From the moment it was announced that Disney had finalized its purchase of 20th Century Fox, Marvel fans have been eagerly anticipating the debut of the X-Men within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The hope was that Marvel would quickly make use of the X-Men, but they’ve taken their time on bringing the iconic heroes into the fold and taken a bit of a more unexpected approach.
Rather than racing into introducing a new class of X-Men, Marvel has instead turned to the X-Men of the 20th Century era to bring the heroes of the franchise into the fold. Patrick Stewart reprised his role as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Kelsey Grammer returned as Beast in The Marvels, Hugh Jackman returned as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, and this December’s Avengers: Doomsday will welcome back a handful of heroes from the original franchise, including Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler.
Marvel’s first steps for the franchise have been to play the greatest hits, but Marvel Studios is finally looking to the new day with an official X-Men reboot. Jake Schreier, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo are working on a script for what will become Marvel’s first X-Men film set entirely in the MCU, a film that will welcome a new class of actors to take on the iconic roles from the franchise.
While Marvel is expected to feature many of the franchise’s most iconic X-Men heroes in the MCU reboot of the iconic comic book franchise, it seems they aren’t looking to feature one of the most popular characters from the X-Men franchise.
Wolverine is not expected to be part of the X-Men reboot in the MCU
As Marvel prepares to bring the X-Men into the MCU, it seems they’re looking to launch the franchise without the presence of one of the most popular characters in the franchise: Wolverine.
According to scooper MyTimeToShineHello, Wolverine is not in the current draft of the MCU’s X-Men movies, with no plans to feature the character in the first film. On its own, we’d have to question whether the report is accurate; however, MyTimeToShineHello is not the only trusted scooper who has cast doubts over Wolverine’s involvement in the X-Men reboot film.
Back in 2024, Daniel Richtman reported that Marvel’s plans for the MCU X-Men reboot did not include Wolverine at all due in part to Hugh Jackman sticking around beyond Deadpool & Wolverine. Per his report at the time, Richtman indicated that Marvel was looking to build a roster that was similar to the X-Men 97 roster, but that roster would not feature Wolverine as the animated series does.
Interestingly, there are now conflicting reports that suggest the film will look to feature the original X-Men comic lineup of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Angel. While this list varies a bit from the X-Men '97 roster, the one commonality between the two reported rosters is that neither features Wolverine.
Should Marvel stick to this plan, it’s a decision that is certain to lead to some strong opinions among the fandom. There is an argument to be made that it’s the right decision to reboot the X-Men without Wolverine, but there is an equally strong agreement that Marvel is making a mistake sidelining one of the most beloved and iconic heroes in the X-Men catalog.
Honestly, it might be for the best to not bring Wolverine right into the mix and introduce the X-Men class into the MCU with a few unexpected characters in the mix, such as Angel and Iceman. Jackman's performance as Wolverine is one of the most iconic superhero performances ever, and it's likely for the best to put some space between his final film in the role and the introduction of a new Wolverine in the MCU.