Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently met with a small group of press for a wide-ranging conversation about the seven-year plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Variety, one major takeaway from the discussion was that the upcoming Secret Wars film will serve as a “reset” for the MCU, leading to the recasting of longtime actors in the X-Men franchise and, eventually, tentpole characters like Iron Man and Captain America.
The next big movie in the MCU is Avengers: Doomsday, starring longtime Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, currently set for release on December 18th, 2026. It will be followed by the direct sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, on December 17th, 2027.
Doomsday will unite the original X-Men team with the newly-introduced Fantastic Four, Avengers, Wakandans, and New Avengers against Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. This means appearances from actors who starred in the X-Men movies from the 2000s and 2010s, including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, James Marsden, and Kelsey Grammer.
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According to Feige, their involvement in the films is key to setting up the MCU for its next phase. “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,” he said. “Endgame, literally, was about endings. Secret Wars is about is about beginnings.”
Feige then said he wanted to avoid using “reboot” to describe this approach, but preferred thinking of it as a “reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines.” X-Men is a natural place to start, with its focus on adolescent characters at 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,” he explained. “That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.”
Variety reports that Feige went on to hint at other Marvel characters being recast down the line — including original MCU Avengers Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) — by bringing up examples of other film franchises that have done the same thing over several decades.
“Amy Pascal and David Heyman are now searching for a new James Bond,” Feige said, referring to the new Bond producers. “David [Corenswet], the new Superman — he was awesome. That will always be the case.”
He continued, “I think it’s hard for anybody to do that when an actor has done such a great [job in a] role. How are they going to ever replace Sean Connery [as James Bond], right?”
Regarding two other iconic characters, however, Feige was non-committal. When asked about Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman returning as their respective characters from 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, he said, “I think there is more fun to be had with both of those characters, but we’ll see where.”
Regardless, there’s plenty of other turnover for the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the horizon.
Content shared from consequence.net.