Marvel Studios Confirms MCU X-Men Recast, Youth Team Focus & More

Ahead of the MCU's first X-Men movie, fans now know what to expect in terms of casting for the film's core group of characters. Following Deadpool & Wolverine's 2024 release (to huge success for Marvel Studios), fans are now looking ahead to when the MCU's X-Men from Earth-616 will take their place alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes. While this is still at least a couple of years away, updates are teasing part of what the fandom should look out for.

Multiple outlets reported that Marvel Studios will recast the X-Men with new actors for their Marvel Studios debut. The X-Men are in the middle of a resurgence in the MCU, which started as early as 2021's WandaVision. This will fully come to fruition via multiple MCU newcomers in Avengers: Doomsday's cast in 2026. After that film and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, the team will undergo significant changes under the MCU umbrella.

Speaking with Deadline, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige addressed the idea of recasting characters in the MCU after Avengers: Doomsday brings Robert Downey Jr. back to play Doctor Doom. Asked when that may happen, Feige adamantly stated, "X-Men is where that will happen," teasing a number of new stars debuting in the MCU's first X-Men movie.

Elsewhere, in a chat with ComicBook, Feige confirmed Jake Schreier's hire as the director of the X-Men movie after his successful run with 2025's Thunderbolts*. Saying Marvel is "very, very lucky" to have Schreier involved, he also confirmed that the movie's script is currently being written and adjusted:

"It’s official, Jake Schreier is doing 'X-Men' for us, and we're very, very lucky. And we're very, very lucky to have him and very excited to have him. And so we're beginning. It's all starting now. The script's underway." 

Calling Schreier "an incredibly smart guy" and an "incredibly talented filmmaker," Feige heaped praise on him for his work on Thunderbolts*. Later, pointing out how the director "has his pulse on...a younger demographic," Feige noted that as an advantage for him due to the movie being "a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie" as it comes to the MCU:

"Jake's an incredibly smart guy, and he's an incredibly talented filmmaker. We had a great experience with him on 'Thunderbolts*.' And if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions, he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. He’s younger than me for sure, but he's tapped into that in a way that I think was important for 'Thunderbolts*,' much more important for 'X-Men.' Because 'X-Men,' as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie."

However, Feige remained mum about the plot for the X-Men movie, discussing how many stories from the comics have already been adapted into movies:

"More than any of them, right? There have been more X-Men movies than there were Spidey movies or Fantastic Four movies."

With "so many sagas within sagas" to tap into for the mutants, Feige and his team are currently discussing "which saga to grow and build" while introducing the heroes and giving them their due shine.

"So a lot has been done. But again, because it's X-Men, because it's almost a comic legacy unto itself, there’s so much more to tap into it,” he said. “And there [are] so many sagas within sagas for X-Men that that’s part of what we’re talking about now — which saga to grow and build to while doing the most important thing, which is introducing all of these characters and giving them their due in our first film."

Currently, the only X-Men-centric project in the MCU is Deadpool & Wolverine, which brought back Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's heroes along with more than a handful of legacy Marvel stars. Mutants have also made appearances in WandaVision (revealed to be a fake) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Ms. Marvel then confirmed Kamala Khan to be Earth-616's first mutant, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever showed Namor the Sub-Mariner using the word "mutant" to describe himself.

Currently, little is known about the MCU's first X-Men movie, which is now confirmed to be directed by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. Hunger Games writer Michael Lesslie is also set to write the script for the film, which does not have a production or release timeframe as of writing. 

When Will Marvel Reveal Casting for X-Men?

The casting for Marvel Studios' take on the X-Men is one of the hottest topics in the fandom as the franchise moves past the Multiverse Saga. Countless names have already been offered for characters like Wolverine and Professor X. Possibly outside of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, dozens of new faces will be brought into Marvel Studios to bring these iconic heroes to life on the big screen.

Looking to the immediate future, over half a dozen legacy X-Men stars will reprise their roles as mutants in Avengers: Doomsday, potentially doing the same for Avengers: Secret Wars as well. Following those movies, which close out the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios will have the perfect opportunity to introduce Earth-616's mutants for their own new saga.

Due to how far away these characters are from debuting, with so much story left to tell in the MCU's Sacred Timeline before they arrive, predicting their story is just about impossible. Currently, all that might be known is a handful of characters Marvel is expected to put in the spotlight for this movie, which includes Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Charles Xavier.

Whenever these details and more get worked out, anticipation is sure to build to see how these mutants will join the established MCU and what their first theatrical adventure will entail.