With the 2026 Comic-Con drawing to a close, we’re all still digesting Saturday night’s big Marvel panel news… or what little there was of it, really. Sure, we got a new Ghost Rider movie announcement, to star Ryan Gosling, as well as official confirmation that not only is Black Panther III coming from Ryan Coogler, but it will star Alien: Romulus’ David Jonsson as T’Challa’s now-adult son Toussaint. There were various other bits revealed about Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, yes, but not only did the one big announcement that many fans were hoping for never come, we really shouldn’t have even expected it in the first place: Yes, the X-Men big-screen reboot went unmentioned.
Now, we know this film is in development at Marvel, even if the studio hasn’t formally announced it yet. Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier is reportedly on board to bring a whole new take on the Merry Mutants into the MCU, apparently once The Multiverse Saga comes to a close with Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. The thing is, Marvel boss Kevin Feige and his team have plenty on their minds right now, and starting up promotion on a movie that isn’t even in production yet is far from a priority.
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They Already Have X-Men!
Look, the idea of a brand-new, MCU-specific team of mutants is of course exciting, but the fact is that once Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, and hence the rights to the X-Men film series that debuted back in 2000, Marvel Studios has begun integrating those fan-favorite takes on the characters into the MCU. There was Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast in The Marvels, and more recently, a variety of OG X-Men (and their Brotherhood of Mutants frenemies) popping up in trailers for Avengers: Doomsday.
Indeed, a bunch of the actors who play those characters were on stage for the Doomsday portion of the MCU panel on Saturday, including Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), and Grammer. How awkward would it be to promote a new team of X-Men while the old team is standing onstage? (I guess ask Letitia Wright, who may or may not have had problems with Marvel during production of Black Panther 2, but either way is now being replaced as the bearer of that mantle.)
Fans love the Fox X-Men, and the very nature of the multiversal Doomsday and Secret Wars is the perfect way to bring them fully into the fold. They’ve still got some time in the spotlight left… before Marvel presumably wipes out their very existence, that is!
The Sadie Sink/Jean Grey/Spider-Man: Brand New Day Situation
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out this coming Friday, and everyone and his mutie brother believes that actress Sadie Sink will be playing one of the most famous X-Men of them all: Jean Grey. The way Marvel/Sony have hidden who the character is up until this point, plus the fact that she seems to have mind powers (based on the trailers) and she’s got, you know, red hair, all certainly could be clues that the Stranger Things star is going to be the first of the rebooted X-Men who we meet.
I’m personally still not convinced that it’s Jean Grey in Brand New Day. And I’ve certainly been wrong before! But the idea that Feige would introduce the new X-Men in a co-production with Sony just seems off.
Let’s say Sink is in fact playing Jean Grey. Then you could see how that would put Feige in a bind in terms of maintaining a huge secret.
But let’s say that Sink is in fact playing Jean, aka Marvel Girl/Phoenix. Then you could see how that would put Feige and his people in a bit of a bind in terms of maintaining what would be designed to be a huge spoiler – and without a doubt is something they’ve gone out of their way to keep secret this long. To then take the stage six days before the film opens and announce a new X-Men team – which will presumably include Jean – would undo all of that hard work.
Feige Needs to Focus on Avengers: Doomsday Right Now
Right now, Feige is focused on promoting Doomsday, which is just five months away and, frankly, designed to be a rejuvenation of the sagging MCU. Spider-Man is basically out of his hands at this point (and also is mainly Sony’s problem on the marketing side).
It’s no secret that the MCU has taken a tumble since Avengers: Endgame. The loss of its biggest draws – Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow – plus the oversaturation of MCU movies and, in particular, television series on Disney+ has led to the general sense in the zeitgeist that Marvel’s best days are behind it. Feige is a sharp dude – he basically created the MCU and reshaped Hollywood in the process – so you can be sure that he’s very aware of how big the stakes are for Avengers: Doomsday.
And so he needs to make sure this mega-movie, which seemingly stars almost every Marvel character ever put on screen, is a hit. That’s why he loaded the stage in Hall H with Avengers and X-Men and Fantastic Four members and more. He’ll get to his new X-Men a couple of Comic-Cons down the line, but right now he has to prioritize.
But what do you think? Should they have announced the new X-Men at Comic-Con 2026? Vote in our poll and let’s discuss in the comments!
Talk to Scott Collura @scottcollura.bsky.social, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!
