Kevin Feige Hints Original X-Men Stars Could Return to the MCU Even After ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’

Marvel’s plans for its rebooted ‘X-Men‘ have been a major talking point ever since Kevin Feige confirmed the mutants would be recast following 2027’s ‘Avengers: Secret Wars.’ The announcement carried extra weight given how many original cast members, including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, and Kelsey Grammer, are set to reprise their roles one more time in this year’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’

That timing naturally led fans to assume a simple explanation was behind the studio’s decision to move on from the current cast rather than extend their involvement further: expiring contracts. With many of those actors’ deals reportedly tied to 2025, the recasting decision looked, on the surface, like it was driven primarily by paperwork rather than creative vision.

Feige has now pushed back on that assumption directly. Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, he was asked whether those expiring 2025 contracts were the main reason behind recasting the team instead of keeping the current actors involved going forward.

“I don’t even know all the contracts. I mean there are people who are attached for much longer than 2025 and will be a part of them [the upcoming films],” Feige said, indicating that at least some original ‘X-Men’ cast members remain tied to the franchise well beyond their ‘Doomsday’ appearances.

That comment complicates the popular narrative that’s circulated since Feige first announced the recasting plans back in July. During that original conversation with the press, he framed the move less as a response to contract logistics and more as part of a broader creative reset spanning several MCU characters, comparing the situation to Amazon MGM’s ongoing search for a new James Bond and pointing to David Corenswet’s take on Superman as an example of successful reinvention.

Feige has also been clear that the X-Men aren’t the only characters getting this treatment. During that same press conversation, he confirmed that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers will eventually be recast as well, describing the overall approach as a “reset” built around a “singular timeline” rather than a traditional reboot, a word he specifically avoided using.

The planned ‘X-Men’ film, directed by Jake Schreier of ‘Thunderbolts*’ fame, is positioned as the project where that timeline convergence plays out on screen. Reaction from original cast members has been largely positive so far, with Elliot Page and James McAvoy both expressing support for the recasting plans during a New York Comic Con panel, calling the direction fans have speculated about “fantastic.”

Whether Feige’s latest comments mean specific original actors could return in some capacity beyond ‘Doomsday’ remains unclear, since he stopped short of naming names or clarifying which contracts extend further. What is clear is that the clean, contract-driven explanation fans had settled on doesn’t fully capture what’s actually happening behind the scenes at Marvel Studios.

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