Marvel Studios acquired the rights to the X-Men franchise in 2017 during the Disney/Fox merger. That was five years ago, and while Kamala Khan was confirmed as the MCU's first known mutant in Ms. Marvel, we're still clearly a long way off from seeing the Uncanny X-Men in this shared world.
As things stand, we don't think the team will assemble in time for Avengers: Secret Wars, but a new rumour shared by Screen Geek claims to reveal some new intel about Marvel Studios' plans.
According to the site (and we're definitely taking this with a pinch of salt for now), Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men will be used as a basis for the eventual reboot. Meant as a course correction for the series after Grant Morrison's bleak New X-Men run, the title saw the team embrace being superheroes again, ditching black leather for colourful costumes.
The roster was made up of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Shadowcat, and Colossus, while the series also introduced Armor. The main focus was the team trying to stop an alien race from destroying Earth, along with the Danger Room coming to life to kill them and a mutant cure being revealed to the world.
Had Whedon not dropped the ball with Justice League and been surrounded by damaging claims about inappropriate behaviour on the sets of his movies and TV shows, we're sure Marvel Studios would have liked him to write and direct this X-Men reboot. After all, he delivered two hits for them with The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Pitting the MCU's X-Men against a cosmic threat or even a sentient Danger Room would differentiate this movie from what Fox delivered. This roster would also be a breath of fresh air, mixing characters who will be familiar to fans with those who haven't had the chance to shine before.
It's also worth noting that Professor X wasn't part of this iteration of the X-Men.
How would you feel about a movie inspired by Astonishing X-Men?