Please note: This draft should not be submitted for review or moved to the mainspace until filming has begun, per WP:NFF. The filming start date is currently scheduled for late 2025. Please see the draft for more information.
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In March 2019, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, control of the film rights for the X-Men comic book franchise was transferred to Marvel Studios. Plans to feature the X-Men's mutant race in the MCU were announced in July 2019. By September 2023, Marvel Studios was set to begin meeting with writers for a new X-Men film later that year. Filming is expected to begin in late 2025.
Production
Development
In December 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire 20th Century Fox. At the time, Fox was producing a film franchise based on the Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men, a group of mutant heroes. The film rights for these characters were set to be transferred to Disney's subsidiary Marvel Studios.[1] In September 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed plans to introduce the X-Men into Marvel Studios' shared universe the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), feeling it "only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity".[2] The acquisition was completed in March 2019, and development on further Marvel-based films at Fox was put on hold.[3][4]
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that mutants would eventually be introduced to the MCU in July 2019 after announcing the franchise's Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con.[5] When asked if his use of the term "mutants" meant the MCU would be avoiding the term "X-Men", Feige clarified that he was using the two terms interchangeably. He added that Marvel Studios' approach to the characters would be different from Fox's franchise.[6] In January 2021, Feige said there were positive discussions taking place about mutants' arrival to the MCU.[7]Patrick Stewart reprised his role as Charles Xavier / Professor X from Fox's X-Men film series in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was released in May 2022. He portrayed a different version of the character from Earth-838, an alternate universe to the main MCU, who is a member of the Illuminati;[8] the role combined elements from the X-Men film series and X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997).[9] The finale episode of the MCU series Ms. Marvel was released in July and revealed that the title character, Kamala Khan, has a genetic "mutation".[10] Star Iman Vellani confirmed that Khan was the first mutant in the MCU.[11]Namor is also revealed to be a mutant in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) as he is in the comics.[12][13]
In September 2022, Deadline Hollywood's Justin Kroll said an X-Men film would not be happening "for a very long time" and, outside of a writer being hired, did not expect any updates regarding casting for "some time".[14] In February 2023, Feige revealed the studio had a plan in place for a more proper introduction of mutants following the mentions with Khan and Namor, noting Marvel Studios had been working on "how to do it and when to do it" for years.[13] Shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike in late September, Marvel Studios was preparing to meet with writers later that year to discuss pitches for a new X-Men film. Kroll felt this would become "one of the most sought-after jobs" for writers. Marvel was expected to take their time in hiring a writer, and a decision was not expected until early 2024.[15]
