Chris Hemsworth joins star-studded cast of Avengers: Doomsday

Chris Hemsworth's Thor is returning to the big screen in Avengers: Doomsday.

Anthony Mackie's Captain America, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and Tom Hiddleston's Loki are also returning to the Avengers cast, where they are set to be joined by several of cinema's original X-Men.

The five veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are on the list of 27 big names announced for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which Marvel announced in a series of videos rolled out overnight.

Patrick Stewart, who played Professor X in Fox's early-2000s X-Men films, and 85-year-old Ian McKellen, who played his arch-nemesis Magneto, are also in the Doomsday cast.

Kelsey Grammer, who played Hank 'Beast' McCoy, was also announced, as was Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, James Marsden as Cyclops and Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler.

Some of the MCU's biggest and most anticipated names were not, however, among those announced.

There was no mention of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine nor Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool, although the announcement did include Channing Tatum, who played the X-Men's Gambit in last year's Deadpool & Wolverine.

Chris Evans was absent from the cast list, and Tom Holland's name did not appear either.

It remains to be seen whether Marvel and Disney are sitting on the news for now.