Marvel Will Recast the X-Men and ‘Reset’ the MCU After Avengers: Secret Wars, Says Kevin Feige

Although Hugh Jackman returned for Deadpool & Wolverine and several of the original cast members of the X-Men franchise will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a recent interview that the studio plans to recast the X-Men characters when the superhero team gets its own MCU movie.

In conversations with several trade publications, including Variety, Feige pointed to the Secret Wars comics from 2015 as the studio’s inspiration for a “reset” of the MCU.

“We’re utilizing that [story] not just to round out the stories we’ve been telling post-Endgame, just as importantly — and you can look at the Secret Wars comics for where that takes you — it very, very much sets us up for the future,” Feige said.

“Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about is about beginnings.”

Feige clarified that the MCU’s first X-Men movie, to be directed by Thunderbolts’ Jake Schreier, will be a “reset,” not a “reboot” of the MCU.

“Reboot is a scary word,” Feige said. “Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines. … X-Men is where that will happen next.”

The X-Men movie will recast the iconic mutants and return the franchise’s focus to being on the young mutants attending Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

“They have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different and who feel Other and who feel like they don’t belong,” Feige said. “That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.”

Which actors would you like to see play the X-Men in the new film? Tell us in the comments.

For more MCU coverage, catch up on the state of the MCU leading into Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday, and find out who will lead the Avengers in Doomsday.