Marvel’s X-Men Movie Hires Michael Lesslie On Script Duties

At long last, it seems the MCU is getting closer to its mutation. We’re only two months away from Deadpool & Wolverine, which in its own way will bring something of an evolutionary leap to Marvel’s cinematic DNA. The world is still raving about the stellar first season of animated show X-Men ’97. And now, there are signs that we’re getting closer to the thing fans have been really waiting for: a proper MCU X-Men movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a writer has been hired to write such a thing – and the person tasked with that almighty responsibility is Michael Lesslie.

Given the amount of secrecy around Marvel’s X-Men plans, it’s unknown what brief Lesslie has been given – but he’s currently putting pen to paper on bringing Xavier’s team to the big screen. Lesslie previously served as lead writer on Park Chan-wook’s miniseries adaptation of John Le Carré’s Little Drummer Girl, and wrote last year’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes alongside Michael Arndt. Fingers crossed that combination of in-depth character drama, major spectacle, and nerdy source material makes him an ideal choice to deliver mutant mayhem.

Still, it’s early days for whatever the X-Men movie ends up being. There’s no director or release date yet, and it’s unknown how far off Kevin Feige and co intend on tackling the mutant problem. Keep an eye on Deadpool & Wolverine in case it has more hints on how the X-Men will enter the MCU, following the alternate-timeline Beast teaser at the end of The Marvels, and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X getting exploded in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. But if anyone understands the DNA of the X-Men, it’s Marvel. Bring it on.