Marvel Studios has long sought to have their shot on the X-Men characters. With Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, the superhero brand hit the jackpot with many characters ready to debut in Marvel Cinematic Universe. While X-Men ’97 and Deadpool & Wolverine did most of the heavy lifting to mark the dawn of the mutant era in the MCU, Marvel Boss Kevin Feige recently shared that the rights to the mutant characters have unfolded several potential stories that would make it to the larger universe in the future to come.
X-Men— Marvel’s Biggest Jackpot
X-Men ’97. Image Credit: Marvel Animation
X-Men characters transitioning from 20th Century Fox to the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been teased many times including Professor X’s cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but when Marvel Animation released X-Men ’97 on Disney+, the path to MCU was far clearer. While fans were feasting the nostalgic treat, the Avengers cameos including Hulk, Spider-Man, and Captain America were not mere co-incidents but rather a series of meticulously placed hints to the larger MCU in the nearest future.
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman starring as the title characters in Deadpool & Wolverine further enhanced the significance of the X-Men characters that are set to dominate several projects under the superhero brand. So far, as the movie teased, a stunning number of mutants— both heroes and villainous— are debuting in the MCU, while the cameo of Dafne Keen also opens up astonishing possibilities.
A few theories surfacing online suggest that Keens’ X-23 aka Laura— Wolverine’s daughter— will carry the legacy of Logan under the new banner as the theory speculates that the studio will not recast Jackman’s Wolverine. Certainly, this version of Logan appearing in Deadpool & Wolverine may still have the gas in the tank to have a long ride to the end of Phase 5 which will be concluded with Avengers: Secret Wars.
Regardless, X-Men debut in the Marvel Universe will bring the diversity the studio desperately needs which has almost become Avengers-centric. Beyond X-Men, Fantastic Four heroes and villains are also set to give the MCU a depth that would make future projects far more enthusiastic with immense possibilities of crossovers of characters from different franchises.
Kevin Feige Shared His Plans For Future MCU
Kevin Feige. Image Credit: Gage Skidmore/CC
Marvel President Kevin Feige previously shared that the Mutant Era in the MCU will begin following the release of Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Now, he has given some subtle yet exciting details of the MCU’s future. Recently Feige sat with Collider’s Steve Weintraub during his promotional tour of the the highly anticipated movie.
“It’s always been, I’ve said that you know, building a fictional narrative whether it’s been in the comics over 85 years or in the MCU over the last 16, 17 years is a living breathing evolving thing. And I love the idea that people think we have a plan that is set… then we just follow it we have a plan that’s set in sand and then we modify it,” Feige told the outlet.
When asked about the immediate future of the Marvel Studios, Feige shared that they have 5 years of projects figured out. “We have our hopes and dreams for the next 5 years figured out you know and we will adapt as reality uh adapts us.”
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But pointing out the obvious, Feige acknowledged that X-Men and the Fantastic Four characters are jackpots for the studio. “With the X-Men and with the Fantastic Four and with all those thousands of characters we got from Fox that really did help us chart out with excitement and enthusiasm, you know? Decades of potential of blue sky ideas what we could do and the response to X-Men ’97 which the Marvel Animation team did such a great job on, um, only reinvigorated us to say this the X-Men soap opera has been done very well in certain movies in the past but we really think is an untapped uh reservoir of amazing emotional story.”
Rightly said, X-Men characters, or rather Marvel’s Fox-verse characters are indeed an “untapped reservoir” for Marvel studios as it would allow the studio to explore several different storylines with astounding and close to infinite possibilities.
Deadpool & Wolverine is coming to the theaters on July 26.
