Every Marvel fan is eagerly awaiting the moment in which the franchise finally incorporates the X-Men. There's a lot of comic book source material out there, enough to accommodate decades of films and series, but the Mutant corner of the franchise remains the most anticipated element. When it finally joins the universe, it'll need quite a lot of space to live up to expectations.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is arranged into countless weird tiers and semi-related running series. There are plenty of individual series of films that, until recently, came together to form one larger interconnected narrative called the Infinity Saga.
From Iron Man back in 2008 to Endgame eleven years later, every Marvel film is part of the Infinity Saga. Every self-contained story, every personal quest, and every chance encounter was building toward the final confrontation with Thanos. The Infinity Saga ends with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which paves the way for The Multiverse Saga, which is currently in progress. With only one-and-a-half to view as reference material, the MCU's Sagas appear to be loosely connected film series with an overarching story that only becomes fully clear at the end. New characters get solo projects, team-ups establish relationships, then the full team comes together to take on the cosmic-level villain. Viewing what 20th Century Fox has been able to accomplish, for good and for ill, with the material, the Saga model might be the perfect introduction and showcase for mutants in the MCU.
Remember X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Fans were still high on the stellar discovery of Hugh Jackman in the role of the most well-known mutant in the Marvel Universe. Many proudly proclaimed him the best part of the original X-Men trilogy, and whether that was true or not, he's still the most marketable name in the franchise. Pre-screenings before the film's wide release outsold Iron Man by a factor of 3-to-1. No one at that time could've predicted the disaster that the 2009 film would become. The awkward title indicates that the film was intended to launch a series of X-Men Origins films. The next would've been about Magneto and his tragic past. A Gambit solo movie had been planned for years and is still occasionally trying to get off the ground with Channing Tatum in the lead role. All that went down in flames after the messy reception of this film. It's been thirteen years, we can all look back and admit that it was a good idea ruined by bad execution.
Looking back at the first X-Men movie raises a lot of interesting contrasts between that era of superhero cinema and this one. A modern superhero film would probably never just drop that many marketable characters into one film without a lot of setups. 20th Century Fox had the confidence to try to introduce a dozen big names at once and let the fans pick their favorites. Though bold, the early Marvel Cinematic Universe really couldn't have pulled that off. Too many of their characters were unknown or mildly unpopular. The X-Men didn't have that problem, they used their popular characters as anchors to bring in their smaller names. The issue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe faces now isn't one of obscurity, it's the opposite. Fans are attached to the versions of these characters they grew up with and have been enjoying for 20 years. They have to be delicate in introducing their new takes on the characters.
The MCU has at least one point of origin that they can use to pave the way for a theoretical Mutant Saga. The company has its hands on the hotly anticipated Deadpool 3, which could serve as a springboard to launch the Mutant Saga somewhere down the line. Dropping the new X-Men on an unsuspecting audience could work, but a slow build would allow the studio to respond to characters as they come out. Individual origin stories for a few of the big players could be enjoyable films and excellent entry points for the wider story. There are so many X-Men characters that haven't gotten their day in the sun, and the Saga format might be the perfect way to explore this world.
Introducing mutants gradually, teaming them up for the first big MCU X-Men project, and setting the entire universe up against a towering villain could be the perfect format for this franchise. After the Multiverse Saga comes to an end, probably two to three years from now, Marvel can devote its entire world to its biggest new concept. Fans have been hyping up the moment they see the new Professor X, the new Magneto, and even the new Wolverine in the cinematic universe they've fallen in love with over the years. The best way to place them on a pedestal might just be the same way the franchise attained its highest honors in the first place.