With the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool all on their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the world inhabited by The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy is about to change in a huge way. After spending decades stuck in Fox's often chaotic and nonsensical Marvel Universe, it's fair to say that those heroes and villains will be altered for the better courtesy of Marvel Studios.
Disney has confirmed that the Deadpool franchise will remain R-Rated, but being surrounded by Earth's Mightiest Heroes will have a huge impact on Wade Wilson no matter the rating. Throw in the fact that we'll be getting new versions of both the X-Men and Fantastic Four just a few years from now, and there are a lot of exciting ways we can expect to see those characters finally done justice.
It's about time, and the groundwork is already being laid for their respective debuts.
What you'll find here are the ten biggest ways the arrival of Fox's Marvel heroes in the MCU will change them forever...for the better, of course!
10. Better Costumes
X-Men: Apocalypse introduced gave the team some colourful costumes, but those weren't great, and were still a long way off from what we've seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the time Dark Phoenix rolled around, we'd taken another step backwards thanks to some generic blue and yellow duds.
The costumes worn by the X-Men have always been problematic for fans, of course, and so it will be good to finally see them decked out in designs by incredible concept artists like Andy Park and Ryan Meinerding.
The same thing applies to the Fantastic Four because they're in desperate need of a fresh look on the big screen. Throw in redesigned costumes for the many villains who have been botched over the years (Galactus, Doctor Doom, and Apocalypse instantly spring to mind) and these characters will finally start doing their comic book counterparts justice.
9. Making Mutants Feel Special Again
When X-Men was released in 2000, seeing mutants like Wolverine and Cyclops on the big screen actually felt pretty special. Unfortunately, Fox has watered them down over the years by filling schools and prisons full of unknown extras and introducing subpar versions of great heroes and villains.
Regardless of whether the mutant gene is a new occurrence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or they've all been in hiding for years, Kevin Feige has the opportunity to make these characters special again by making them unique from other superheroes, ensuring that being a mutant means something.
There are ways to tie them into the wider MCU mythos as well, of course; for example, we wouldn't put it past the government using Stark Tech to create Sentinels.
8. The Fantastic Four We Know And Love
Fox had three chances to get the Fantastic Four right, and they f***ed them up (and Doctor Doom) each and every time. They couldn't even nail the team's origin story despite the fact that it's one of the easiest ones to pull off from any comic book ever. Throw in crappy versions of Galactus, the Negative Zone, and more, and this team is in desperate need of redemption.
Regardless of whether we get an adventure with the team set in the 1960s or their powers are tied to another big MCU event, it will be damn near impossible for the ball to be dropped here.
Throw in the fact that Marvel Studios has tasked Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts to helm the reboot, and it's fair to say Marvel's First Family is in safe hands. The filmmaker effortlessly rebooted the wall-crawler for today's audiences; him doing the same for the Fantastic Four seems a given.
7. A Fresh Take On Deadpool
The first Deadpool movie was a breath of fresh air from Fox, but held back by the studio cutting its budget during production (which led to a couple of major action set pieces being scrapped).
The sequel, however, was bloated, and didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations of many fans. Now, though, an R-Rated take on the Merc with the Mouth is coming to the MCU alongside Ryan Reynolds. That's exciting, but so too is the fact the character will get to play in this sandbox.
Throw in Kevin Feige's creative input, and we should be in for the best Deadpool movie to date. Despite that R-Rating, we'll be shocked if there aren't at least a few major A-List cameos here too.
6. Good News For Comic Book And Theme Park Fans
Because Marvel Studios didn't own the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter decided that both teams should have a diminished presence in the company's comic book universe. That's already started to change, and when they make their MCU debuts...well, that's going to be very exciting for fans.
Black Widow's planned release has seen Red Guardian and Yelena Belova return to the Marvel Universe, while The Falcon and The Winter Soldier means Sam and Bucky are getting the spotlight again.
As for Disney's theme parks, you can bet your life we'll now start seeing more merchandise featuring the characters hit those and other stores, not to mention various rides and attractions. If you've been waiting for these characters to dominate shelves again, then that time is nearing.
5. Wolverine Joins The Avengers
Hugh Jackman won't be returning to the role of Wolverine (unless Kevin Feige makes him an offer he can't refuse), but now that character can appear in the MCU, there's no way he won't soon be leading the charge when the X-Men hit the MCU.
However, the massive crossover potential of the clawed mutant means well no doubt see him with that team, in his own solo series, and as part of The Avengers. Some fans probably won't be happy seeing Wolverine again serving as the focal point of the X-Men, but seeing him in his yellow and blue suit standing alongside the rest of The Avengers is the stuff dreams are made of.
There's no way Marvel Studios is going to bring these characters home to isolate them and Wolverine is the perfect candidate to bridge the gap between the two worlds.
4. The Heroes Get To Embrace Their Cosmic Roots
Despite the fact Simon Kinberg promised to make up for past mistakes with Dark Phoenix, it was a relatively grounded affair with the team journeying into space solely for a quick opening scene.
In the comic books, the heroes have embarked on a number of missions in outer space over the years, and that's bound to happen in the MCU (eventually). These characters being part of this shared world means that Cyclops and the Starjammers hanging out with the Guardians of the Galaxy is a very real possibility.
The Fantastic Four stands the greatest chance of benefitting from heading into outer space, though, as setting the team's adventures in the cosmic side of the MCU would help differentiate them from previous iterations, and opens up a lot of doors not even the Guardians' franchise has.
3. Avengers Vs. X-Men
This has to happen. It might take a decade or could be what first brings the X-Men into the MCU in the first place, but an event movie like this has dollar signs written all over it. More importantly, for fans, this is the sort of thing they've spent years dreaming of seeing in live-action on the big screen.
It's going to take an awful lot to top Avengers: Endgame, so an Avengers vs. X-Men movie (which also includes the Fantastic Four and Guardians of the Galaxy) would be huge.
Ever since we learned that The Avengers was going to become a movie, fans have been anxious to see this one become a reality, and we're now just years away from that potentially hitting theaters all over the world. This crossover would certainly help restore interest in the heroes after those Fox outings.
2. No More Stupid Continuity Errors
The X-Men Universe was full of infuriating and confusing continuity errors (which timeline does Logan take place in again?) but thanks to Kevin Feige and the MCU, those days are over.
While some fans thought for a time that Marvel will find a way to make the X-Men movies fit into the MCU, it would be naive to think they'll do anything other than start from scratch (something which Evan Peters' return as "Quicksilver" in WandaVision has now seemingly proved).
We might need a few retcons to explain why we haven't seen or heard of these characters before now, but at least these stories will finally make sense now someone who knows what they're doing is in charge.
1. The MCU Will Be Changed Forever
Spider-Man swinging into the MCU was definitely a big deal, but the arrival of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool will change this world forever. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters will change how heroes are perceived in this world, while a team like the Fantastic Four showing up to occupy Stark Tower would be unbelievably cool.
Regardless of whether we're talking about Galactus attacking Earth or a terrorist like Magneto making New York City bend to his will, just the villains alone with shake things up in a major way.
It might take a couple of years before all these heroes start crossing paths but when it does happen, we're talking about perhaps the biggest superhero movie of all-time. Just imagine Spider-Man, the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantastic Four, and X-Men all standing side by side on the big screen.