The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood and has constantly produced entertaining films that have audiences coming back in greater numbers. Its 23 movies have earned more than $22.5 billion US at the global box office. But, the superhero phase began before the inception of the MCU and a lot of the credit for the success of the genre goes to the X-Men franchise. Considering how popular the characters from both franchises are, a crossover between the two universes is inevitable.
After making 13 movies in the span of 20 years, the X-Men universe is a well-established franchise. Similarly, the first MCU film was released in 2008 and since then a total of 23 films have been released. Therefore, merging the two will not be easy because the audiences are now familiar with the characters and their individual circumstances. Up until this point, there has been no mention of the X-Men in the MCU and after 13 years, bringing them into the fold will be a mammoth task.
For those who aren’t aware, even though the X-Men originally appeared in a series of Marvel comics, Marvel Studios did not own the rights to the X-Men films until 2019. Back in the 90s, rights to both X-Men and Fantastic Four films were sold by Marvel to 20th Century Fox. However, in March of 2019, Marvel’s parent company Disney acquired Fox, and with both now under the Disney umbrella, Marvel then owned the rights to the characters from the X-Men.
In their attempt to bring the X-Men characters into the MCU, the biggest challenge that Marvel might have to face is answering the question as to why it has taken this long for mutants to finally reveal themselves. Multiple superheroes have been reigning this universe for over a decade, so where have the mutants been hiding all along? And if they weren’t a part of this universe, how did they suddenly arrive here? Simply using the excuse that they came from an alternate universe will not be good enough, and would almost be a disservice to the fans of both franchises.
With the MCU entering Phase 4 this year, a whole bunch of new Marvel characters are ready to enter the universe, including Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and several new heroes step into the world in Chloé Zhao’s upcoming film Eternals. With an established roster of heroes, plus new additions this year, it seems like there is hardly any room for the X-Men to step into the MCU. Bringing them will have an impact on the current timeline, especially considering their complex history, and many storylines may even need to be edited in order to have mutants and heroes co-exist in the MCU.
Additionally, in the comics, the mutants were always considered outsiders. Bringing them into the well-established world of superheroes as it stands right now would not make sense. The MCU is a place where heroes are celebrated even after they manage to destroy cities in the process of getting rid of invaders and super-villains. Why would anyone living in this world be afraid of mutants? Even if the X-Men somehow manage to fit in, they would have no room to shine in a world where an arrogant billionaire is remembered for sacrificing his life just so he could save humanity.
Despite all the challenges that Marvel could potentially face, it has become clear that fans are ready to accept the X-Men into the universe. When Evan Peters was cast as Pietro Maximoff in Disney Plus’ WandaVision, fans were convinced that Marvel was taking its first step towards bringing the two franchises together. Their excitement was contagious.
When episode 5 of WandaVision, “On a Very Special Episode…”, premiered and first introduced Peters as Wanda’s brother Pietro, otherwise known as Quicksilver, it came as a big surprise for the MCU fans. Having seen Peters play the role of Quicksilver in the X-Men universe, fans quickly assumed that WandaVision was quietly entering the multiverse. It was confirmed that the events occurring in WandaVision would lead into Marvel’s upcoming project Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and so all the dots seemed to connect.
Wanda and Pietro are both X-Men characters and in the comics, they were both mutants and the children of Magneto. They made their first appearance in the MCU, played by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, in a mid-credits scene in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In order to bring them into the MCU, their backstories had to be slightly modified, and they were both given non-mutant backgrounds. At the same time, Fox introduced their own version of Pietro, played by Peters, in the X-Men universe, with him first showing up in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, MCU fans saw Pietro being killed by Ultron, and that marked the end of Taylor-Johnson’s role. However, in WandaVision, the character returned, but was played by a different actor. This is why Peters’ surprise casting as Pietro sent shock waves in the MCU fandom. Marvel clearly knew what they were doing and fans jumped to the conclusion that the MCU was finally a place where mutants existed. But, the finale was a letdown.
It was revealed that Pietro was in fact just a random Westview citizen named Ralph Bohner, who was under a spell cast by Agatha Harkness the whole time. All of the fans’ multiverse theories had been proven wrong, and looking back, it makes sense. Having the X-Men characters just show up in the MCU, using the excuse that they did so from an alternate universe, seems too easy. Fans were obviously upset, and they weren’t wrong because Marvel knew what Peters’ casting would do. But, it all boils down to the fact that for a crossover so big, it would be an easy cop out to blame it on an alternate universe. If X-Men characters were ever to appear in the MCU, fans deserve a bigger, louder entrance.