Marvel Studios Not Expecting to Cast X-Men or Fantastic Four Actors Anytime Soon

News of Kit Harington joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a big deal all over the Internet this weekend. Marvel fans were upset that the star was not billed to be one of the fan-favorite characters like Wolverine or Moon Knight. Now, reports are circulating that fans might have to wait a little longer than previously thought to learn new details about these newly announced characters or the Fox properties.

Variety is reporting that announcements over the Fantastic Four and the X-Men will be waiting until at least 2020. They reason that Kevin Feige doesn't tend to get too ahead of himself, instead opting to take things one project at a time. So, that means there probably won't be any other surprise announcements of talent this weekend.

For those thinking Kit was getting Wolverine or one of the F4 members, from what I’ve heard we won’t be getting new talent for those roles anytime soon. Feige just set his slate through 2022 and has never shown to get too far ahead of himself when it comes to development.

— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) August 24, 2019

Earlier this weekend, Kevin Feige announced Harington would be playing Dane Whitman, more commonly known as Black Knight to hardcore Marvel fans. Suffice to say, those fans hoping to see him as Wolverine are furious. Marvel already made a bunch of announcements: MCU-set series Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and She-Hulk were already unveiled for the Disney+ streaming service. There were also calls for Harington to be the first actor named as part of Marvel Studios' planned X-Men reboot, which has been acknowledged by Feige but has not yet been formally announced.

Feige has been dropping hints that the uncanny band of mutants will first begin to surface in the MCU in Phase 5. He told io9 in April that Marvel's immediate focus was on the looming Phase 4, launching with Black Widow in May 2020.

If I had to bet, I’d put my money that we don’t hear new developments on those Fox-related projects until 2020

— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) August 24, 2019

"It'll be a while. It's all just beginning and the five-year plan that we've been working on, we were working on before any of that was set," Feige said shortly after Disney completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox, a deal that won the studio the rights to Marvel's Fantastic Four and X-Men IPs. "So really it's much more, for us, less about specifics of when and where [the X-Men will appear] right now and more just the comfort factor and how nice it is that they're home. That they're all back. But it will be a very long time."

The Eternals is set to bow November 6, 2020. Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Other MCU properties without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.