[#item_full_content] [[{“value”:”The Gist
Marvel finally revealed the cast for its X-Men movie, coming to theaters in May 2028.
Marvel is clearly betting on the X-Men to be a big part of its future, and is already laying the groundwork for success.
While Marvel can hope the international appeal carries over from the Fox era and that Gen Z will gravitate to the young cast, it still has to convince even younger audiences.
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To me, my X-Men.
That has kind of become a catch phrase in the comics, but it’s also probably what Kevin Feige has been itching to say for close to two decades.
During the MCU’s first 10 years, it largely dominated movie culture, culminating in “Avengers: Endgame,” which was (briefly) the biggest movie of all time. But since then, the franchise has at times struggled to live up to the expectations its first three phases (particularly the latter ones) set.
There have been hits of course, particularly with Marvel’s most popular characters, like “Deadpool and Wolverine” and now “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Other titles, like “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” performed well, and were hampered by a China ban.
But last year crystalized that the MCU isn’t quite the center of movie culture anymore, with three movies that underperformed: “Brave New World” ($415 million globally); “Thunderbolts” ($382 million); and “Fantastic Four: First Steps” ($521 million). Those are closer to Marvel phase 1 numbers, not what you want when they are seemingly pretty important to the future of the franchise. To put it in perspective, as I wrote before, “Brand New Day” earned more in its opening weekend than those three movies did in theirs combined.
That brings us to the X-Men. Nearly a decade after Disney bought the Fox film studio, a proper MCU X-Men movie will be released in May 2028, Disney announced at its annual fan convention D23 over the weekend. There, it also announced the cast, which includes, along with the already-known Sadie Sink as Jean Grey: Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbot as Professor X, Inde Nevarrette as Rogue, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Maya Boyd as Storm, and Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister.
X-Men is obviously Marvel’s number 1 priority coming out of next year’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” so much so that they introduced Sink’s Jean Grey in “Brand New Day” as the primary antagonist. First, though, we have to get through this year’s “Doomsday” and then “Secret Wars,” which will presumably reset the table for the MCU’s future.
If last year’s Marvel movies didn’t quite work, it’s largely because the superhero era has condensed where only the most beloved and popular characters, or major events, can still make a huge splash: your Deadpools and Wolverines, your Batmans, Spider-Mans, and yes, even the Avengers.
That includes the X-Men, which is why Marvel has yet to fully part with the Fox-era characters even now. We’ve seen Jackman’s Wolverine, we’ve even seen Kelsey Grammer’s Beast make a cameo in “The Marvels.” And they will play a (seemingly) key role in “Doomsday” before Marvel properly reboots them in 2028.
It’s easy to forget now, but Fox’s X-Men movies were, for the most part, well liked. The first three movies all received A or A- CinemaScore grades from moviegoers, and yes, that includes the dreadful “X-Men: The Last Stand.” “Days of Future Past” received an A. Even “X-Men: Apocalypse,” largely regarded as one of the worst in the franchise by critics, got an A-. The first two Fox-era “Deadpool” movies have As. “Logan” got an A-.
That said, I was surprised by the commercial performance of the original trilogy when I looked back, especially internationally. Globally, 2006’s “The Last Stand,” the third movie, earned $460 million, with half of that coming from the US. Maybe my millennial nostalgia had convinced me that these were way bigger movies.
But by 2014’s “Days of Future Past,” the dynamic completely flipped; it made $750 million worldwide, with almost 70% of that from from international markets. And 71% of “Apocalypse’s” $543 million came from outside the US.
Marvel is betting that global appeal will hold, and for a new generation of fans to flock to theaters for a younger cast. Of the four members of the core X-Men — Sink, Connor, Nevarrette, and Boyd — Nevarrette is the oldest at 25 years old. That’s who you cast when you want a franchise to go on for a decade-plus.
Hollywood is finally starting to realize that young people actually do go to the movies. Nevarrette’s “Obsession” is proof of that, as is “Brand New Day.” Half of that movie’s opening night audience was Gen Z (a whopping 74% was under 35).
But this new X-Men still needs to do some table setting, as it won’t have the millennial nostalgia to lean on — hence, Sink in “Brand New Day.” Whether you liked that “reveal” or saw it as desperation on Marvel’s part to do that in a Spider-Man movie, it makes sense to get unfamiliar audiences familiar with these characters before the new X-Men movie.
According to an NRG study last year, Gen Alpha and Gen Z were the most likely generations to prefer going to the movies over watching at home. But Gen Alpha also may have little affection for the X-Men. Of their top 20 favorite franchises, the only superhero properties to appear were Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, Batman, and the Avengers.
That’s to be expected. The oldest of Gen Alpha are, what, 15? The last Fox-era X-movie was seven years ago and nobody cared because Disney was already buying Fox by that point (and it was terrible). They were still in elementary school when “Logan” was released,” and Jackman first appeared as the character a decade before they were even born.
So Marvel is laying the groundwork. That likely includes wiping out the Fox versions once and for all “Doomsday” — again.
What I’m into right now
I watched the first “Resident Evil” movie for the Blank Check podcast’s Patreon series. Dumb 2000s action-movie fun (those movies are now streaming on Tubi).
HBO’s “Lanterns” premieres tonight. This is somewhat unrelated, but I started reading Ron Marz’s Green Lantern comics run (the first half was just collected in a nice paperback), where Hal Jordan goes bonkers and is replaced by Kyle Rayner.
I went on a western/John Wayne movie binge this week, finally watching my 4K edition of “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”; my Criterion edition of “Red River”; and “Rio Bravo.”
Across the Traverse
🧛 Mahershala Ali says he’s moved on from Marvel’s “Blade” movie after years of development issues, saying “If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it.”
💰Warner Bros. is still scrambling to reach a deal for a “Barbie” sequel.
📺 DC shows “Waller” and “Paradise Lost” are reportedly no longer being developed.
🦖 “Jurassic World Rebirth” director Gareth Edwards has left the sequel over creative differences.
💀 Masters of the Universe toy sales tripled this year, which is one good thing you can attribute to the movie’s performance.
The Traverse is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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