With the Disney/ Fox merger at long last complete and official, fans can now look forward to seeing some of Marvel’s core staple of heroes finally joining the MCU, and just in time, some might add. With ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ coming out next month, which is set to be the swan song for many of the original heroes of the MCU, this is the ideal time to start looking for some fresh blood.
Of course, that is not to say there is not a lot of work that still needs to be done, and a lot of decisions that still have to be made. ‘Deadpool‘ with Reynolds attached is the only part of the 20th Century Fox ‘X-Men’ franchise making the transition more or less intact, but even then we do not know whether he will get to make more “R” rated movies or go the “PG-13” route, not to mention whether he will exist in his own little bubble Universe or join the MCU proper.
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Plus, Fox still has two remaining ‘X-Men’ movies coming out from their old franchise, ‘Dark Phoenix and ‘New Mutants,’ and while ‘Dark Phoenix’ will be the first film marketed by Disney and will definitely get that theatrical release (and will more or less be the grand finale of the Fox ‘X-Men’ universe), ‘New Mutants’ does not look that promising. Rumor has it the film’s early cuts are not looking good, with some thinking reshoots may be in order, which Disney may not be interested in paying for now that the’X-Men’ are most likely going to be rebooted anyway so they can join the MCU. Speculation is that ‘New Mutants’ may just be quietly finished and put on a streaming platform like Disney+ or Hulu.
Then there’s the producer problems, with folks like Lauren Shuler Donner, who has produced every ‘X-Men’ film since the 2000 film launched the franchise, apparently having a deal in place that gives her an executive producer credit on every ‘X-Men’ film made, regardless of whether or not she worked on it, with rumors that Simon Kinberg may have a similar deal in place. Deals like this may require some legal work by Disney, or just buying out the contracts, as they will likely not be using Kinberg or Donner’s services with the ‘X-Men’ moving forward.
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The last hurdle would be time, as though the MCU may not have premiere dates for their upcoming movies, they do have a lot in the works. Following ‘End Game’ they have ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home,’ and have announced sequels to ‘Black Panther,’ ‘Doctor Strange,’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ as well as the Black Widow‘ movie, ‘Shang-Chi‘ and the ‘Eternals’ movie, all of which would make squeezing in an ‘X-Men’ movie difficult before 2021. Unless Kevin Feige already has a script for something, which may be the case knowing how far ahead the man plans, though so far the only new script fans have heard of based on the acquisition has been a ‘Doctor Doom‘ movie written by Noah Hawley (‘Legion,’ ‘Fargo’), which of course would be more about bringing the Fantastic Four into the MCU than the X-Men.
What are your thoughts about the future of the X-Men in the MCU? Could this be another case of Marvel Studios pushing some projects back to make room for a property they know fans are very excited about? Do you think we could see a massive movie event like ‘Avengers VS X-Men’ sometime in the near future? Are there any other story-lines that would be amazing to see on-screen now that the MCU has access to the 20th Century Fox catalogue of Marvel characters? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
