Kevin Feige Confirms MCU Will “Reset” After ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, Recasts For Captain America And Iron Man To Debut In ‘X-Men’
In truly living up to the ever messy nature of its comic book source material, the last, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has confirmed that not only will the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe undergo a pointed “reset” after the events of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday – Avengers: Secret Wars duology, but that all the resulting recasts will make their respective debuts in the franchise’s upcoming X-Men entry.
The baseball-capped head of Marvel Studios provided this update as to the MCU’s future casting plans during a recent sit down with the press, as hosted by at Marvel’s headquarters in Burbank, CA.
Per a recap of the event provided by Deadline‘s Anthony D’Alessandro and Justin Kroll, after an opening assurance that the studio currently has “a seven-year plan” for its films and television shows – “I think it goes to 2032,” he added. “It’s on magnets, it can move around.” – Feige was eventually pressed as to whether or not said plan included recasting any of the canonically dead or ‘oldhead’ Avengers like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, T’Challa, and Thor.
In turn, the producer offered an answer that essentially boiled down to ‘Yes for everyone except the God of Thunder’:
“With Downey Jr. now playing Dr. Doom, are there plans to recast the core Iron Man, Captain America, etc. on the big screen? Yes and no. Feige sees a star such as Chris Hemsworth still in his prime to play Thor, and even cherishes the return of thespians (i.e. Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Stern in Captain America: Brave New World) who played Marvel characters years ago. But, yes, in the longterm like with many other storied movie franchises, Marvel classic superheroes will get new faces.”
Feige also noted that Earth’s Mightiest Successors would not make their respective debuts in their own solo projects, but instead confirmed that “X-Men is where that will happen”, ostensibly a reference to the upcoming film set to be directed by Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier.
As to how these refreshes could be introduced to the MCU, Feige confirmed that Marvel Studios was intended to follow in the footsteps of Secret Wars‘ source material and use their upcoming cinematic crossover to “reset singular timelines” ahead of some level of franchise reboot.
RELATED RUMOR: After ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Gives The MCU A “Soft Reboot”, New Iteration Will Take Inspiration From ‘All-New, All-Different Marvel’
Notably, Feige’s confirmation comes following roughly two-years of circulating rumors regarding a possible MCU reboot, which kicked off in late 2023 when a quartet of scoopers – Joanna Robinson, Syl Abdul, CanWeGetSomeToast and MyTimeToShineHello – all reported hearing that the film was essentially meant to be a send off to the ‘original’ MCU, with the last further asserting that Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow in particular would be getting new castings.
Until now, the only official discussion regarding a possible franchise reset came earlier this year when, pressed on the subject during an interview with the Screen Off Script podcast, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum avoided offering a direct answer and instead offered his own personal thoughts on the entire concept of comic book-related reboots.
“You’re going to have to ask Kevin about the features,” he told his host. “I’m on the TV side, but we do navigate the same waters and live in the same universe. I’m a comic fan, I’ve read comics since I was 12 years old, and I’ve seen what happens at comic companies when things get full reboots. And the truth is, every time there’s been a full reboot at Marvel or DC — DC, in particular [chuckles] — it always feels like you can’t really fully reboot anything.”
“The classics always come back around,” Winderbaum concluded, “it’s a very difficult thing to do to a living, breathing fictional universe to just start from scratch, because of all of the fan investment and love for the stories that have come so far.”
Ultimately, just what lies ahead for Marvel’s cinematic future will be revealed when Avengers: Secret Wars hits theaters on May 7th, 2027.
