Marvel’s New “X-Men” Takes Shape With “Beef” and “The Bear” Creators at the Helm
Marvel Studios has a focused, high-profile 2026 film slate, with two major movies scheduled for spring and winter. It will start with Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, arriving on July 31, and will be capped by the Russo Brothers’ Avengers: Doomsday, arriving on December 18. The former became the most-watched film trailer in history, bringing back Tom Holland’s Peter Parker after he was forced to make brutal sacrifices in No Way Home. In that blockbuster, Peter lost both Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and himself in a way; everyone he loves, most painfully, MJ (Zendaya) was made to forget he existed to keep the multiverse in balance. Zendaya returns, alongside Jacob Batalon as Ned, while Mark Ruffalo is back as Bruce Banner, and Jon Bernthal will continue his role of the Punisher, for the first time now in a film. The latter, the Russo Brothers’ fourth Avengers film, will find many of the iconic titans of the first three Avengers films returned—Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Chris Evans’ Captain America (although now he’s just Steve Rogers—Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson carries the Captain America mantle), and many more, only this time, they’ll be battling Dr. Viktor Doom, played by the godfather of Marvel Studios actors, Robert Downey Jr., whose previous role playing Tony Stark/Iron Man ended when Tony sacrificed himself in the climatic final battle of Avengers: Endgame.
This brings us to another hotly anticipated Marvel film, the new X-Men, which will be directed by Thunderbolts* helmer Jack Schreier and finally reintroduce a new generation of mutants to Marvel. We will get at least one more dance with the previous gen of X-Men legends in Doomsday, which includes many of the most important characters from decades past—Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, James Marsden’s Cyclops, and Ian McKellen’s Magneto. Schreier’s film is currently slated to hit theaters on May 5, 2028, at which point we’ll have an entirely new cast, working from a script by two of TV’s most dynamic creators.
Speaking with Collider, Schreier discussed the upcoming season of Sonny Lee Sung Jin’s Beef, which boasts a new cast after the stellar first season pitted Steven Yeung against Ali Wong. Schreier is a director on the series, and he revealed he’s working with both Sonny and The Bear writer and co-showrunner Joanna Calo (she also co-wrote the Thunderbolts* screenplay) on a draft of X-Men. Here’s some of what Schreier said to Collider:
“When you go back and read X-Men [comics], there’s ideology but also interpersonal drama, almost of a soap opera quality. Having writers who understand both how to drive ideology from personal stakes, if we get that right, that’s what will feel most honest to what X-Men can be.”
It’s exciting to think of two writers with such specific sensibilities and sharp insights into how people relate, and fail to relate to each other, tackling the family of misfit mutants who are often battling each other as ferociously as they are the so-called normal people who malign and fear them. Beef and The Bear offer two of the best examples on TV of how to write compelling characters who are as infuriating, captivating, and human as the people in your actual life. That’s precisely what the best of the X-Men stories are.
Featured image: L-R: James McAvoy (as Charles Xavier/Professor X), Kodi Smit-McPhee (as Nightcrawler), Tye Sheridan (as Cyclops, back to camera), and Alexandra Shipp (as Storm) in Twentieth Century Fox’s X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX. Photo Credit: Doane Gregory.
