The X-Men’s live-action MCU debut has been a long, long time coming. At this point, it feels like we’ve seen everything except their official debut, including a non-canonical animated series, fakeout appearances, multiversal cameos, and post-credit teases.
Marvel is finally looking toward the real thing, and the only question remaining is what the mutants’ first big splash into MCU canon will look like. A wild rumor suggested the saga would begin with lesser-known characters, but a Marvel executive just offered an exciting clarification.
Jeff Sneider is a somewhat reputable source for Hollywood leaks. He was the first to confirm Rory McCann would replace the late Ray Stevenson in Ahsoka, and he teased the David Fincher-led Squid Game remake. Sneider recently broke another huge story on podcaster and YouTuber Jeff Rocha’s channel, claiming Marvel was developing a young-adult-focused X-Men series meant to air either before or after an X-Men movie. Sneider said the series would be “about the X-Men Academy and the training that goes on there.”
Marvel Exec Brad Winderbaum shot down a big X-Men TV rumor.
But no leaker gets everything right, and it appears Sneider was shot down when ScreenRant asked Marvel Studios' Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum, about the rumors of an X Academy series. “Right now, we are still working on X-Men ‘97 season 2,” Winderbaum said. “It's coming together amazingly, and the scripts for season 3 are insane. That is certainly scratching the X-Men itch for me on television. And there is an X-Men feature in development right now, so that is the focus of X-Men currently.”
That’s not quite a hard no, but it certainly feels like a bucket of cold water. And while that may be disappointing for any fans looking forward to seeing a new generation of mutants from the jump, the last part of this quote is what’s really notable. An X-Men feature is officially happening, and will presumably be the team’s proper live-action debut.
X-Men ‘97 is the current focus of Marvel’s X-Men TV slate.
That doesn’t mean we’ll never get an X Academy series. Marvel just paused development on Strange Academy, another series focusing on heroes-in-training, so there’s room on the roster for such a show. But it looks like Marvel is smart enough not to put the cart before the horse. The X-Men will get the blockbuster movie they deserve, just like all the banner heroes that came before.
