X-Men: "Reboot is a scary word" - Kevin Feige confirms recasting Tony Stark and the X-Men team in Marvel movies after Avengers: Secret Wars

On July 20, 2025, Variety reported on Kevin Feige's plans to recast the mutants in X-Men after the release of Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. He announced at a press conference held on July 18, 2025. Feige also mentioned recasting iconic characters like Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steve Rogers (Captain America), played by Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, respectively, down the line.

The head of Marvel Studios shared that the change will serve as a "reset," as opposed to a "reboot," of the MCU, to return the studio to its pre-2019 glory. He told Variety that the studio's next phase will focus on a "singular timeline," unlike the Multiverse Saga.

"Reboot is a scary word. 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," he said.

Avengers: Secret Wars will conclude the MCU's Multiverse Saga

A poster for the upcoming film Avengers: Secret Wars (Image via Marvel Studios)

Avengers: Secret Wars, sequel to Avengers: Doomsday, was announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022. It will be directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo from a screenplay co-written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely. Kevin Feige, Anthony Russo, and Joe Russo will serve as its producers. The film will hit theaters on December 17, 2027, as its release date was pushed back from May 7, 2027.

The final film of MCU's Phase Six, Avengers: Secret Wars, will go into production in mid-2026. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn will reprise their roles from Fantastic Four: First Steps. In addition, Robert Downey Jr. will mark his second outing as the villainous Doctor Doom / Victor von Doom in the MCU.

Also read: Avengers: Secret Wars and Doomsday get new release dates as Marvel pushes films further ahead

MCU will relaunch the X-Men with a younger cast

An image of the X-Men from the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Marvel's parent company, Walt Disney, purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019, giving the studio the screen rights to popular characters like the X-Men and Daredevil. Soon after the 2019 Comic-Con, Feige confirmed plans to develop the MCU's reboot of X-Men, which will be penned by the screenwriter Michael Lesslie, Variety reported on May 21, 2024.

Additionally, the highly anticipated film will be helmed by Jake Schreier, who recently directed Thunderbolts*, the final film in MCU's Phase Five. Feige shared news about Jake Schreier taking on the directing duties at a press roundtable attended by ComicBook on Sunday, July 20, 2025.

"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....X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie.," he said.

The upcoming film will feature an entirely new roster of younger actors portraying the famous mutants, formerly played by Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), James Marsden (Cyclops), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), etc.

It must be noted that no new cast members have been confirmed yet to play mutants from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. According to the Variety article, Feige mentioned that he decided to go with a younger iteration of the characters to stay true to the source material, the X-Men comics.

"They (comics) 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. That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.”

Stay tuned for more news and updates about Avengers: Secret Wars and other MCU films.

About the author

Deepti is an entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. She comes with more than 6 years of experience in the creative writing field and has written extensively for the entertainment and travel domains.

She holds a degree in Chemistry, but her true interest always lay in the creative field. A passion for reading from a young age fueled her desire to make a career change later in life and take up writing as her profession.

Apart from reading, her hobbies include watching movies, listening to music, and going to the beach. In her free time, she can be found looking up reviews of new and old films to add to her watchlist. She also enjoys watching foreign language films that help expand her knowledge base regarding different cultures around the world.

Asked to describe herself, she would promptly mention that she is a die-hard Swiftie and enjoys nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift songs on loop while writing.

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Edited by Bharath S