Kevin Feige just said the quiet part about Marvel’s future out loud: it’s mutants.
Speaking with Chinese media in Shanghai, in a roundtable circulating via Weibo (translated from Chinese), the Marvel Studios boss laid out the post-Secret Wars plan more plainly than he ever has, and the X-Men sit at the center of it.
âSecret Wars will represent a beginning. It will establish a streamlined, simplified, single universe thatâs easier for audiences to follow. Some aspects will feel familiar. But many, many things will be entirely new,” said Feige.
He continued, “Earlier we talked about attracting younger audiences and connecting with a new generation. Thatâs exactly what this next universe is intended to do. And at its coreâŠwill be the X-Men.â
Endgame Was An Ending. Secret Wars Is A Beginning.
Per Feige, Doomsday and Secret Wars have two jobs: close out storylines that have been running since before Iron Man, including the original X-Men actors, and set the stage for what follows.
He described Endgame as an ending and Secret Wars as a beginning, one that establishes a streamlined, simplified, single universe that audiences can follow. Some of it will be familiar. Much of it, in his words per the translation, will be brand new, built to connect with a younger generation.
And then the sentence that matters: fundamentally, the X-Men will be the core of it.
A Mutant Saga, Not A Movie
Feige was explicit that the X-Men rights mean more to Marvel than Wolverine team-ups. He called the X-Men a universe unto itself, a saga with multiple phases, and said the studio is working out how to lay out the Mutant Saga in a grand way.
He even took stock of the Fox era: ten X-Men movies, some very good, and some that in his view didn’t deliver on their promise.
He also named the comics steering the current two-parter: Time Runs Out and Secret Wars, the Incursion-driven storyline that the validated plot leak has been tracking beat for beat all year.
It all fits the pattern on the record: Feige already put the X-Men movie on the calendar after Secret Wars, the reboot is being cast young and clean-slate, and the recasting chatter has already turned roles like Storm into open auditions. Feige added that the X-Men bench is deep in untapped Asia-Pacific characters, especially Chinese ones, that Marvel wants to explore.
Marvel has now planned its slate through 2042, and per Feige, the mutants are the reason the map runs that long. Follow every update at our Avengers: Doomsday hub.
Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, 2026.
