Marvel Studios didn't disappoint at this year's Comic-Con, revealing some huge titles from its Phase 5 and 6 slates. Now, Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars all have release dates, but what about the X-Men reboot? We know it's coming, and the hope is that it will be revealed at D23, likely breaking the internet in the process.
However, a new rumour shared by The Direct may shed some light on why there appears to be a delay on bringing these uncanny heroes into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It's claimed that despite Ms. Marvel being revealed as a mutant, we won't actually get to bigger name mutants for some time. While certain characters could appear, the belief is that there are contractual issues within the original 20th Century Fox deals that mean Marvel Studios would have to use the same actors from those previous movies before they expire three years from now.
We're not entirely sure how that works, and can't imagine everyone from those X-Men movies was under contract until 2025!
Of course, Marvel Studios appear to have gotten around the problem by using Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ryan Reynolds' Merc with the Mouth in Deadpool 3. So, does this mean no X-Men in the next two Phases?
Apparently, any new actors playing these characters won't be showing up until Phase 7 after The Multiverse Saga concludes, but we're taking that with a pinch of salt for now. Then again, it would make sense for the events of Secret Wars to reshape the MCU and bring mutants to the fore.
Again, we're pretty confident that an X-Men movie will be announced at D23, and with so many 2025 and 2026 slots still empty, there's no reason why this team can't show up in time for the war against Kang the Conqueror. This latest update is definitely interesting, though, and could explain the apparent delay (which we'd put down to Marvel Studios wanting to leave some breathing room between the disastrous Dark Phoenix and their eventual reboot).
What are your hopes for the Uncanny X-Men in the MCU?