After the billion-dollar success of Deadpool & Wolverine, officially bringing in the Fox mutants into the larger story, the big question is “What’s next?” for mutants in the MCU? After all, with all the most iconic Fox-era X-Men not showing up in the film, it’s pretty clear that Kevin Feige is saving the A-list X-Men for a more proper farewell. And that solution involves putting the Avengers and the X-Men on screen together at last, almost certainly in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Feige spoke on the X-Men coming to the MCU, saying that Secret Wars will relate to a new age of X-Men. Of course, we don’t know to what degree they will play a role and he’s certainly not going to tell us. But it sounds like new actors are coming into those classic roles. Feige said:
“I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.”
Yes, the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom is a big way of keeping this new momentum going for the MCU after Deadpool & Wolverine. But if Kevin Feige really wanted to make the next two Avengers films an event that even the most jaded and burnt-out MCU fans would have to check out in theaters? It will be a proper Avengers/X-Men crossover. Or to be more accurate, an Avengers/Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover, as we now know the FF will star in Doomsday and Secret Wars as well. Certain hints that have popped up recently suggest Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Marvel’s Mutants are headed for a collision course with multiversal ramifications.
The X-Men Hints So Far in the MCU
Since Disney acquired Fox back in 2019, fans have been asking “So when are the X-Men coming to the MCU?” Even She-Hulk asked it in her own show. And so far, Marvel Studios has been playing the long game, not jumping into anything. We got the mutant hint in Ms. Marvel, and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier in Multiverse of Madness. Heck, we’re not convinced that Evan Peters’ Quicksilver in WandaVision isn’t more than he seems and not just a gag. The biggest, of course, is Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, along with a metric ton of Fox Marvel mutants.
So why do we think the classic Fox X-Men are back for another go-round? First off, The Marvels revealed yet another connection to the X-Men universe with the return of Kelsey Grammar as Beast, working in the X-mansion from the original films. If this is indeed Earth-10005, Deadpool & Wolverine left that universe with a Logan from another timeline in it. Also, Monica Rambeau is stuck there as well. We call those incursion events. With incursion events suggesting a collision between Earth-10005 and Earth-616 is imminent, that can only mean we’re getting an Avengers vs. X-Men project. An announcement of that magnitude would stop all talk of “Marvel Fatigue” dead in its tracks. Just from a mercenary business perspective, it makes sense. But frankly, it’s also a story Marvel fans have waited decades to see.
Will These MCU Mutants Be the X-Men We Know?
The big question is, which X-Men are we dealing with here? Beast was working in a lab that looked identical to the underground medical bay in the Fox X-Men films. The Charles Xavier we saw in Doctor Strange on Earth-838 seemed very reminiscent of the one from X-Men: The Animated Series. But the Scarlet Witch killed that Charles. Obviously, the Charles that the Beast refers to seems to be very much alive. So, this is another hint that Beast is in the classic X-Men movie universe, not Earth-838. Or, at least, a version of the classic Fox X-Men world. And yes, we know his appearance looks different. We remind you that the look of comic book Beast is continually evolving. No reason to think the live-action Henry McCoy would be any different.
X-Men: Days of Future Past May Hold the Answer
Fans of the Fox X-Men films know that the timeline and continuity of those films are a bit of a mess. And that’s putting it mildly. But at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan’s adventures in the past caused him to wake up in a new present. Essentially, a “happy ending” future, where Xavier is still alive. The school was open, and former tragically dead X-Men like Cyclops and Jean Grey were alive and well. In fact, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast was there too, in a cameo moment. All of this scene takes place canonically in 2023. The “Winchester Incident,” where Charles Xavier accidentally killed hundreds of people with his powers, as described in Logan, happened in 2028. In the Earth-10005 of Deadpool & Wolverine, a functioning X-Men team is still out there. Probably the same one Beast is a part of in The Marvels.
Given one of the music cues in The Marvels’ post-credits scene is from Days of Future Past, we think that they’re trying to tell us that we’re in that “happy ending” reality from that film. A reality that takes the best elements of the original movies and loses the things viewers hated. Mainly, the random and arbitrary deaths of the main X-Men. Not to mention, comic book-accurate costumes like the ones we saw for Logan and Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine. So, it’s a “new” X-Men timeline, simply made up of bits and pieces of the old one. And part of what it’s keeping is the classic actors. The rest is up to the Russo Brothers.
Deadpool & Wolverine May Set the Stage for an Avengers/X-Men: Battle Royale
Now that Deadpool & Wolverine has come out, we know all the Fox mutants who appeared in it were secondary characters. If this was meant as the fond farewell to the Fox X-Men universe, it seems extremely odd that Kevin Feige didn’t include any of the big guns. Until you realize it’s probably because he’s saving them for Doomsday/Secret Wars. And we understand his reasoning here. If you’re going to bring back the classic X-Men cast, like Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry, it seems only using them in small roles in Deadpool & Wolverine is a waste. No, we think there are much bigger plans afoot.
Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and Secret Wars Will Likely Be Adapted
The 2015 event comic Secret Wars, and its lead-up Avengers story, “Time Runs Out,” both by writer Jonathan Hickman, began when incursions across the Multiverse resulted in its total destruction. Eventually, there were only two realities left—the classic 616, and Earth 1610, home of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Eventually, both of those realities had to do battle with each other to determine which one would get to live. Spoiler alert—neither reality gets to live, and Doctor Doom fuses what remains of them (as well as a few others) together into a new “Battleworld.” And with Doctor Doom confirmed as the main villain of the next two Avengers films, an adaptation of this part of the story seems even more likely than ever.
In Doomsday and Secret Wars, we could get a version of that story. But it would be the MCU Earth vs the Fox X-Men Earth. Earth-616 (The Sacred Timeline) and Earth-10005 (X-Men Earth) battling it out. Somehow, the Fantastic Four will be part of this also. The protectors of each reality would have to fight for the existence of their world. Much like Captain America: Civil War, neither side would be wrong. A scenario familiar to the returning Russo Brothers, as well as writer Stephen McFeely. Who wouldn’t fight to protect everyone they know from total annihilation? In an Infinity Wars-type cliffhanger, we could see both realities fade to white, presumably destroyed. A sixth Avengers film could open on Battleworld, a hodgepodge reality made of elements of both universes. It would be an excuse to bring back anybody they wanted.
X-Men vs. Avengers: A Battle Fans Have Waited Decades to See
From a pure fan point of view, the battles would be cant-miss events. Thor vs. Storm, Wolverine vs. Hulk, Scarlet Witch vs. Phoenix, etc. And yes, an all-star lineup of Avengers vs. an all-star lineup of X-Men is a lot of characters. But let us remind you that Civil War juggled 18 principal characters. Infinity War and Endgame showcased 30, and somehow gave everyone something to do. So an Avengers/X-Men crossover could absolutely work. No wonder Kevin Feige gave Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame screenwriter Stephen McFeely a call. He, along with his writing partner Christopher Markus, was extremely adept at juggling so many superheroes cohesively, and giving emotional character stakes to these comic book battles.
After Secret Wars, the MCU will almost certainly reboot. Even if it’s a soft reboot. A new X-Men film will likely feature brand-new versions of the characters. But the classics will still get their swan song moment before that happens. The original X-Men films truly started the Marvel superhero craze in cinemas after Blade proved to the general audience that it could be done. It led to Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, and ultimately, the MCU. If Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are intended to bring an end to not just one era of storytelling, but going back even before the MCU, what better way to go out than with a bang?
Originally published November 16, 2023.
