The MCU’s X-Men era could not have gotten off to a better start than with X-Men ’97, but maybe that’s going to be a problem. Like how Fox’s franchise could go nowhere but down after Logan, Marvel has a tough job ahead of it in making sure its upcoming live-action reboot of the Children of the Atom matches the high bar set by the recent Disney Plus animation.
You know what would’ve given the project a really good shot of doing exactly that, though? Hiring Jordan Peele to write and direct it. The MCU fandom got itself worked up in a tizzy in early June when it was rumored that the Get Out filmmaker had met with Marvel Studios for a specific, if unknown, project. Since then, further intel has emerged which will make you punch the air at first glance and then hit you like a punch to the gut when you read the small print.
As per claims made by One Take News, Peele’s meeting with Marvel actually happened a while back and was for the X-Men reboot. The idea of Peele offering his own unique take on mutantkind within the MCU is obviously a tantalizing one, but it seems both parties couldn’t see eye to (Cyclops’) eye. This report states that it “didn’t work out,” for whatever reason.
That said, Peele and Marvel are allegedly leaving the door open for a potential future collaboration. Still, it sounds like there’s no chance the director could return to this specific project — and the fans are more incensed than when they saw Dark Phoenix for the first time.
Honestly, good luck to whoever actually does step behind the camera to direct this film, as Marvel folks might never be able to get past the concept of Jordan Peele’s X-Men. Remember how Edgar Wright came this close to making Ant-Man and fans are still sore that it didn’t happen nearly 10 years later? If this news is corroborated further, expect people to never let this go for the next decade.
As things stand, screenwriter Michael Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) has been tapped to pen the screenplay for the X-Men reboot, which is yet to be assigned a release date. Meanwhile, Jordan Peele’s next horror movie, Him, comes out Sep. 19, 2025.
