This week's Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal confirmed that the X-Men will play a key role in the upcoming movie. We've suspected this might be the plan for a while, particularly as Kevin Feige got his start working as an associate producer on 2000's X-Men.
So far, X-Men franchise stars Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), and Kelsey Grammer (Beast), alongside Deadpool & Wolverine's Channing Tatum (Gambit), have all joined the movie, with more expected to follow.
Rumour has it an Incursion will see Earth-616's Mightiest Heroes forced to battle the X-Men, essentially meaning we're getting an Avengers vs. X-Men movie featuring the most iconic actors to have filled those roles.
The question is, has Marvel Studios already teased the prospect of those teams doing battle next year?
As you can see below, many fans are convinced they've spotted a shadow in a photo that followed the live stream which creates an "A" and an "X" sitting on top of each other. If it sounds like a stretch, then you may want to cast your minds back to Avengers: Endgame.
Before that movie's title was revealed, the Russo Brothers shared a social media post with a behind-the-scenes image and told fans to "look hard." Eventually, people figured out that various items on set spelled out "E-N-D-G-A-M-E."
During a recent interview, Joe Russo explained what brought him and Anthony back to the MCU. "What's compelling about these two new Avengers movies is they're a beginning," he revealed. "It's a new beginning. We told an ending story, now we're going to tell a beginning story."
That was quite the revelation, but it lined up with what we've heard about Avengers: Secret Wars softly rebooting the MCU and creating a new Sacred Timeline the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men all call home.
As for what their Marvel Studios future looks like beyond that, Joe said, "Who knows where we'll go from there? Maybe it will be another five years. I think we just needed that time and perspective to figure out where it needed to go next and the only thing that brought us back was the right story." Rumours persist that the Russos will direct the eventual X-Men reboot.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.
I feel like a conspiracy theorist circling things in red
byu/True_Confusion_295 inmarvelstudios