Kevin Feige knows exactly how the X-Men are coming to the MCU, but he’s not saying

Sometimes the hardest choices require the strongest wills, and if anyone at the house of mouse has proven their resolve, it’s our guy Kevin Feige. Marvel’s big boss, Feige has been the mastermind — heroic, evil, or otherwise — in charge of crafting the MCU into the global phenomenon we’ve all come to love. Without him, these Tales to Astonish may not have been as… astonishing.

Now, as Phase 5 officially gets underway with the release of its Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Feb. 16 — Marvel is reinventing itself, again. What did you expect?

Known as the first part of the “Multiverse Saga”, Phase 5 is going to be a mind-melter. Yet one thing has remained unclear; as years continue to pass, when are we finally going to be introduced to the X-Men? Arguably one of Marvel’s most popular properties, fans have been waiting for the X-Men for far too long.

If anyone knows what role mutants are going to play in the overarching franchise narrative, it’s Kevin Feige. To the heartache of millions however, the producer has remained fairly tight lipped. Although in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Feige did briefly tease his mysterious plans for mutants in Marvel.

“You know, I think we’ve said the word once. Kamala (Ms. Marvel) talks about a genetic mutation, and Namor (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) refers to himself as a mutant amongst his own people. And mutant is a real genetic term, not just a comic book term.”

It’s true that the rollout of the mutant concept has been pretty slow going across the countless superhero stories Marvel puts out, yet that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been on Feige’s mind.

“But part of the fun is that I’ve been at this company for half my life, and we’re just now tapping into arguably one of the biggest aspects of the publishing history. It’s pretty remarkable, and it’s a testament to the house of ideas and what Marvel publishing has done these 80 years. The question is how to do it and when to do it, and that’s something we’ve been working on for years. Now we know. But we’re not going to talk about it.”

So does Marvel know how, when, and where they’re going to introduce the X-Men? Of course. Are they going to tell us? Absolutely not. Kevin Feige is in the business of entertaining, and in order to knock our socks off, this all has to be a surprise. It’s only a matter of time before mutants are walking amongst the Earth’s mightiest heroes.