Marvel and Kevin Feige rocked the world of pop culture yet again on August 14th when they announced the new, young cast of the upcoming X-Men film directed by Jake Schreier, which will serve as more of a “reset” than an actual reboot, which Feige recently described as “a scary word.”
Rumours had begun to swirl as the announcement approached, with names such as Cooper Hoffman, Patrick Wilson, and Charles Melton being tied to Cyclops, Professor Xavier, and Beast, respectively, while Samara Weaving was the first person to be officially cast in the movie, where she will play the telepath Emma Frost. Then, at D23, the bulk of the main cast was finally revealed, with Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Inde Narvarrette as Rogue, newcomer Maya Boyd as Storm, and finally Adam Driver, who had previously been rumoured as Magneto, but has now been confirmed to be portraying the film’s primary villain Nathaniel Milbury, better known as Mister Sinister. Sadie Sink, who has already portrayed Jean Grey in the enormously successful Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is also confirmed to be reprising her role in the film.
While the announcement garnered a lot of positive reception, namely for its clear focus on a talented younger cast, there were a few notable characters missing from the roster, such as Magneto and Beast, the latter of whom has been heavily rumoured to feature, with reports suggesting that Charles Melton had even been offered the role but turned it down. Since filming is expected to begin by the end of the summer, we can expect word on one or even both of these characters in the coming weeks.
However, the single most significant name that has been absent from seemingly all recent discourse on X-Men casting has been none other than Wolverine, to the point that it seems apparent he will not appear in this reimagined adaptation of everyone’s favourite mutant team. This might come as an initial shock to some, but in actuality, leaving Wolverine out of the first film might be one of the best moves they can make for this new era of the X-Men.
For starters, you have to acknowledge the Hugh Jackman-sized Wolverine in the room. The Australian actor had previously hung up his claws after 2017’s Logan, but he was convinced to return to the most iconic role of his career by Ryan Reynolds for a team-up between the two Canadian heroes in Deadpool & Wolverine. Feige has been characteristically coy about whether or not they will appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but he has at least stated, “I think there is more fun to be had with both of those characters. But we’ll see where.” As such, there are clearly plans for Jackman’s Wolverine, and they see no point in rushing his introduction for the new film series.
This leads me to the other major factor that must be considered, which is that Wolverine has served as the primary focal point for a great deal of the film franchise ever since the very first live-action feature in 2000. While his deep characterisation and Jackman’s revered performance ultimately justified this approach, it was undeniably at the expense of other characters, none more so than James Marsden’s Cyclops, whose role had become so diminished by the third entry, the reviled X-Men: The Last Stand, that they opted to just kill him off when a scheduling conflict arose for Marsden.
The animated TV show X-Men from the 1990s and its incredible revival X-Men ’97 do far greater justice to Cyclops, who is a truly compelling hero and leader in his own right. Feige and Schreier clearly recognise as much, evidenced by their inclusion of Adam Driver’s Mister Sinister, who has close ties to Cyclops from early on in his life, not to mention the pivotal role he plays in key events of Cyclops’ life, which have also been depicted in both of the animated X-Men series mentioned.
This is an opportunity to tell a different story in the live-action format with a new central hero, and none of this prevents Wolverine from appearing in the inevitable sequels, which makes all the more sense, as he is not an original member of the X-Men, but rather joins them at a later time when the team has already been established. This is also the case in the original 2000 film, only this time we will ostensibly see things primarily from Cyclops’ perspective, before Logan ever comes onto the scene.
Jake Schreier’s X-Men is slated to be released on May 5th, 2028, with principal photography taking place in the United Kingdom’s Pinewood Studios, and also possibly Ireland for additional location work.