Over the past few years, we've seen Marvel Studios slowly start to introduce mutants in the MCU. However, while Ms. Marvel and Namor being among them has teased what may be on the horizon, the X-Men themselves have appeared in the likes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, and this summer's Deadpool & Wolverine.
It's beginning to feel like one of the upcoming Avengers movies will pit Earth's Mightiest Heroes against a Multiversal team of X-Men. That would make all the sense in the world in the midst of an incursion, but what of the long-awaited reboot?
According to scooper Jeff Sneider, Marvel Studios is now close to hiring a writer for their live-action X-Men movie, with an official announcement likely to be made in the "next few weeks."
The surprise success of X-Men '97 has put these characters back on the map in a big way. The excitement surrounding Deadpool & Wolverine also shows that fans are ready to see mutants in action again, and these uncanny heroes are likely exactly what the MCU needs right now.
"The X-Men are as solid and as rich and as a great a concept in characters as exist," Feige said in an interview last year. "There's the return of the animated series [this] year, which we're very excited about. I saw some new final episodes today, which really bring you back to that core of who the X-Men are and that soap opera that those characters represent."
"Part of the fun is that I've been at this company for half my life, and we're just now tapping into arguably one of the biggest aspects of the publishing history. It's pretty remarkable, and it's a testament to the house of ideas and what Marvel publishing has done these 80 years."
"The question is how to do it and when to do it, and that's something we've been working on for years," he concluded.
Very little is known about what Marvel Studios has planned for the X-Men beyond Avengers: Secret Wars, though various rumours have given us an idea of what to expect.
Mister Sinister is believed to be a frontrunner for the franchise's new big bad and...well, that's about it. We may get the classic "First Class" or mutants or an already established team, but Kevin Feige is bound to want to do something different with these characters after 20th Century Fox's hit-or-miss efforts.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.