This article contains SPOILERS for Deadpool & Wolverine!
Summary
Comic book fans have already, mostly, enjoyed 20 years of Marvel mutants on the big screen. But in half a decade since Disney secured rights to the X-Men after buying Fox, it’s still unclear how this rich and popular part of the Marvel universe will make it into theMCU.
Halfway through the Multiverse Saga, theMCUhas nodded to mutants using the overarching potential of infinite universes. But up to the most recent fillm,Deadpool & Wolverine, their appearances have been dominated by nostalgia and fan-pleasing variant casting. Recent films have confirmed that the Fox films occupy one universe of the multiverse. Still, mutants are powerful enough to enter the MCU without relying on the reveal of separate realities and countless variants.
Why The Multiverse Is A Cop-Out Way To Introduce The X-Men
So far, all the hints have suggested that the multiverse will provide a convenient way for a fully formed mutant contingent to arrive in the MCU. First, there wasDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Charles Xavier appeared alongside a variant of the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. Patrick Stewart’s return to the role was clearly a nod to the Fox X-universe, although the wheelchair was a big hint that this Professor X actually came fromX-Men: The Animated Series.
A more direct incursion appeared in the mid-credits of 2023’sThe Marvels.Kelsey Grammer’s Beast appearedwith a slick new look, and that trip to the X-Men HQ beneath Xavier’s school confirmed that the Fox X-universe was part of the MCU multiverse. That was confirmed inDeadpool & Wolverinewhen the mutant-packed Fox X-universe was given its own designation: Earth-10005. The status of (Fox’s two versions of) the Fantastic Four wasn’t resolved, but Deadpool’s third outing did something surprising: it left it intact.
In the latest MCU installment, Deadpool and a version of Wolverine, who slides in from another universe entirely, can walk straight into the MCU Earth-616 thanks to the Time Variance Authority, although Deadpool seems to have previously visited the Avengers. That, and the nostalgic inclusion of big-screen Marvel characters, shows how easy it could be to serve up an oven-ready bunch of mutants, neatly explaining why they haven’t appeared in the shared universe before.
Mutant characters previously lifted from the comics to appear in the MCU include Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Fox had the rights to the X-Men at the time, but the siblings got through thanks to their membership of the Avengers. The pair needed new origins in the mutant-free MCU, and Marvel Studios’ approach to both characters quickly diverged. Scarlet Witch grew far beyond early Hydra experiments to become a tortured villain, while Quicksilver was dispatched quicker than he could run. The multiverse is an easy way to scribble over those arcs withnew mutant versions, whether that means a new or returning cast.
However, stitching an existing universe to the MCU does a disservice to the mutants and their rich history in the comics. Now Deadpool has hopefully packed up the nostalgia and in-jokes, it’s clear that mutants are one part of Marvel history that doesn’t need to be carbon-copied. Comments from Kelsey Grammer suggest more is to come from his character, but the Multiverse Saga has to be about more than throwbacks if it wants to set up mutant culture properly. While Marvel Studios supremo Kevin Feige has stated thatDeadpool & Wolverineis wherethe X-Men era starts in the MCU, it remains unclear what that means.
The X-Men Were Created To Make Superhero Origins A Thing Of The Past
During the phenomenal Silver Age growth of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee and fellow creators came up with many superhero origins that have become part of popular culture, from gamma bombs to a spider’s bite. Given how well-known they are, it’s no surprise that Lee and artist Jack Kirby looked for ways to avoid the pressure of creating more. The result may be jokingly called lazy, but it was also a stroke of genius:The X-Men appeared in late 1963as heroes born with powers.
Far from supporting the idea that mutants should be dropped in from another universe, this should inspire the MCU to come up with a simpler way for mutants to feel like they’ve always been around. The MCU could then, like Lee and Kirby, concentrate on new stories and not backstories.
Marvel’s Mutants Have Unlimited Potential
The X-Men universe offers a limitless pool of imagination and opportunity, which has inspired great creators to produce incredible stories for decades. The comics constantly introduce new characters with distinctive abilities, including some Omega-Level Mutants who can alter reality.
The MCU has had mixed success introducing groups of powered humans, mainly through the Kree-created Terrigen Mists that activate genetic mutations seen inAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.andInhumans. On the small screen, that’s been necessarily underpowered, but the mutants — Homo Superior with innate abilities caused by their mutations — offer the chance to combine classic characters with new creations. Who is to say that a newly emerged or freshly adapted mutant couldn’t provide a far better reason for the X-Mens’ arrival than a gateway from another universe?
The Multiverse Is A Misdirection
The multiverse has served its purpose in introducing the concept of mutants and bridging the gap from Fox’s time in charge of them. However, as this chapter of the MCU has its sights set on Kang, Doom, and Secret Wars, it never seemed likely to shine too much light on the X-Men.
Before Homo Superior provides the backbone of the MCU’s third saga, the Multiverse can act as a palette cleanser — both tribute to and break from the era that limped to a close during Disney’s acquisition of Fox withDark PhoenixandNew Mutants.
As with the dips into Sony’s still very much alive Marvel universe, these nods suggest a wider comic universe than pointing to any major plot point on Earth-616.
What Do You Do With The Old X-Men?
It’s not like the MCU has a ready-made set of fighting-fit X-Men ready to go. The Fox Universe worked through its mutants over almost two decades, killing off some famous characters and rebooting its timeline more than once (for theFirst Classprequels and then through the events ofDays of Future Past).
Jennifer Lawrence is just one actress who was a massive boon to the Fox X-universe, but there’s no clamor for her to take the character over to the MCU after four films. Given his box office history and the fact a third movie was in development at the time of the Disney acquisition, Deadpool was always the character most likely to step across wholesale to the MCU — if only to joke with Hugh Jackman/Wolverine thathe’ll be in the MCU until he’s 90.
It doesn’t make sense to set up the Fox universe during the Multiverse Saga and slide that into the MCU. A lot of it is water under the bridge, and despite some inarguable highs, some of the Fox-era missteps are worth forgetting. That’s whyDeadpool & Wolverinefeels more like a eulogy for the Fox era rather than a chance for it to play out all over again in the MCU.
If the mutants are going to be recreated from scratch with a new cast, why should they emerge from another universe? The Fantastic Four, one-time stablemates of the X-Men at Fox, are a different matter. As intergalactic heroes and dimensional travelers, their origins in an alternate 1960s can be integral to their MCU incarnations. For the X-Men to follow on those coattails doesn’t make sense.
Marvel’s Mutants Need To Be Relevant
Yes, the X-Men have brought some of the greatest characters, powers, and storylines to comic books, but since the 1960s, much of their power has been in their symbolism.
The weight of surprise returns and in-jokes have dragged the Multiverse Saga down. Spider-Man cameos and alternative Reed Richards make for big popcorn moments in a movie theater. But across a three-phase saga, they feel, with apologies to Mr Fantastic, stretched. The mutants' arrival offers the chance to inject compelling relevance and action into Marvel Studios’ mega-franchise. In the 1960s, the parallels between the plight of mutants and civil rights movements were clear, but their meaning and metaphor have been shaped by societal and world events over the decades. One exception, as ever, is Deadpool, who can stay irreverent.
Marvel’s mutants represent infinite diversity and potential. The MCU cameos of Wesley Snipes’ Blade, Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker, and John Krasinski’s Reed Richards have been fun. However, fans should believe that the X-Men can transcend the Multiverse Saga and leave their old variants as distant memories.
