Marvel Just Confirmed X-Men Plans for Future MCU Movies

Kevin Feige finally gives some details about bringing the X-Men into the MCU.

Hugh Jackman in Deadpool and Wolverine
Photo: Marvel Studios

Even the grouchiest viewer of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law swooned a bit when Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters asks the robot K.E.V.I.N. the question on everyone’s mind: “When are we getting the X-Men?”

While the robot Kevin dodged the question, the real Kevin Feige finally provided a more serious timeline during the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore.

“I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize,” Feige told attendees (via Deadline) while talking about bringing more characters together in future MCU films. “Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men.” Given that Avengers: Secret Wars isn’t scheduled to release until May 7, 2027, it seems like the proper X-Men are still a long ways off, at least officially.

However, Feige does suggest that we’ll still see random mutants pop up between now and then, something that’s been happening for a while in the MCU. We’ve already seen Kamala Khan (not officially a mutant until the last episode of Ms. Marvel), Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and El Aguila and Mr. Immortal in She-Hulk. Alternate reality mutants have popped up in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, and, of course, Deadpool & Wolverine.

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Thus, it sounds like Marvel will continue to introduce mutants in this method. We’ll likely see more variations of the Fox and animated X-Men appearing in alternate universes. Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds have called for a Gambit movie after the success of Deadpool & Wolverine and Michael Fassbender recently mentioned that he would return to his role as Magneto, so it wouldn’t be too much of a shock to see those characters again.

However, the most interesting mutants might be those who appear in the mainline MCU (sigh… fine, Earth-616). Sabra aka Ruth Bat-Seraph will appear in Captain America: New World Order played by Shira Haas, but we’ll probably see more C- and D-listers join the universe.

It’s important that Marvel seed these minor mutants before big guns like Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm precisely because of the X-Men’s central ethos. Unlike the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, the X-Men fight to save a world that hates and fears them. The mutant metaphor always stretched credulity, not just because it was an imperfect way to talk about oppressed groups, but also because it never really made sense that regular humans would love the Avengers, who count the Hulk and former criminals such as Quicksilver and Hawkeye as members, or the Fantastic Four and hate a mutant like Angel, who has the frightening ability to… fly with his wings and dodge things.

By introducing mutants slowly into a world that’s already filled with fantastic heroes who have caused massive amounts of distraction, Marvel has the opportunity to retain some of the central themes of the comic book characters.

If bringing the mutants to the MCU is, as Feige told the attendees, “one of those dreams come true,” then it’s good that he’s doing them right. Only when mutants are feared and hated can we finally get the X-Men.