20th Century FoxFor as long as the MCU has existed, fans have wondered how and when the X-Men would enter the franchise. For years, the fact that Fox owned the rights to make X-Men movies essentially made the scenario impossible. But after Disney acquired Fox in 2019, the X-Men were suddenly fair game. Their inclusion in the MCU started small, like Evan Peters’ strange fakeout role in WandaVision, but more X-Men kept inching their way into canon. There was Patrick Stewart’s cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Deadpool & Wolverine added more. Now, Avengers: Doomsday is set to include a whole host of X-Men actors reprising their roles. According to a new report, however, the MCU’s version of the X-Men will be much more fresh-faced.Deadpool & Wolverine proved that non-MCU heroes can appear through the multiverse, but will they stick around? | Marvel StudiosIn a wide-reaching Variety report on the MCU’s future, a casting agent is cited as saying Marvel is looking for younger talent instead of A-listers to cast as X-Men, in order to keep costs down. At a press event earlier this month, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige alluded to the fact that the X-Men comics were younger-skewing by focusing on Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. “They have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different and who feel Other and who feel like they don’t belong,” he said. “That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.”It’s unclear how these characters will gel with the returning X-Men actors. Deadpool & Wolverine established that the Fox universe exists parallel to the MCU, so the old guard could appear in Doomsday as multiversal visitors, while the MCU proper adds a younger generation of mutants. Marvel is also starting to focus on the next generation of Avengers. | Marvel StudiosThe MCU has been trending younger recently. With an emphasis on next-gen characters like Kamala Khan, Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Billy Kaplan, and Riri Williams, it’s clear a Young-Avengers-style team-up is on the horizon. And if the Avengers are getting younger, it makes sense for the X-Men to follow suit. Plus, on a practical level, casting A-listers was a way to draw non-Marvel fans into the MCU when it started. Now, Marvel itself is the draw, and some money can be saved on casting.It’s taken forever, but we’re finally on our way to seeing what Marvel’s X-Men — not Fox’s X-Men in Marvel — will look like. And if this report is true, they’ll likely be sticking around for a while.Avengers: Doomsday premieres in theaters December 18, 2026.