Making sense of 20th Century Fox's X-Men Universe is nigh-on impossible. The prequel movies jumped from decade to decade without their leads ageing by more than a year or two, and while X-Men: Days of Future Past was supposed to rewrite the future and retcon X-Men: The Last Stand's worst creative decisions, Logan ultimately painted a grim picture of the team's fate.
Throw the Deadpool franchise into the mix, and it only becomes more headache-inducing. Deadpool & Wolverine tried dealing with that by introducing a very similar Wolverine Variant, but we still have no idea what the X-Men look like on Earth-10005.
Colossus and Teenage Negasonic Warhead are on the team, but according to Deadpool 2, so are prequel-era mutants like James McAvoy's Professor X.
In Avengers: Doomsday, we'll return to the X-Men Universe, but seemingly not the one from any previous movies (and that may include the world that the Merc with the Mouth and Logan now call home).
Recently, The Cosmic Circus' Alex Perez shared a comic book panel from Ultimatum, seemingly in reference to Sir Ian McKellen's recent comments about Magneto's actions in the next Avengers movie.
Later elaborating on his vague tease, Perez wrote, "In Doomsday, the X-Men universe we get to see in the movie is a variant universe where events similar to that of the [original] trilogy [and] [Days of Future Past] occurred, just to make it simpler for the audience to not do that much homework."
"What is new, is that this universe exists as a utopia for humans and mutants. But you have to wonder…what exactly happened prior to that that allowed this utopia to exist? What sacrifices had to be made for the greater good? And that question is the general motif of Doomsday."
"Not just for Magneto, but Sam, his Avengers, The Thunderbolts*, The Wakandans, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers, Thor, Loki, the TVA, the variants we see in this movie and most of all Doom," Perez continued. "What would you be willing to sacrifice to gain what you want? To succeed? To save the ones you love? Your morals? Your beliefs? Your powers? Your mortality? Your life?"
The insider later suggested that the idea of Magneto laying waste to New Jersey was originally planned for the Deadpool threequel.
There are infinite realities in the Multiverse, and it seems the home of the X-Men will feature some familiar faces in new surroundings (and costumes). So, those of you hoping for a direct follow-up to the 20th Century Fox films may be left feeling disappointed.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to help.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.