X-Men and Tony Stark will be recast, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige reveals
Following 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars, several key characters in the MCU will be recast, including Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and the full team of X-Men, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced during a Friday press event, Variety reported.
Feige said the company is "utilizing" Secret Wars "not just to round out the stories we've been telling post-Endgame, just as importantly — and you can look at the at the Secret Wars comics for where that takes you — it very, very much sets us up for the future... Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about is about beginnings."
Marvel has slowed the pace of MCU releases from the franchise's point of greatest saturation, the mid-to-late 2010s, in which three, even four films were released per year.
The company released only one film in 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine, and though three are slated for this year — Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, both previously released, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, coming next weekend — there's just one film apiece pegged to 2026 and 2027: Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Secret Wars represents a critical reorienting juncture for the franchise, Feige indicated, but hesitated to call it a reboot.
"'Reboot' is a scary word... Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people," he explained, describing the film instead as a "reset" for the MCU. "Reset, singular timeline — we're thinking along those lines."
"X-Men is where that will happen next," he added.
It's no surprise that Feige is is pegging a "reset" to the X-Men, given the company's years-long effort to buy the characters back from 21st Century Fox, which finally came to fruition in 2019 when Disney, Marvel's parent company, acquired Fox.
In 2024, Feige teased "a new age of mutants and of the X-Men," and this past March, Marvel finally announced that after a smattering of X-Men teases in MCU films — the original films' star Kelsey Grammer appeared as Beast in The Marvels, while Patrick Stewart's Professor X showed up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — Avengers: Doomsday will officially mark the MCU's first full showing of X-Men characters.Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden have all been confirmed to reprise their roles in the MCU. Channing Tatum, who finally brought X-Men fan-favorite character Gambit to the big screen in Deadpool & Wolverine, will also join them.
"There've been more X-Men movies than there were Spidey movies or Fantastic Four movies, so a lot has been done," Feige noted, while speaking at a recent Fantastic Four roundtable, ScreenRant reported. "But again, because it's almost a comic legacy unto itself, there's so much more to tap into it and there's so many sagas within sagas for X-Men."
The last time the X-Men franchise saw a major cast overhaul was for 2011 prequel film X-Men First Class. The new cast included James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, and Nicholas Hoult as Beast. Old then met new in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, in which Hugh Jackman's Wolverine from the original films goes back in time to collaborate with the prequel films' stars, while the film cuts between the two timelines and their different casts, including Halle Berry as Storm, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, among other stars of the original films.
X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016 and Dark Phoenix in 2019 also starred the McAvoy- and Fassbender-led prequels cast, though the later films did not enjoy the same enthusiastic critical reception the first two films featuring the prequel cast did.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
'Fantastic Four: First Steps' proves why the MCU needs to get weirder to shake its post-'End Game' slump
I fell off the MCU hard after "Avengers: Endgame" — and I'm far from the only one. Marvel has struggled to regain its momentum post-Thanos snap, a fact made crystal clear last year when Robert Downey Jr. was announced to rejoin the franchise. Between a convoluted jumble of multiversal plotlines and TV spin-offs, the prominent exit of the MCU's next big bad, and extensive reshoots that left big-ticket sequels like "Captain America: Brave New World" a hot mess, the MCU is facing a reckoning. Don't think that the MCU's stumbling means audiences are any less hungry for superhero flicks. The success of James Gunn's 'Superman' proves there's still a strong appetite for caped crusaders. It's the highest-grossing solo Superman film to date after earning $292.4 million domestically at the box office, overtaking the $291 million total of the 2013 "Man of Steel." The critical success of recent MCU entries like "Thunderbolts" is a promising sign that Marvel may be close to finding its groove again. After seeing "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" in the theaters, I'm confident Marvel can keep this momentum going — but only if it commits to getting weirder from here on out. When it comes to the MCU, weird works. That much was clear even before "Endgame." Taika Waititi's "Thor Ragnarok" was a huge middle finger to the previous Thor movies, steeped in '80s rock opera camp with a comedic bent. It injected new life into one of the most underdeveloped Avengers after his snoozefest of a second film. In that same vein, "Wandavision" is the jewel of the MCU's catalogue of shows on Disney Plus, and it marked a stark departure for the franchise with its mix of sitcom shenanigans, fourth-wall breaking, and horror vibes. I wasn't surprised to learn the show's director, Matt Shakman, is in the director's chair for "First Steps, because both the TV show and the movie share a seriously impressive commitment to a distinct aesthetic. With the Fantastic Four's track record of big-screen adaptations, I wasn't looking forward to this summer's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." Then I saw the trailer, and I was immediately sold on the look, if nothing else. As a huge "Fallout" fan, the retro-futuristic aesthetic instantly caught my attention. Marvel was able to craft such a unique style for "First Steps" because it's set on a new Earth apart from the rest of the MCU, one where the Space Age never came to a close. And that fact shines through in every shot of this strange, colorful retrofuturistic version of Manhattan. It feels straight out of a comic book, a fever dream of mod fashion, Flash-Gordon-inspired rocket ships, flying cars, and midcentury modern pizzazz. It's visually distinct from anything in the MCU we've seen so far, and I sincerely hope it paves the way for even more stylish (and strange) versions of Earth in future MCU outings. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
American Eagle Defends Sydney Sweeney Ad Campaign Amid Controversy: ‘Her Jeans. Her Story… Great Jeans Look Good on Everyone'
American Eagle is standing by its controversial ad campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, which includes various commercials with the tagline: 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.' The campaign creates a pun around 'great genes,' which ignited outrage online over American Eagle glorifying the Emmy nominee's white heritage and thin physique. Some users on social media even compared the ads to 'Nazi propaganda.' 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story,' the company said in a statement posted on social media. 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone. More from Variety JD Vance Urges Democrats Angry Over Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ads to Keep It Up: 'Continue to Tell Everybody' Who Thinks She Is Attractive That They're 'a Nazi' White House Says Liberal Outrage Over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle Jeans Commercial Is 'Moronic' and a 'Big Reason Americans' Voted for Trump Katy O'Brian Says Sydney Sweeney 'Didn't Care' About Getting Hurt During Fight Scenes in Christy Martin Biopic: 'She Was Like, "If You Break My Nose, That's Fine"' Sweeney's American Eagle campaign caused so much chatter online that even Trump's White House weighed in on the backlash, with communications manager Steven Cheung calling the backlash a prime example of 'cancel culture run amok.' 'This warped, moronic and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024,' Cheung added. 'They're tired of this bullshit.' Vice president JD Vance also mocked liberals for creating a hysteria around the American Eagle campaign, saying on an episode of the 'Ruthless' podcast: 'My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.' Vance continued, 'I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems, though, which is that you have, like, a normal all-American beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad, right? They're trying to sell, you know, sell jeans to kids in America and they have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing. And it's like, you guys, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election? I actually thought that one of the lessons [Democrats] might take is we're going to be less crazy. And the lesson they have apparently taken is we're going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful.' Even Stephen Colbert, who frequently speaks out against Trump and the White House, called the backlash against Sweeney and American Eagle overblown 'Now, some people look at [the ads] and they're seeing something sinister, saying that the genes-jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a white blond woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, white supremacy and Nazi propaganda,' Colbert said this week on 'The Late Show.' 'That might be a bit of an overreaction.' Sweeney has yet to publicly comment on the outcry over the advertisements. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Fantastic Four: First Steps' review: Ugh, here we go again
movie review FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Running time: 115 minutes. Rated PG-13 (action/violence and some language). In theaters July 25. Calling 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' the best 'Fantastic Four' movie is not exactly a quote I'd advise Disney to slap on the poster. Talk about grading on a curve. The last three pathetic attempts to put the story of Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing onscreen have made miserable viewers go, 'Global annihilation? Sounds nice.' Not to be deterred, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dragging the raggedy group out of storage for their 37th movie. That figure is unfortunately not a typo. The result? 'First Steps' marks a slight improvement from the preceding trilogy of terror. But Marvel still can't nail what should be one of its premiere attractions. 'Fantastic Four'? Forgettable, 1 ½. The movie begins, appropriately, with a pep in its step. Dropping the heroes in the retro-futuristic NYC that appears to be a technologically advanced 1960s is the right call by director Matt Shakman and his army of screenwriters. There's 'Jetsons' visual panache that sets the film apart from the other, oy, 36. The team's New York lair could be the TWA Hotel at JFK. Also, gold star for racing through the exposition in a newsreel at the beginning — four years ago some astronauts got neat powers in space, yada yada — to avoid the usual origin story portentousness. However, trembling in fear, 'First Steps' can't resist the comic-book urge to contort the mood ASAP to grave, gloomy and un-fun for most of the runtime. The stakes may be stratospherically high, but our serotonin levels are low, low, low. For the supes, Marvel has recruited some super-serious actors. There's Pedro Pascal, who has probably been frowning so much because he's overworked, as stretchy Reed Richards; Vanessa Kirby, making Medea seem like the life of the party, as vanishing Sue Storm; Joseph Quinn, nervously tip-toeing around genuine comedy, as flaming Johnny Storm; and Ebon Moss-Bachrach with a Zen take on rocky Ben Grimm. They're all fine, if oddly joyless for people wearing powder-blue 'Star Trek' uniforms. I can't say I ever want to see them play these parts again. Good thing they've been cast in at least two more MCU films through 2027. The Four face a couple foes. There's the humongous Galactus, who is essentially Megatron from 'Transformers.' And his shiny cowabunga henchwoman, the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner. Whose dumb idea was it to cast Garner, one of the most expressive and electric actors working today, as a slab of metal that speaks in monotone? Fee-fi-ho-hum Galactus is going to gobble up the world. But he offers the Four another option: He'll slow his roll if Reed and Sue hand over their new baby. The doting parents aren't on board with that plan. So, in a scene that lasts — I kid you not — two minutes, they try and fail to teleport the Earth to another part of the universe. In the end, Galactus goes Godzilla and stomps around Manhattan crushing skyscrapers. The Thing, a dude made of rocks, is the closest the movie comes to a fleshed-out person. And only because he cooks pasta and flirts with Natasha Lyonne twice. I'll give 'First Steps' this: It doesn't tie itself in knots making tedious connections to the rest of the MCU. The story is relatively simple, if poorly paced, and the neat aesthetic imagines what an Apple Store would look like during the Kennedy administration. But that's just not enough to prevent Shakman from joining the sorry ranks of filmmakers who couldn't wrap their heads around what the tone of the Fantastic Four should be. Are they funny? Are they grounded? Are they deep? The film is so unbalanced, one wonders if the director and writers donned a blindfold and threw a dart. How dramatic and depressing can a character named Mister Fantastic possibly be? Just you wait. During the climactic battle scene, Galactus torturously stretches Mister Fantastic nearly beyond his limits as Pascal wails an excruciating cry worthy of 'One Life to Live.' I, on the other hand, let out a big laugh. Solve the daily Crossword
