Credit: 20th Century StudiosIf you wanted the X-Men to join the MCU in the next year, things aren’t looking so hot. Despite promising the X-Men will enter the MCU, Marvel Studios is letting the franchise go on an MCU hiatus for good reasons.
Everyone wants to see Professor X, Wolverine, and Magneto in the MCU. Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier already appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021). Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine in Deadpool 3 (2024), leaving fans with a fun look at the X-Men, but Marvel hasn’t shared any plans about when their mutant super hero team will join the fun.
Avengers: Secret Wars (2026) is rumored to include the X-Men, which would make sense since the team had a huge role in the storyline in Marvel Comics, but fans have waited five years to see the team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and waiting another couple of years seems like an eternity.
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One report shares some important details about what to expect from the X-Men and provides a good reason why Marvel Studios isn’t jumping the gun and bringing the X-Men into the MCU just yet. According to The Direct, Brian Volk-Weiss, the producer of Icons Unearthed: Marvel, a Vice docuseries, shares that Marvel needed the time to set everything up so nothing would be rushed:
“I think it’s extremely smart and I know the reason for it and maybe that’s why I think it’s smart. The reason is, these people think in five-year blocks so… they can’t wake up one morning and be like, ‘Oh, [Disney CEO] Bob Iger just texted me. Now we own X-Men. Let’s put it into production.’”
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Volk-Weiss continues his thought process by explaining that Marvel needed the time to set up the “creative seeds” for the franchise to have mutants and the X-Men, so it felt right. While this is true that Marvel has teased the X-Men in shows like Ms. Marvel, but the MCU hadn’t explained why there were suddenly Mutants in Phase Four when not a single person was a Mutant in Phase One.
Another point is that the X-Men will face the same issue that other super heroes have faced. If they have been around for years, why didn’t they help stop Thanos? Why haven’t they been around until now? One popular theory is that Kang the Conqueror might be responsible for their absence and that the Multiverse might be why they enter the MCU.
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Either way, the X-Men are going to enter the MCU. It’s inevitable. The real question is when and fans might just have to realize that their time in the spotlight will have to wait as Marve has their hands full with lots of newer characters, and it’s already too much for them. After having so many delays with several key execs being let go, it’s clear that Marvel Studios needs some new changes.
After these changes leave the MCU in a better place, Marvel will probably set their eyes on the X-Men and make their introduction worth the long wait. Until then, X-Men will be on an MCU hiatus waiting for the right time to release.
Do you think the X-Men will be introduced before Secret Wars? Let Inside the Magic know what you think!