It seems like a lot of people might have counted the MCU out a bit too prematurely; technically, the MCU is on Phase 5, but it really feels like the franchise is just finally breaking into a tough second act after a very successful Thanos-led saga that cast a domineering shadow.
Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ President, has been dodging and absorbing all the hits from critics and fans after a lackluster couple of years where shows and movies were simply not up to the standards fans were usually accustomed to. Feige finally admitted that while he initially believed there’s no such thing as “superhero movie fatigue,” he now understands that his cast and crew were being stretched thin by so many projects. In the foreseeable future, he plans on committing to fewer projects and being more intentional with each release. That, after all, was always the secret of the MCU. Every installment felt important to the main story.
Now it seems like this approach is already bearing fruit — the Thunderbolts trailer was well received, and people are actually hyped for it. The Robert Downey Jr. recasting seemed like enough of a risk to get people intrigued, and long Easter eggs, like the Marvel Tower’s new owner, are finally being addressed. On top of all this, Kevin Feige just teased yet another long-awaited announcement: The X-Men are finally going to join the MCU after Avengers: Secret Wars.
In the comic books, Secret Wars started when a supervillain called the Beyonder began teleporting Marvel heroes and villains from different universes to fight for his entertainment. It’s expected that this will somehow inform how the story unfolds in the film, with fans finally seeing all the different concurrent storylines clash in an inventive and unique way. Feige has recently been appearing at various Disney events, dropping hints about where this new arc is heading, and to fans’ surprise, he just blurted out that Secret Wars will directly set up the X-Men’s entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. JoBlo reports Feige saying:
I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.
This announcement has been a dream for fans ever since Disney purchased Fox, eliminating the legal barriers that had previously restricted which X-Men characters could appear in the MCU. It’s exciting to imagine who will be cast in these roles, though it will be quite challenging to live up to the fantastic actors who have already embodied these characters.
Some fans are hoping that Gambit finally gets his next Marvel appearance and they have the fan theories to back it up, so the excitement is pretty palpable.
Feige also touched on what to expect from the Fantastic Four, saying that Fantastic Four: First Steps and other upcoming movies are all ultimately leading to the X-Men. He shared that working with the X-Men has been a long-standing dream of his. Now that Feige finally has most of the “toys” to play with and has learned from past mistakes, we’ll have to wait and see if another Golden Age of the MCU is on the horizon.
Currently, all signs point to Robert Downey Jr. as the new big baddie of the entire franchise, a move that could either make or break this saga. The stakes have never been higher. Either way, it’s shaping up to be an exciting ride.
