We won’t be seeing the X-Men make their presence felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a while yet, but Kevin Feige has long since teased that the seeds will start to be sown throughout Phase Four and beyond. We thought WandaVision may have kicked it off before that turned out not to be the case, and since then, plenty of theories have been making the rounds.
The latest concerns Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, and puts forth the notion that the intergalactic immortals could be responsible for the mutant gene. The official synopsis hinted at a change to the team’s origins by making them aliens, when in comic book canon they’ve typically been created on our planet by the Celestials, who have of course been referenced in the franchise already.
Eternals will establish that the group have indirectly been guiding humanity for millennia, and we know that their archenemies the Deviants will be involved. In the comics, the Deviants are responsible for the sinking of Atlantis and are forced to live underground, and the kingdom’s ruler Namor is both known as one of the oldest mutants and a regular name touted for his MCU debut.
Not only that, but the theory goes on to say that Apocalypse could find himself tied to the Eternals and Deviants, slightly altering his origin story to make him the result of a genetic experiment, and he too has knowledge and experience in dealing with the Celestials.
As ComicBook.com explains:
Given the combination of powers that Apocalypse has, he (and subsequently mutants as a species) could be explained in the MCU as being the result of an unlikely union between the Eternal and Deviant species! That kind of reveal has precedent in Marvel Comics: the Eternal Thena (Angelina Jolie’s character) fell in love with a Deviant named Kro and had a set of twins, who could combine into a superpowered being. That being (“Dark Angel”) is a throwaway character in the comics; the MCU could retcon the story so that Eternal/Deviant hybrids develop into mutants.
Of course, all mutants can be traced back to ancient Egyptian deity En Sabah Nur in some form, and Marvel Studios is known for adapting and tweaking certain elements of the lore to suit the direction of the movie series, so having Eternals set things in motion for the eventual re-debut of the X-Men isn’t the wildest thing we’ve ever heard.