Marvel Comics

Marvel Studios has officially said "To me, my X-Men!" because the cast for the upcoming reboot has been confirmed at D23. This cinematic "X-Men" relaunch is being directed by Jake Schreier, who previously directed "Thunderbolts*" for Marvel. (Not for nothing, "Thunderbolts*" was one of the best-received Marvel Studios movies among the rather scattershot Phases 4-5.)

There have been several wild rumors about which actors Marvel Studios was looking at to play the new X-Men. Actors as different as Denzel Washington and Adam Driver had been rumored to appear. We also already knew some team members before this: Sadie Sink's Jean Grey debuted in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," while Kit Connor has been confirmed as Cyclops. And Samara Weaving was announced as Emma Frost. But what about the rest?

Fancasting the X-Men was as much fans wishing for their favorite characters to be in the reboot as it was campaigns for certain actors. Now, the fancasting can end, as Marvel Studios has debuted the first peek of its "X-Men" cast: Christopher Abbott has been cast as Charles Xavier, "Obsession" breakout Inde Navarrette is Rogue, Adam Driver is villain Mr. Sinister, and Maya Boyd is Storm.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has said the X-Men will be "core" to where the MCU goes next. We already saw the MCU largely fail to pivot into a new beginning after "Endgame," so it remains to be seen if this X-Men pivot after "Doomsday" and "Secret Wars" will work.

Marvel Studios

It's been an almost 20-year road to the X-Men taking their place as a cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a well-known trivia fact among Marvel fans that, in the 1990s, Marvel sold off the film rights to its most famous franchises (Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four) well before it started making movies in-house. This is why the MCU built itself around the Avengers; Marvel still owned the movie rights to those characters.

Of course, that all became null and void upon Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox (which had the X-Men and Fantastic Four rights) in 2019. That's why the MCU's "Multiverse Saga" is culminating with two films ("Avengers: Doomsday" and "Secret Wars") where the primary villain is the Fantastic Four's archnemesis Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.).

That said, "Doomsday" is also bringing back several of the previous "X-Men" movie cast members: Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, etc. That carries a real risk; it's an understandable instinct to explicitly send off the old cast to start fresh with the new. At the same time, bringing back the old cast for "Doomsday" is Marvel Studios robbing themselves of the chance to redefine the X-Men on their terms.

The other double-edged sword in the room is the cartoon series "X-Men '97," a revival of the beloved 1990s "X-Men: The Animated Series." "X-Men '97" has been widely acclaimed and has no doubt bolstered excitement to return to the silver screen. Yet at the same time, "X-Men '97" is likely going to be a quality standard that X-Fans hold the movie reboot to, and there's lots of room to fall short.

"X-Men" is set to open on May 5, 2028.