From a continuity perspective, Disney’s upcoming and without a doubt historic merger with 21st Century Fox has opened up a real can of worms for Marvel fans, with forum theorists working day and night to figure out how Kevin Feige and his team plan to integrate the X-Men franchise into the MCU.
In the hunt for answers, one point that folks keep making is that bringing these gifted mutants into the saga post-Avengers 4 can’t be a simple matter of inducing superpowers into some ordinary people, à la Bruce Banner or Peter Parker. As determined by both the history of these characters and the underlying social commentary of their stories, mutants were born this way. That begs the question, then, of where have they been all this time?
Unfortunately, we can’t answer that just yet, but Mr. Feige might be able to. Though don’t expect him to reveal what he’s got in mind, as according to the super producer, while Marvel does have ideas for how all this is going to work out, they’re not ready to share them at the moment.
“The merger’s not done,” Feige stated. “What I will say is, for years and years the dream has been to have access to as many of our characters back so that we can tell those stories at Marvel Studios. If and when that happens, I’ll be very excited. … We have ideas just from going back 18 years, but nothing specific.”
Of course, the big thing everyone’s wondering is will there be any kind of post-credits tease involving the Fox IPs in the upcoming Avengers 4? It seems unlikely, given the timing of the merger and, as Feige says, it’s technically not done yet. It’s going to happen, make no mistake about it, but until it’s fully completed and has been signed off on by all the necessary parties, Marvel can’t touch the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four.
Either way, Avengers 4 hits cinemas on May 3rd, 2019, and you can bet we’ll be there right until the ushers turn on the lights in the screening room.
