'Black Panther' Director Ryan Coogler Says 'Thunderbolts*' Director Will Helm MCU's X-Men Movies
Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, recently claimed that Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier will helm the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s X-Men movies.
Speaking to Metro Entertainment, Coogler was asked if he had heard about fans wanting him to direct the X-Men films. He responded saying, “No, no, no. Jake [Schreier] is directing that.”
When asked if he was talking about Jake Schreier, he confirmed, “Yeah.”
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A week ago Variety claimed that following the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars films that Marvel will pivot to the X-Men and that “Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier has been tapped to helm the MCU’s first mutant movie.”
Marvel previously hinted that a number of X-Men characters will show up in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. In a cast announcement for Avengers: Doomsday it shared that the film will feature Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), and Channing Tatum (Gambit).
It was rumored back in April 2024 by Daniel RPK that Marvel was planning to focus on the female X-Men characters while “looking for a writer can expertly balance comedy and drama.”
Additionally, he claimed Marvel was looking to introduce lesser known characters that have not been in the live-action films before.
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Daniel RPK had previously claimed that Marvel wanted to focus on the female X-Men characters back in December 2023 as well. ComicBookMovie.com reported he shared, “The initial idea is to focus more on the female members of the team.”
The publication also shared, “Kevin Feige is believed to want to make the movie as different to the 20th Century Fox franchise as possible, which also means no Magneto for the time being.”
The report also indicated the main villain being discussed was Mister Sinister.
Back in July 2022, Deadline claimed that Marvel Studios would not use X-Men as the film’s title, but was planning to call the movie The Mutants.
Interestingly enough former Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso shared her thoughts that the X-Men name was outdated. She said, “I don’t know where the future is going. It’s funny that people call it the X-Men, there’s a lot of female superheroes in that X-Men group, so I think it’s outdated.”
She continued, “I don’t know where it’s going to go. We’ll see. They just now have joined. They actually have a movie [Dark Phoenix] coming out soon, which under that banner is their last film. So, we’ll see what time will tell.”
What do you make of Schreier directing the first X-Men film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?