Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox was a jackpot for Marvel Studios as the rights of X-Men characters are now in the hands of the superhero brand that was previously held by Fox. With the latest Dinsey+ show X-Men ’97, we already had a glimpse of what’s coming to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Marvel President Kevin Feige has just confirmed it.
Marvel’s Mutant Era Begins
There are still a few years at hand before the end of the Multiverse Saga with Avengers: Secret Wars. While Marvel fans are quite excited about what Phase 6 will hold, Kevin Feige seemingly answered attempting to resolve the curiosity. Of course, he did not mention Phase 6 exclusively but it is evident that the upcoming phase of the superhero brand will be dominated by the Mutant Era.
But fans do not have to wait for the Multiverse Saga to end, the Mutant Era in MCU is already in motion which will be clearly visible following the release of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Deadpool & Wolverine. “Also, the ‘after’ is clearly—now that we have characters from the ‘X-Men’ world, the Mutants—we haven’t had access to before,” Feige told The Playlist. “So, this is the beginning of that, and every [movie] post ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ will be the Mutant era coming into the MCU,” he added.
Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97 which is one of the greatest hits of 2024 has already paved the way for the mutants’ path to MCU. Of course, Fox also delivered a few spectacular X-Men films but MCU has long sought to make their own version of the characters. X-Men reboot under the banner of Marvel Studios will soon become a reality as Deadpool & Wolverine is set to dominate the box office in less than a week.
Why X-Men ’97 And Deadpool & Wolverine Are Very Important To The Beginning of The Mutant Era In MCU?
X-Men ’97 was definitely a stepping stone for the mutants’ debut in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. The series has already teased Mutants and Avengers crossovers as we have witnessed Captain America, Spider-Man, and Hulk’s appearances. Also, Deadpool & Wolverine will introduce several X-Men characters which also mark their MCU debut.
With Deadpool & Wolverine, the path of the X-Men characters is seemingly clear in the MCU while the Captain America: Brave New World trailer has propelled fans to hypothesize the X-Men connection. In the trailer what appears to be Tiamut’s corpse would potentially lead to the formation of Genosha— a safe haven for the mutants that ultimately turned into hell as shown in X-Men ’97. Theoretically, Tiamut’s body which possesses rare materials would propel the human vs mutant scenario even further. That could also be the new premise of Avengers 5 as Jonathan Majors was dismissed from his Kang role.
“Well, it’s that phrase we use often at Marvel, which is ‘It’s an embarrassment of riches,’” Feige told iO9. “And there are a lot of great X-Men characters in the Deadpool & Wolverine film. There are a lot of great X-Men characters in all of the Fox versions of the X-Men films. And there are a lot of great X-Men characters that have never gone on the big screen. So I think as we always try to do, as we did when we made the arrangement with Sony for Spider-Man, you’ll probably see a mix of characters you’ve seen before and characters you’ve never seen before,” he added.
The Marvel Boss went on to add, “I think the success of X-Men ’97 was really exciting for us to see people revisit and reconnect with that world,” he continued adding, “And dare I say, the soap opera elements of that world, which is one of the things that’s so exciting to us about jumping into it finally in the MCU.”
The X-Men vs Avengers is a striking possibility if the theories surrounding Captain America: Brave New World trailer come out to be true which would also open doors to more possibilities and more storylines.
Stream X-Men ’97 on Disney+, Deadpool & Wolverine arrives on July 26 at your nearest theaters.
