Jake Schreier will direct the upcoming live-action reboot of Marvel’s X-Men. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed this news while speaking to reporters last week. Schreier is known for movies such as Robot & Frank and Paper Towns. He also directed the soon-to-be released Marvel film, Thunderbolts*, as well as episodes of shows like Beef and Brand New Cherry Flavor.
Feige said, “It’s official, Jake Schreier is doing X-Men for us, and we’re very, very lucky. And we’re very excited to have him. And so we’re beginning. It’s all starting now. The script’s underway.” Feige described Schreier as “an incredibly smart guy” and “talented filmmaker.” He also noted, “We had a great experience with him on Thunderbolts. And if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions, he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. He’s younger than me for sure, but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think was important for Thunderbolts, much more important for X-Men. Because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie.”
Thunderbolts* may have found some financial success, but critics were not kind. Movie Nation described it as “a jumble, with even its ‘kumbaya’ messaging muddled in a murk of competing story agendas,” and Vanity Fair wrote that “the humor is strained, playing as meek attempt to laugh through the pain—for the characters, the movie itself, the entire franchise, even.” With that kind of reaction, some people are raising questions about whether Schreier has the vision to take on such an important Marvel property as X-Men or if he has been chosen simply because he works well with the studio.
Schreier became Marvel’s first choice to direct X-Men after Thunderbolts* was completed. The new film will come after Avengers: Secret Wars, which is scheduled for release in 2027. Feige understands that the X-Men have been in many movies already. He said, “There’s so much more to tap into. There are so many sagas within sagas for X-Men that that’s part of what we’re talking about now— which saga to grow and build to while doing the most important thing, which is introducing all of these characters and giving them their due in our first film.”
Marvel got the rights to the X-Men franchise after the Disney and 20th Century Fox merger in 2019. Some of the actors from the previous X-Men movies will return for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which is expected to be released on December 18, 2026. Marvel fans are now wondering if Schreier can deliver a new X-Men movie that will meet expectations and stand out from what has been seen before.
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