Marvel Studios Circling Back to Academy Award-Winning Creative for Phase 7 Project

With a pretty clear path established to the end of the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios has begun the brick-by-brick process of building its post-Secret Wars slate. As it stands, a sequel to Fantastic Four: First Steps, Black Panther 3—to be written and directed by Ryan Coogler–and an X-Men film directed by Jake Schreier are believed to be among the studio’s first theatrical projects in Phase 7. That’s a pretty robust start to the MCU’s new saga; however, the studio currently has dates set aside for four films in 2028 and a new report has shed some light on who the studio may want to bring it to the big screen.

According to industry insider Daniel Richtman, Marvel Studios has circled back to Jordan Peele, who they originally approached to direct X-Men, to direct an unknown Phase 7 project.

Though he’s only directed four projects to date, Peele boasts and incredibly impressive resume as a screenwriter, with an Academy Award for his screenplay for Get Out, which he also helmed. Peele also wrote the screenplay for Nope, 2021’s Candyman, 20 episodes of Paramount+’s The Twilight Zone and Us, which he also directed. With that horror-heavy filmography, it would seem as though Marvel may be looking to Peele to take the reigns of the long-delayed Blade film or perhaps the rumored Midnight Sons team-up film, which would reportedly see Sacha Baron Cohen reprise his role as Mephisto.

However, even as synonymous with horror as Peele‘s name has become, Marvel’s interest in having him direct its X-Men film would seem to indicate they haven’t pigeonholed the talented creative. Reports indicated that Peele and Marvel Studios cordially parted ways on X-Men over the dormer’s desire to both write and direct the project. Perhaps Peele and Marvel have found a project–whether it be Blade, Midnight Sons or something else entirely–on which Peele can have more of the creative control he’s accustomed to.