Marvel’s New Official MCU X-Men Movie Update Is Perfect For The Mutants

Marvel continues to work on its first X-Men movie in the same year that the mutants are set to join the MCU, and the project’s latest update should be music to the fans’ ears. 2026 is one of the biggest years in the MCU’s long history. Not only does it mark the return of the Spider-Man and Avengers franchises, but Fox’s X-Men join the fun.

James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and more actors from Fox’s X-Men franchise are confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, with those three wearing comics-accurate suits in the X-Men teaser for the upcoming MCU movie. However, when it comes to the MCU’s X-Men movie, the shared universe should start anew, casting different stars as Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, and more mutants.

One of those could be Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, given that the Stranger Things star is rumored to play the Marvel hero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. What is known for certain regarding the MCU X-Men movie is that it will be directed by Jake Schreier. Marvel fans know him for 2025’s Thunderbolts*, which has a near-perfect 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It was previously reported that while Schreier would helm the movie, the MCU X-Men reboot’s script would be penned by The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes writer Michael Lesslie. Now, a new Marvel update from Schreier himself has confirmed that the script for the X-Men movie is being rewritten, but fans should not worry about who is doing it.

Marvel’s X-Men Movie Is Getting A Rewrite From A Dream Team

Speaking to Collider, MCU X-Men director Jake Schreier revealed that Netflix thriller series Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and writer Joanna Calo are the ones rewriting the movie’s script. Aside from working with Schreier on the Netflix hit series, both of them also came in for rewrites on Thunderbolts*. The duo’s work history with Schreier is noteworthy for X-Men fans.

Beef is one of Netflix’s highest-rated series, standing at a near-perfect 98% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a high 87% audience score. The thriller series starred Steven Yeun, Marvel’s original choice for Sentry in Thunderbolts*, in season 1. Thunderbolts*, the trio’s second collaboration, boasts a stellar 88% critics’ score in addition to its aforementioned positive audience reception.

Why Marvel’s Thunderbolts* Team Taking On The X-Men Is Perfect

Thunderbolts* is easily one of the MCU’s best movies. While it might not have one of the franchise’s highest box offices, standing at $382.4 million, the film was the kind of darker, more mature type of superhero release that fans had been asking for from the MCU for some time. Timely themes like depression, suicide, mental health, and more were aptly tackled by the film.

Thunderbolts* is one of the MCU’s most emotionally resonant movies, taking on complex topics and using them to make mainstream heroes out of a ragtag group of anti-heroes. That makes the film’s team perfect for the MCU X-Men movie. After all, the mutants all need their time to shine, like the Thunderbolts, and Schreier can perfectly balance them.

Additionally, Thunderbolts* showcased the creative team’s skills to properly tackle the X-Men’s “outcast” image and complex political connections. Out of any MCU team to helm Marvel’s mutants, it makes perfect sense that the studio chose those who had experience with a character-driven narrative that touched on mature topics and made the franchise feel fresh. The MCU X-Men movie is in good hands.

Director

Jake Schreier

Writers

Michael Lesslie