Marvel Reportedly Focusing on an X-Men Movie With Younger Talent to ‘Keep the Cost Down,’ as Well as Black Panther 3, but No Urgency on Blade or Deadpool 4

Marvel is reportedly focusing on making an X-Men movie with a younger cast “to keep the cost down,” as well as Black Panther 3, while it’s apparently in no rush to get Blade or Deadpool 4 out the door.

According to Variety, the game has changed for Marvel Studios and its boss, Kevin Feige, with superhero movies now unlikely to regularly hit the billion dollar heights of yesteryear.

And so, Marvel is trying to keep production costs down in order to make the movies it does release more likely to secure profitability. That moves us onto X-Men, which Variety said will begin casting soon. It’s apparently on the hunt for younger actors rather than A-listers to “keep the cost down.”

That tallies with recent comments from Feige, who indicated Marvel plans to reboot the X-Men franchise with a “very youth-oriented” take, featuring a young cast.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes screenwriter Michael Lesslie is developing the reboot’s script, while Thunderbolts* / The New Avengers director Jake Schreier was recently confirmed to be helming the project.

One big question is when this new X-Men film will come out, with just Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars announced with release dates for 2026 and 2027.

Variety said Marvel is holding July 23, 2027 for an unnamed film, but it won’t go to X-Men. What will it go to then? Perhaps it will go to Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 3, which is apparently creating excitement at Marvel.

Perhaps surprisingly, Marvel is said to be feeling “no sense of urgency” on the troublesome Blade reboot or even Deadpool 4. Given the huge success of Deadpool & Wolverine, you’d think Feige would want another surefire hit, but according to this new report, fans may have to wait.

Meanwhile, Variety reported on Pedro Pascal’s place in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, given THE recent clarification about Mister Fantastic not in fact leading the Avengers in the movie. Pascal is said to have an “integral” role, but is not the “centerpiece.” It seems inevitable that Avengers: Doomsday will spend some time revealing how The Fantastic Four end up colliding with the superheroes we know from MCU already, via the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene.

Here’s what we know: Avengers: Doomsday will bring back much of Fox’s original X-Men cast, including Patrick Stewart (again) as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Famke Jansen as Jean Grey, and James Marsden as Cyclops.

Marvel recently confirmed that Avengers: Secret Wars would act as something of a “reset” for the MCU (don’t call it a reboot), allowing its universe to feature fresh versions of classic characters — such as the X-Men — interacting with the surviving members of its main cast.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.