Ever since Marvel regained the rights for the X-Men and Fantastic Four (courtesy of their seventy plus billion dollar purchase of most of 20th Century Fox), fans have been salivating over how Kevin Feige and company will introduce the characters to the already established MCU.
Particularly the concept of mutants.
Rumours were flying that there would be an Easter Egg or two dropped in Avengers: Endgame (more on that later). Lots of fans thought Spider-Man: Far From Home would take the first step or two with the possible introduction of the multi-verse (didn’t we all get trolled on that one). While many more are convinced that The Eternals, Marvel’s next major cosmic project, will introduce the Children of the Atom to the MCU’s big screen.
The storytelling roadblocks are obvious; how do you introduce a global phenomenon without undoing all the narrative groundwork you’ve laid with 23 movies over the past eleven years? If try to establish that mutants are a new breed of humanity that are just emerging, you rob yourself of the likes of Wolverine, Apocalypse, Sabretooth and dozens of others (you run the risk of neutering them at the very least). If you try to contend that they’ve been here all along, well then you have to explain what were they doing for the past decade and two alien invasions?
Marvel will have plenty of time to figure it out though. Rumour is the first appearance of any mutants in the MCU is around five years away (or longer depending on how long it takes the powers that be to wash the stench of Dark Phoenix off the franchise). It’s quite likely that Feige and company will focus on Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four first (is anyone else drooling over the idea of finally seeing a proper Dr. Doom on screen for the first time?). And by the time that happens, Marvel will have probably been able to use DisneyPlus to help get the ball rolling.
But what if the first X-Men teaser was dropped in Endgame and none of us noticed? What if it was so subtle, buried in a mind-shattering battle scene with millions of moving parts, that we were all oblivious?
The genocidal Titan Thanos was a force of nature during Endgame, perhaps more than he was in Infinity War. He humbled entire armies singlehandedly and defeated the combined might of the Avengers Big Three-Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. He scored win after win against Earth’s mightiest heroes and barely broke a sweat doing it.
And he had a pretty impressive, more than formidable dual bladed sword at his side the whole time.
It deflected lightning bolts, repulser rays and laser blasts, clashed with Asgardian weaponry forged in the heart of stars and shattered Captain America’s supposedly unbreakable vibranium shield. And it didn’t even suffer a scratch.
Suffice to say that it was made from a metal far stronger than anything on Earth. And after the momentous battle at Avengers HQ, it was probably just left lying around.
Now what if a secret and nefarious organization managed to get a hold of it (remember, S.H.I.E.L.D and Damage Control are both long gone, Nick Fury is off world and most governments would be paralyzed by the instantaneous return of three billion people). Say after a few years said organization was able to discover a way to manipulate the alloy Thanos’ sword was made of (possibly with the assistance of someone who could manipulate metal with a thought or a scientific genius before his fateful date with an interstellar storm of cosmic rays?).
Now say said organization was able to fuse that indestructible alloy (stronger than even vibranium) onto the skeleton of a man whose amazing regenerative powers would not only allow him to survive such an unimaginable process, but also make him a physical specimen on par with Captain America (and who could heal from the worst injury in the blink of an eye). A man whose skeleton also included three retractable bone claws on each hand.
Now what if that man also had his memory wiped and underwent unparalleled psychological conditioning and programming, turning his mind into a blank canvas just waiting for orders and instructions.
Such a man would be a perfect, obedient super soldier. One loyal to that organization’s agenda in dangerous and unpredictable times (especially if those times included a new sub group of humans who can read minds, control hurricanes, juggle tanks and topple skyscrapers with beams from their eyes).
Such a person wouldn’t merely be a super soldier. They’d be a living weapon.
A Weapon X perhaps.
There are about a hundred storytelling hurdles that have to be cleared for the X-Men and mutants to enter the MCU. We may yet see the multiverse as a result. But given what Feige and company have puled off so far, we shouldn’t doubt their ability to ease them in without too much fuss or commotion. Don’t forget, they’ll have DisneyPlus as a trump card in that respect.
While everyone has something they’d like to see from the X-Men and other assorted X properties in the MCU, virtually everyone would want a virtually unstoppable Wolverine claw and tear his way through the ranks. And this would be one way to make everyone’s favourite Canuck the biggest badass on screen.
Image Marvel Entertainment
