Robert Downey Jr. and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast Shout Out the ‘New Avengers’ After ‘Thunderbolts’ Screening

The “Old Avengers” — Robert Downey Jr., Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie and more stars from “Avengers: Doomsday” saluted the cast of “Thunderbolts” as the “New Avengers.”

Downey, who played Tony Stark up through 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” shared photos to Instagram of himself with several Phase Three MCU regulars after a screening of the new movie, which stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Sebastian Stan as a ragtag team of antiheroes who (mostly) don’t have the same superpowers as the original Avengers.

“Dinner and a show with the Old Avengers. So cool, fresh, and deep. Big congrats,” wrote Downey, who is returning to the MCU to play a different character, Doctor Doom, in “Avengers: Doomsday.”

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Other actors in the photos include Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Thing in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”), Channing Tatum (Gambit), Anthony Mackie (formerly the Falcon and now Captain America), and Winston Duke (M’Baku in the “Black Panther” films).

“Thunderbolts” also sees the return of Sebastian Stan, who is, technically, not a “new” Avenger as he’s played Bucky Barnes in the MCU since 2011.

Jeremy Renner, who is not in the picture — and isn’t among the announced cast of “Doomsday” — commented with four “clapping hands” emojis. Fans responded by offering to pay the “other half’ of his salary to return to his role as Hawkeye.

(That of course being a reference to the actor’s explanation on Thursday that he turned down a second season of the Disney+ series of the same name over a disagreement in pay.

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