The Mutants are coming! The Mutants are coming! Quite literally, plain and simple, the Mutants are coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an all-new reboot of the X-Men film franchise simply titled The Mutants.
The X-Men characters’ film rights were previously owned by 20th Century Fox until Marvel’s parent company Disney purchased that studio in 2019. The Illuminerdi is now reporting that Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige are currently developing a film that will bring Marvel’s mutants into the MCU. This is the first real information to come out about Marvel’s plans for the characters since they obtained the film rights two years ago.
This is currently the only X-Men-related project to be in development from Marvel Studios aside from the previously announced Deadpool 3 (which will see the return of Ryan Reynolds in the titular role of the Merc with a Mouth as he joins the MCU for the first time himself).
While Deadpool breaking the figurative fourth wall and making the jump into the MCU is shockingly understandable (it seems totally in line with what the character would do and what he is capable of), it will be interesting to see how Marvel Studios folds the rest of the X-Men characters into everything they are already doing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There were over a dozen X-Men films produced by Fox during their two-decade run with the brand. That means Marvel will certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to truly differentiate their new X-Men films from what has come before without confusing general audiences.
The MCU is currently in the beginning stages of perhaps its greatest evolution yet with Phase 4. After a whopping 23 films, the series has concluded its larger overarching ‘Infinity Saga‘ storyline that encompassed Phases 1, 2, and 3. The MCU is looking at a number of changes. Big name characters have departed the film series, while plenty of new faces have been introduced to carry on the legacy of the Marvel brand.
The universe is expanding to be bigger than ever with Phase 4 as they introduce a number of film-quality live-action television series that will stream on Disney+. The first of these series, WandaVision, is airing its season (series?) finale this week, with another five shows still to come in 2021 like The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and What If…?. There are also four full-length films being released in 2021 for the MCU, with heavy hitters like Black Widow, Shang-Chi: And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, The Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home all coming before year’s end.
2022 is just as heavy with around a dozen new projects planned to release throughout the year between streaming series and films. Even beyond that, we know we have James Gunn‘s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 coming sometime in 2023, and Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts is set to relaunch The Fantastic Four around the same time frame in 2023 or 2024. The Fantastic Four is the first of the properties previously owned by 20th Century Fox that is making the official jump into the MCU proper which means that the door is absolutely open for the X-Men to join them any time now.
Currently, there is very minimal information available as to what the plans are for The Mutants. That may even just be a working title for the project as it is early in development, but we will be certain to keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Are you excited to see the X-Men finally making their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Who are you hoping to see make the team? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and stick around Geek Anything for more X-Men updates!
