Marvel Studios has big plans for the X-Men in Phase 7 and beyond. Having suffered many ups and downs in the Multiverse Saga after the successful Infinity Saga, the MCU will turn over a new leaf for its third saga, which will span Phases 7 to 9 and finally bring the rebooted X-Men to the franchise. Their introduction will come after 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars delivers a "reset" to the MCU, as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige promised IGN, it is "about beginnings."
While the X-Men's true MCU arrival won't come until Phase 7, Marvel Studios has offered a taste of its take on mutants in the Multiverse Saga. Projects such as Deadpool & Wolverine and Avengers: Doomsday have brought back Fox's old guard actors for one last hurrah before the reboot, while X-Men '97 has returned to a fan-favorite adaptation of that mythos, almost three decades later.
Every Upcoming X-Men Movie and TV Series We Currently Know About
Jake Schreier's X-Men Reboot
At the top of everybody's radar as far as the X-Men's future is concerned is Marvel Studios' much-anticipated reboot movie, which ought to arrive in 2028 or later.
Fans are expecting a new, younger cast of X-Men in Phase 7, with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier and The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes writer Michael Lesslie already attached and hard at work on the reboot.
While development is still in the early stages, the X-Men reboot has already revealed seven major details that point toward a very different take on Marvel's mutants from what 20th Century Fox produced for almost two decades.
Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool/X-Men Team-Up
In the wake of Deadpool & Wolverine's $1 billion success story, Marvel Studios is plotting multiple new movies featuring Ryan Reynolds' Merc with a Mouth.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed in May that Reynolds was in the earliest stages of planning a new MCU movie that would unite Deadpool with "three or four members" of the X-Men. It's unclear whether these mutants would come from the MCU's Phase 7 reboot cast, the old Fox universe, or something else altogether.
The Deadpool & Wolverine follow-up is reportedly being planned for the "next saga," but only time will tell if or when it will actually come to fruition.
Disney+'s X-Men '97 Seasons 4 & 5
Disney+'s acclaimed X-Men: The Animated Series revival X-Men '97 will return for Season 2 in Summer 2026, and Marvel Animation head Brad Winderbaum recently confirmed to Colldier that Season 3 is in the works.
Winderbaum revealed that he "saw an episode" of the 2027 season already and, even more excitingly, they are already "talking about Seasons 4 and 5 now." If the show sticks to an annual release schedule going forward, as promised, those next seasons would follow in 2028 and 2029 as part of Phase 7.
As with all Marvel projects that are classified as "in development," it's too soon to tell whether they will actually be greenlit and released. However, the preemptive talks show promising signs of the series' future and a willingness to continue the alternate universe X-Men storyline alongside the live-action reboot.
Marvel Studios Is Likely Hiding More X-Men Movies & Disney+ Shows
Looking to the future, Marvel Studios is bound to integrate more mutant-centric projects into Phase 7 and beyond, undoubtedly including sequels to the X-Men reboot that could build toward the MCU's next two co-big bads.
It's unclear what the future holds for Channing Tatum's Gambit after Avengers: Doomsday, as he could easily be recast alongside the other X-Men. But amid rumors that Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds may stick around into Phase 7, perhaps the Magic Mike star's Gambit solo movie could finally get made.
On that topic, while the core X-Men heroes will likely be contained to the ensemble franchise, there's no reason some mutants couldn't get the solo treatment, whether that be on the big screen or a Disney+ series.
Wolverine already got a solo trilogy under 20th Century Fox that ended with Logan, but with scooper Daniel Richtman stating that Jackman will return in more projects after Avengers: Secret Wars, maybe a fourth movie may not be too far-fetched.
With the adamantium-infused hero reportedly absent from the MCU's X-Men reboot script, at least as of September 2024, Marvel Studios will likely want to find room for Wolverine somewhere in Phase 7, whether that be Jackman or not.
The MCU already put a surprising twist on Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan, as Ms. Marvel abandoned her Inhuman origins and confirmed she is a mutant. There are currently no signs of her Disney+ series returning for Season 2, but she is bound to show up in multiple projects, possibly including a Young Avengers-esque show.
One mutant who probably won't get a chance at the solo spotlight is Tenoch Huerta's Namor, whose film rights are tied up at Universal alongside the Hulk, making him one of nine characters that Marvel Studios can't make solo movies for.
