Jake Schreier Confirms He’s Begun Work on ‘X-Men’ After Lessons from ‘Thunderbolts*’

Marvel fans have been waiting for years to see the X-Men finally join the MCU, and now things are starting to move forward.

Back in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige promised that mutants would show up one day, but he also made it clear that Marvel’s version of the X-Men would be very different from the Fox films that came before.

According to Empire, director Jake Schreier has now confirmed that work on the MCU’s X-Men has officially begun.

Schreier, who just directed Marvel’s upcoming movie Thunderbolts*, said, “I can’t say anything about it, but we’ve started work on X-Men, and that’s obviously very, very exciting.”

Marvel first began meeting with writers in 2023 to map out the story, and by 2024, Michael Lesslie was brought on board to write the script. Schreier was announced as director soon after, following strong reactions to his work on Thunderbolts*.

Schreier explained that working on Thunderbolts* gave him valuable experience that he’ll carry into X-Men, especially when it comes to balancing action with character-driven storytelling.

“There are so many things that I didn’t know about before I started [Thunderbolts],”* he said. “The biggest learning curve for me was the proportion of the action to the more emotional, character-driven scenes. By the time we got to the end of it, it felt like, ‘Oh, now I feel like we get how to do this a little bit better.’”

He also shared how surreal it felt to direct massive Marvel set-pieces. “Look, who gets to do that? [On Thunderbolts*] we’re in the middle of nowhere in Utah, in a gorgeous location, owning a road, and filming in 100-degree heat, or finding yourself on the second-tallest building in the world. These are very special experiences.”

Casting for the new X-Men movie is expected to begin soon. Reports suggest Marvel is interested in younger, lesser-known actors rather than established stars, partly to keep costs down and also to build a long-term future for the franchise.

Marvel has already locked in a July 23, 2027 release date for one of its upcoming movies, but according to sources, that slot will not be for X-Men. Marvel has not commented further on when the mutants will officially arrive.

What’s clear is that Schreier is excited to dive in, and fans are eager to see how the X-Men will reshape the MCU when they finally make their long-awaited debut.

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