For years, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been daydreaming about what would happen if the X-Men and the Fantastic Four were part of the franchise, a sentiment that was also shared by Hugh Jackman. However, it seemed like wishful thinking as Fox held onto the rights with an iron grip.
The Fantastic Four may have been the subjects of four terrible movies, none of which exactly set the box office alight, but the merry band of mutants had brought in $6 billion dollars over two decades, and the studio were never going to let the comic book characters slip from their grasp. Of course, you can’t rule anything out when a corporation the size of Disney are involved, and the Mouse House ultimately bought the entire company, which saw the rights to both iconic superhero teams fall straight into Kevin Feige’s lap.
The MCU’s Fantastic Four is already in development with Spider-Man‘s Jon Watts set to direct, but the X-Men could be a long way away yet. After all, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, her brother Johnny and Ben Grimm don’t have the same kind of cinematic baggage as Charles Xavier’s students, who appeared in thirteen movies of wildly varying quality spread across 20 years, and an enforced absence would surely be beneficial in the long run.
There’ve still been plenty of rumors swirling about how the X-Men might be introduced into the MCU, though, with tipster Mikey Sutton now claiming that the original vintage may be set to cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
According to insiders, Kevin Feige is planning on opening up the multiverse to beyond Sony’s original Spider-Man movies. They reveal there are discussions to feature cameos by members of the first X-Men cast, basically a fond farewell to the past as the MCU proceeds to the future with rebooted mutants of their own. There are no decisions made on which actors will be brought back or if negotiations have begun yet.
He does say that the chances of Hugh Jackman showing up are slim, but even roping in the likes of James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart would be enough to generate a huge reaction from audiences when the Sorcerer Supreme’s sequel arrives in March 2022.