From a continuity perspective, Disney’s historic merger with 21st Century Fox has opened up a can of worms for the Marvel fanbase, with forum theorists working overtime to deduce how Kevin Feige and his team could possibly integrate the X-Men franchise into the MCU.
In this search for answers, it remains a major point of concern that bringing these gifted mutants into the saga post-Avengers 4 can’t be a simple matter of inducing these 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 – so where have they been all this time?
One potential loophole to this problem is the suggestion that the mutant gene is alive but dormant in countless potential superheroes and villains around the world, and all they need is some big, universe-changing event to bring these powers out of them. This would explain why Scarlet Witch – a mutant in all but the fact that Disney can’t yet legally call her that – gained her dazzling abilities after exposure to the Mind Stone. This origin is the lynchpin in a lengthy new post from Redditor Meme_abstinent, which provides a “very, VERY detailed” theory of how the events of Avengers 4 could bring the X-Men and associates into a new universe.
The user starts off with a quick summary of the various points argued in this post.
-The X-Men will be rebooted…except Deadpool and the X-Force.
I’ll get to the second part later. Mutants will be introduced through the events of Avengers 4, as some of the half of humanity that comes back from the Snappening will become mutants and the Modern X-Men. Meanwhile, Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine may already exist.”
As is common for these theories, the Infinity Stones play a pivotal role in awakening the powers of the characters, and it isn’t long before tensions arise between the mutants and the normies.
“-In the MCU the Mutant Gene will be activated when a human makes contact with an Infinity Stone and receives powers from it. This allows Scarlet Witch to be re-branded back to a Mutant which is key to this theory.
-The social rift from the comics could be even tenser here.
Now imagine mutants as the everyday folk from the regular world who come back to life with these powers. Clearly people could be terrified of mutants they are in the comics, heak anybody could be one!
-Currently, Scarlet Witch is feared by most of the world due to the affects of Civil War.
The already frightened public realizes that that damn Scarlet Witch is also a mutant! That creates the social riff like the comics, anyone could be a mutant and thus they are dangerous.
-Scarlet Witch was the first modern mutant other than her brother, so she will most likely want to help her fellow mutants.
She’s already lost her family, it would make sense that her character desperately wants a new family. And since most of the Avengers she’s worked with will either die or retire and a new team comes in, I doubt her character will feel as at home. Also, Scarlet can crack under the pressure of leading the X-Men or even choosing sides and boom eventually House of M.”
But before that tumultuous saga can arise, Meme_abstinent argues that there’ve already been a few famed mutants walking the Earth and making use of their abilities.
“-Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine are already alive, as Mutants are granted their powers through contact with the Infinity Stones and each character has already encountered one sometime in the MCU’s history.
Let’s say Magneto was experimented on by Red Skull and the Space Stone as a holocaust survivor. Let’s say Logan 300 years ago encountered a stone or the stone’s energy. Hell that way he could still fight alongside Cap maybe in a flashback or cameo (granted he was hiding his powers). Charles is harder but hey, it’s Marvel’s job. This also can maybe [lead to] an eventual Apocalypse movie again as even he could be canon.”
For Wade Wilson and his newly formed team, however, this Redditor has a slightly different plan in mind.
“-Deadpool and the X-Force will remain canon.
This is already sorta confirmed, as Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he looks forward to working with Deadpool and that it will remain rated R.”
Meme_abstinent then cites a pair of sources from ComicBook.com and Syfy, before explaining how the Merc with a Mouth needn’t be compromised too much in the transition to this family-friendly franchise.
“Deadpool could easily work within the tone of the MCU and will be involved in team-up movies. Let’s say
Deadpool shows up in a PG-13 Avengers or Spider-Man flick, it’s incredibly character accurate to have Deadpool look at the camera and say “Sorry folks, no cussing. Kids are watching this one” and boom Deadpool is PG-13. And when marvel character pop up in Deadpool movies, it can remain Rated R, allowing adults to see another side of their kid’s heroes in a realistic manner. This is actually sorta hinted on in Bob Iger’s comments in the websites above, stating that it remain rated R because he trusts that the audiences know what they are getting into.”
As you can see, there’s a lot to unpack here, but while there may well be many grains of truth in this post, the theory’s still hampered with the questionable assumption that Marvel Studios will be ready to bring the X-Men into their world in less than one year from now. This would be cutting it pretty close, seeing how Disney’s acquisition of Fox isn’t expected to be officially completed until early 2019.
This far out in the proceedings, it would be a surprise to see any explicit reference to the incoming flood of mutants in Avengers 4 beyond perhaps a post-credits teaser. That being said, it all lies with the Russo Brothers’ highly anticipated blockbuster to prove us wrong or right when the film drops into cinemas on May 3rd, 2019 and paves the way for Marvel’s very busy future.