Nobody was really expecting Kevin Feige to announce anything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s X-Men reboot at last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, but there’s nonetheless going to be more than a few disgruntled fans should September’s D23 pass without at least a small update on what comes next for the mutants.
Of course, the ball was set rolling by the shocking reveal in the Ms. Marvel finale, but after 13 movies spread out across 20 years over at Fox, the superpowered outcasts are in dire need of a fresh coat of paint. The various sequels, offshoots, prequels, and spinoffs covered a lot of bases, but if anyone can reinvent a $6 billion brand, it’s Marvel Studios.
However, a rumor sweeping the internet has claimed that due to a holdover of contracts that came attached to Disney’s acquisition of Fox, Marvel won’t be able to do anything with the X-Men until 2025 even if they wanted to. Needless to say, unfounded internet accusations are immediately placed under intense scrutiny, and this one is no different, as you can see from the reactions below.
If the information was 100 percent accurate, then a high-powered Hollywood executive with his finger on the pulse of the fandom like Feige surely wouldn’t even dare mention the X-Men in public if he knows there’s a full three years to go before he can even do anything with them.
In the same vein, Marvel couldn’t use mutants due to the term’s obligations under Fox’s stewardship but Patrick Stewart still managed to swing by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so we’ll be waiting for a more concrete source than Twitter before taking this one at face value.