- Marvel has given fans an exciting glimpse into its post-Avengers: Secret Wars plans
- The comic titan will build its future around the X-Men, according to boss Kevin Feige
- Various mutants will appear in movies before the Multiversa Saga ends, too
The Marvel Multiverse Saga isn’t over yet, but the comic giant’s boss Kevin Feige has provided an exciting insight into its post-Avengers: Secret Wars plans.
Speaking, albeit virtually, at the opening of Disney’s APAC Content Showcase in Singapore (per Deadline), Feige revealed that the next stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will be built around the X-Men. Cue fans, myself included, of the iconic mutant superhero group punching the air in unison.
That’s not the only exciting news that Feige had for the assembled crowd. Marvel’s creative chief also dropped a huge hint that we’ll see numerous mutants appear in MCU movies before Secret Wars – the Marvel Phase 6 film that’ll wrap up the Multiverse Saga’s story in May 2027.
“I think you will see that [bringing the X-Men to the MCU] continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize,” Feige teased. “Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.”
The X-Men’s arrival has been a long time coming in the MCU. The superteam’s rights were previously held by 20th Century Fox, which meant Marvel couldn’t use any mutant characters in the MCU for over two decades. However, with Marvel regaining the rights to the X-Men when Disney bought Fox in March 2019, the studio has slowly been integrating one of its most famous supergroups into its cinematic juggernaut via various Marvel Phase 4 and Marvel Phase 5 projects.
From Disney Plus shows like Ms Marvel and X-Men 97, to films including Deadpool and Wolverine, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and The Marvels, the mutants have been systematically peppered throughout the MCU in recent times. With the next two Avengers movies expected to be a multi-franchise celebration of every Marvel superhero we’ve seen over the past 25 years, you should expect lots of legacy characters to show up before the new era of the mutants begins, too.
‘I’m very excited for the future of the Fantastic Four’
The X-Men aren’t the only superteam that Feige is enthusiastic about bringing to the MCU. Like the X-Men, The Fantastic Four haven’t shown up in Marvel’s hugely popular franchise, either, because their rights were also held by Fox until five years ago.
Marvel’s First Family, though, will finally make their MCU debut next year, with a standalone film titled The Fantastic Four: First Steps set to arrive in theaters on July 25. According to Feige, the iconic quartet will be an integral part of not only Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but also the future of the MCU.
“Finally, [we’re] bringing Marvel’s First Family into the MCU,” Feige said. “They wrap next week, the movie comes out next summer, and then all those characters go right into the next Avengers movies, so I’m very excited for the future of the Fantastic Four.”
After a turbulent period for Marvel Studios, things are starting to look like they’re on the up again. Indeed, following the delay of numerous projects due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, the firing of key actors like Jonathan Majors, and inconsistent quality control that’s led to occasional diminishing box office returns and a downturn in audience enthusiasm, Marvel has come in for its fair share of criticism over the last few years. The comic giant will hope, then, that better days lie ahead once more, especially with the X-Men and The Fantastic Four’s arrival.