Introducing the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a tricky proposition for the all-conquering franchise, even if the thirteen installments at Fox barely scratched the surface in terms of diving deep into a comic book mythology that’s been going strong for over half a century.
The MCU will inevitably incorporate at least a handful of characters into its version of the team that audiences have grown more than familiar with, but the trick is retaining the essence of the X-Men while still making the reboot stand on its own merits without inviting too many comparisons.
However, the introduction of the multiverse means that if Kevin Feige was so inclined, he could simply rehire the cast from the previous movies and there’s an easy storytelling device to explain why. As unlikely as that seems, Patrick Stewart recently revealed that he’d met with the company’s Chief Creative Officer to discuss many things, including the X-Men and Charles Xavier.
“I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations. And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier. Here’s the problem, if we had not made Logan, then yes. I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But Logan changed all that.”
Stewart’s Xavier may have been killed off in Logan, but he also died in X-Men: The Last Stand, and that didn’t stop him from returning. Technically, there’s no reason why he couldn’t appear in the MCU, with the current timeline following Avengers: Endgame setting the ‘present day’ adventures in 2023, six years before the events of Logan unfold.
Whether or not they were discussing anything substantial or Feige was simply seeking some insight into the character remains a mystery, but we do know that work is happening behind the scenes on the MCU’s X-Men, although we won’t be seeing the mutants back on our screens for a while yet. Most of the hopeful speculation has unsurprisingly focused on Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but fans certainly wouldn’t mind having Patrick Stewart return as Professor X, either.
