Marvel’s X-Men reboot is still in the early stages, but one big piece of the puzzle is finally starting to come into focus. For all the speculation around casting, team lineups, and how mutants will be folded into the MCU, we don’t actually know a great deal about how they’ll make that leap from the page to the screen — or indeed, from which page. That’s a huge deal with a franchise like X-Men, where different eras carry wildly different tones, themes, and character dynamics. Now, director Jake Schreier has revealed exactly which material he’s been pulling from while shaping Marvel’s new take on the mutants.
Speaking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Schreier revealed he’s been immersing himself in the classic Chris Claremont era of X-Men comics while the film continues to come together. Adding that he would be working with Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear scribe and co-showrunner Joanna Calo on the script, Schreier opened up on the inspirations they’d be leaning on. “They have come in and are working on a draft right now, which is really, really exciting to be able to put that group of people together again,” said Shreier. He told Collider:
“I also think just having the time to kind of sit back, and I’ve just been digging into so many of the old comics and the entire Claremont run, and just going through stuff and really trying to think about what can we do well that feels new and feels different, and that hasn’t been done well before? Obviously, there’s such an incredible cinematic tradition of these comics, but what can we do? And how can we put our own spin on what that is?”
That’s a pretty major reveal, even if Schreier only says it in passing. Claremont’s run is one of the defining stretches in X-Men history, helping turn the team into the emotionally messy, politically charged, soap-operatic powerhouse that fans still love decades later. It’s the era that deepened the lore of characters like Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Magneto, while also pushing the comics into much darker, richer territory.
Collider Exclusive · Marvel Personality Quiz Which MCU Hero Are You? Spider-Man · Daredevil · Iron Man · Punisher · Thor · Cap
Six heroes. One destiny. Answer 10 questions to discover which Marvel Cinematic Universe hero shares your personality, values, and fighting spirit. Will you swing, fly, or thunder your way to glory?
🕷️Spider-Man
😈Daredevil
🤖Iron Man
💀Punisher
⚡Thor
🛡️Cap
01
What drives you to do what’s right? Choose the answer that feels most like you.
02
It’s 2 AM. Where are you? Your answer says more about you than you’d think.
03
How do you handle a villain who keeps escaping justice? Every hero has a method. What’s yours?
04
How do you feel about keeping a secret identity? The mask — or the lack of one — says everything.
05
You’ve lost someone important because of your heroism. How do you carry that? Every hero pays a price. The question is how they pay it.
06
What’s your role when working with a team? Who you are under pressure is who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line between justice and revenge? The answer defines what kind of hero you really are.
08
When you’re not saving the world, what does life look like? The person behind the mask is always the more interesting story.
09
What keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
10
The battle is lost. You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and exhausted. What do you do? This is your tiebreaker — choose carefully.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your MCU Hero Is…
Based on your answers, the Marvel hero who matches your spirit, values, and instincts has been revealed.
Queens, New York
🕷️ Spider-Man
You carry the weight of the world on shoulders that are younger than they should have to be — funny, loyal, and endlessly self-sacrificing.
You do the right thing not because it’s easy, but because no one else will.
You understand that responsibility isn’t a burden you choose — it’s one that finds you.
Whether it’s a neighbourhood mugging or a multiverse crisis, you show up.
Peter Parker’s lesson — that great power demands great responsibility — isn’t a slogan to you. It’s the code you live by, even when it costs you everything.
Hell’s Kitchen, New York
😈 Daredevil
You fight in the shadows between law and chaos, guided by a fierce moral compass that refuses to let the guilty walk free.
You use every tool available — your mind, your body, your faith — to protect those the system overlooks.
You’ve looked into the darkness and chosen not to become it, though the line has never been easy.
Matt Murdock’s duality — champion in the courtroom, devil in the alley — mirrors your own.
Relentless, conflicted, and unwilling to stop. That is exactly you.
Stark Industries, Malibu
🤖 Iron Man
Brilliant, driven, and occasionally insufferable — but always the person who solves the unsolvable problem.
You lead with your mind and back it up with resources, innovation, and a stubbornness that borders on heroic.
You started out looking out for yourself, but somewhere along the way the world became your responsibility.
Tony Stark’s arc — from ego to sacrifice — is your arc too.
You build, you plan, and when the moment comes, you’re willing to give everything. Because in the end, you’re Iron Man.
New York City
💀 The Punisher
You’ve been through fire that would break most people — and it did change you, completely. What’s left is unyielding, relentless, and operating by a code forged in grief.
You don’t ask for forgiveness, and you don’t expect gratitude.
You see a corrupt, broken world and you’ve decided to do something about it, consequences be damned.
Frank Castle’s war is born from love twisted by loss — and so is yours.
Uncompromising and unflinching — the world may not agree with your methods, but your conviction is absolute.
Asgard · Protector of the Nine Realms
⚡ Thor
Powerful, proud, and on a lifelong journey to become worthy of the legend you carry.
You lead with strength but have learned — sometimes painfully — that true greatness comes from humility and growth.
You’re larger than life, yet more vulnerable than you let on.
Thor’s story is one of transformation: from arrogant prince to worthy king, from isolated warrior to beloved protector.
You bring the storm when it’s needed — and the warmth when it matters just as much.
Brooklyn, New York · The Avengers
🛡️ Captain America
You believe in something bigger than yourself — and you fight for it even when the world has moved on and nobody else will.
You don’t bully the small guy, and you never stop when it gets hard.
Steve Rogers didn’t become a hero when he got the serum — he was always one. So were you.
Your strength isn’t in your fists; it’s in your refusal to compromise what’s right, no matter the cost.
In a world full of people taking the easy road, you’re the one who picks up the shield and stands up — every single time.
What Themes Can We Expect From Jake Schreier’s X-Men?
What makes that especially exciting is that Schreier doesn’t sound like he’s looking to simply recreate what came before. His comments make it clear that the goal is to study that material closely, then figure out how to build something that feels fresh rather than overly familiar. That matters because Fox’s X-Men movies have already pulled from some of the franchise’s most famous storylines over the years, which means Marvel’s reboot needs more than a greatest-hits approach if it wants to stand apart. Schreier also expanded on what he feels makes X-Men work in the first place, and why that classic comic material still feels like such a rich foundation. He told Collider:
“When you go back, and you read all of X-Men, and you see how much of it was also, obviously, the ideology is a huge part of what drives the narrative, but also the interpersonal and there’s a soap opera quality to it. When you go back and read those original comics, I think having writers who understand both of those things and how to kind of drive that ideology from more personal risks, if we can get all of those things right, and in a way, that’s the thing that will feel most honest to what X-Men can be.”
That approach makes it clear why the Claremont run is such a fitting reference point. Yes, X-Men has always been about big ideas, prejudice, power, identity, and fear, but it’s also always been about relationships. Rivalries, romances, betrayals, shifting loyalties, and long-simmering emotional fallout are part of what made those comics so addictive in the first place. If Schreier is zeroing in on that balance, Marvel may be aiming for an X-Men movie that focuses more on the characters than fans might expect.
