Kevin Feige can't afford to make his 'X-Men' mistake after Marvel's 'Fantastic' fiasco

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By published

Feige's 'X-Men' movie plan sounds a bit insane

"X-Men: The Last Stand"
(Image credit: Alamy)

Marvel is struggling to find a win this year. "Thunderbolts*" was well-received, but that wasn't enough to prevent the MCU movie from failing to crack $400 million at the box office. It didn't even beat out February's "Captain America: Brave New World," which was much less well-received by critics and fans.

Currently, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is performing well with viewers, but it, too, is falling short at the box office. It will be the top Marvel movie this year despite a dramatic second-week falloff, but it will lose out to DC's "Superman" movie from Marvel castoff James Gunn, and is causing all the wrong headlines for Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige.

For those who missed it, just before "The Fantastic Four" hit theaters, Feige dropped a ton of Marvel news. One of the revelations from his impromptu press conference was that "Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier will be casting a "youth-focused reboot" for his upcoming, untitled "X-Men" movie.

Sophie Turner as Jean Grey in "Dark Phoenix"

(Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox)

That has not gone over well with fans. On X (Twitter) in particular, the reveal of the news by the account X-Men Updates engendered some negative responses. One user called out the failed "New Mutants" project as a reason not to go the youth route ... which is a fair point. Others posted angry or exasperated GIFs and one went so far as to call it "f**king bullsh*t."

Not everyone was opposed to the plan. Surprisingly, the same announcement in the r/comicbooks subreddit was met with a mature, largely optimistic debate. Many just wanted anything that wasn't a tired rehash.

Here's the thing, though: a lot of "X-Men" movies have failed. We love them because we love the characters, and "X2" and "Logan" are among the greatest superhero movies ever made. But for every "Logan," there's an "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." For every "X2," there's an "X-Men: The Last Stand."

Those were from film franchises focused on older, adult "X-Men" characters. The movies that focused on younger iterations, like "Dark Phoenix" and "New Mutants," were bad enough that Marvel probably hopes you've forgotten they exist.

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But they do exist, and fans have not forgotten. Concern over the next "X-Men" movie has reached the point where some, like the popular "The Midnight Boys" podcast on the Ringer podcast network, even debated whether Jean Grey or Wolverine should be in Schreier's "X-Men" movie.

Ultimately, it's the story that the movie tells, rather than the age of the cast, that will determine its success. "X-Men: 97" didn't shy away from younger characters and did just fine. Focusing on younger characters just for the sake of skewing younger is likely doomed to fail, but so is skewing older to avoid the bad taste left from "The New Mutants."

Hopefully, once we get our first casting announcements, we'll start to get an idea of what Feige and Schreier have planned for Xavier's mutants, and Feige will finally get some good news. At the moment, all he has going for him are these awesome photos of "Spider-Man."

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Malcolm McMillan

Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.

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Malcolm McMillan
Malcolm McMillan
Streaming Editor

Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.

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