011), *X-Men: Days of Future Past* (2014),* X-Men: Apocalypse *(2016), and *Dark Phoenix* (2019).

Neither Hoult nor Lawrence are slated to reprise the roles in *Doomsday*, which instead sees the return of other original X-Men stars, including Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, James Marsden as Scott Summers/Cyclops, and Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler.

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Asked how it felt returning to Beast, the blue-furred, ape-like mutant with a genius-level intellect, after all these years, Grammer told EW, “I love the character. I have this sense of this kind of nobility about him that he carries himself with, a deep respect for all life.”

Kelsey Grammer as Beast in ‘X-Men: Last Stand’. Fox

The *Frasier *star added, “I mean, honestly, I think that’s what we’re all here for, and it’s extraordinary that these characters have taken on a role in our society that actually reflects the same thing. It’s just this goodwill. The hope that actually there is goodness in all of us and that good still triumphs.”

Romijn, meanwhile, said she was relieved that she didn’t have to spend as much time in the makeup chair to become the blue-skinned shapeshifter this time around. “Apparently, they were no longer interested in waiting for actors to be processed, so it was much faster,” she said.

Still, all those hours spent transforming into Mystique for the original trilogy did have at least one benefit. “The original transformation that I went through for those first three X-Men movies was really imperative to that character for me: It really put me in just the right headspace to play [a character] as angry as Mystique,” she joked.

*Avengers: Doomsday *hits theaters Dec. 18, 2026.

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