The Marvel Cinematic Universe is preparing for one of its biggest movies yet with Avengers: Doomsday, which will unite veterans of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. That isn’t the end for the mutant heroes, as a new X-Men movie helmed by Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*, Robot & Frank) is in the works following Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars. Details are scarce, but the MCU has set up a perfect foe for X-Men​​​​​​in the form of the Department of Damage Control. In fact, the seeds for Damage Control were planted a decade ago when ABC tried to make a Damage Control show.

The original Damage Control comics were created by Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colón, answering the question that probably lingered on comic fans’ minds: “Who cleans up after a superhero battle?” McDuffie was quick to stress in his original pitch that Damage Control would follow the adventures of the titular organization, with the superheroes and supervillains of the Marvel Universe playing a supporting role.

“Damage Control is intended to be an ensemble cast situation comedy along the lines of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Barney Miller, Taxi, WKRP in Cincinnati, Cheers, and the like, but set firmly in the Marvel Universe. As in those shows, Damage Control will focus on the lives of a group of people who have an interesting and/or unusual job, and on the odd people that their job brings them in contact with. It’s the nature of the ‘unusual job’ that serves to connect Damage Control with the Marvel Universe.”

The ‘Damage Control’ Show Never Came to Pass

The Damage Control series was first announced in 2015, with The Daily Show writer Ben Karlin helping to develop it. True to its comic roots, the Damage Control show was meant to be a comedy looking at the aftermath of battles in the Marvel Universe. For reasons yet to be revealed, Damage Control stalled despite being announced for a 2016 release. NBC would ironically release a series in 2017 with a similar premise, Powerless. Powerless was set in the DC Universe and followed a company that developed products to protect civilians from the fallout of battles; it was canceled after a single season.

Damage Control eventually made its way onto the silver screen in Spider-Man: Homecoming, reimagined as a group that cleans up and catalogs weaponry from superhero battles. The organization reappeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, this time with a more antagonistic bent, seeking to arrest Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for the supposed murder of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). That antagonistic streak continued in other MCU projects, most notably Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man. Making Damage Control into villains draws on the comics, specifically the Wolverine storyline “Vendetta” by Marc Guggenheim and Humberto Ramos. While on the hunt for the supervillain Nitro, Wolverine learns that the current Damage Control CEO, Walter Declun, is manufacturing disasters in order to make a profit. The Department of Damage Control exhibits a similar corrupt nature in the MCU, attempting to frame superhumans to fill its new prison.

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Damage Control Could Give Birth to One of the X-Men’s Biggest Foes

In Ms. Marvel, it’s revealed that the Department of Damage Control has programmed drones to track down and apprehend rogue superhumans, which brings the mutant-hunting Sentinels to mind. If Damage Control continues down its current path, then it’s more than likely that its agents will continue to utilize these drones, or even build Sentinels to hunt mutants. Further fueling the fire is a new rumor surrounding Tramell Tillman and his role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. A new report claims that Tillman is playing William Metzger, the leader of Damage Control, in the X-Men: Children of the Atom miniseries by Joe Casey and Steve Rude. Metzger led an anti-mutant militia, which means he could potentially be a threat in future MCU films.

Fans have wondered how the MCU’s take on the X-Men will differ from 20th Century Fox, and the presence of Damage Control might be the answer. Not only will it provide a foe on a different level than Magneto or Apocalypse, but it also provides Jake Schreier with a chance to tap into the themes of prejudice running through the X-Men mythos. Spider-Man: Brand New Day could also provide similar insight, provided Sadie Sink‘s mystery character is a mutant.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day premieres in theaters on July 31, 2026. Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man are available to stream on Disney+.

Release Date

July 31, 2026

Director

Destin Daniel Cretton

Writers

Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee

Producers

Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Louis D’Esposito

Franchise(s)

Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man