Kevin Feige Says the Mutant Era of the MCU is Coming
Marvel has finally decided that X marks the spot for their future treasure. When Phases 4 and 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – which, combined with Phase 6, were called The Multiverse Saga – failed to connect with audiences, and the studio cut ties with Jonathan Majors, the actor who played (about a thousand versions of) the new arch-villain, Kang the Conqueror, fans wondered if and when Marvel would pivot from the multiverse and try something else. At a global press conference over the weekend, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talked about how Deadpool & Wolverine would point the way to where Marvel goes next (via ComicBookMovie.com)
“Every [MCU] film is important, and there’s nothing better than a great movie for a Cinematic Universe… The before and after? I think a lot of people talk about the R-rating and, ‘Is every [Marvel] movie going to be R-rated after this?’ Of course not. But I hope every movie after this embraces its tonality the way the way Deadpool & Wolverine and the way this team does.”
“Also, the ‘after’ is clearly… now that we have characters from the X-Men world, the Mutants, we haven’t had access to before… So, this is the beginning of that, and every [movie] post Deadpool & Wolverine will be the mutant era coming into the MCU.”
“The Mutant Era” will no doubt be retitled “The Mutant Saga” once they have a better sense of where they want to go with it, but regardless, it’s safe to say the X-Men will soon be the focus of the MCU. ComicBookMovie.com doesn’t think this means the mutants will be taking over immediately but that the next series of films will ramp up their introduction into the MCU. And that’s probably right, although I wouldn’t be surprised if The Multiverse Saga takes a backseat to the mutant stuff even before the MCU goes full bore into it. Outside of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the multiverse storyline has failed to connect; all it’s done so far is lessen stakes, confound the continuity, and introduce a complete dud of a villain that Marvel is wisely jettisoning (I say that independently of Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles). Upon reading this, I wondered if Deadpool & Wolverine would be the final word on the multiverse in the MCU, transitioning the story somewhere else that will lead to Avengers: Secret Wars as it brings the X-Men into this world. Then, I remembered The Fantastic 4, which appears to take place – or, at least, start off – in an alternate universe. So, I guess The Multiverse Saga will play out despite its unpopularity.
Speaking of the Four, I wonder what focusing on the mutants means for them. Marvel’s First Family deserves a “saga” centered on them the way The Infinity Saga revolved around the Avengers. In fact, this would have been the perfect way to move on from Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But Marvel couldn’t wait to bring in all the second-stringers from the All New, All Different Marvel era, so they lost several years and a good chunk of their jaded audience. Having the Fantastic Four take over as the main Marvel heroes would have fit with the multiverse story or even a pared-down version that just dealt with other alternate dimensions, like the Negative Zone. They could have brought in villains like Doctor Doom, Annihilus, and hopefully a much better version of Kang, with maybe Galactus looming in the background, while characters like Thor got a movie here or there to establish that they’re still around. Then, once that’s done, they could have pivoted to the X-Men and focused on them, with the Fantastic Four maintaining a presence but not in the spotlight. Now, they’ve got to rush the Four into the story just before Secret Wars while building the X-Men to take center stage. This is what I mean when I say that the Russo Brothers aren’t necessarily the Hail Mary Marvel wants them to be (if they indeed return); Marvel is handing them a botched experiment and saying, “Fix it!” But they also seem to have a firm idea of where they want to go, which could hamstring the Russos even more. I like the idea of the Mutant Era, but I’m nowhere near hopeful that Marvel can pull this off in their current incarnation.
Comments (6)
I agree. I love (most of) the Fox X-Men era, but they were constrained by the limitations of the time that series started, plus Bryan Singer jumping ship to make a lousy Superman movie. I remember reading something from one of the writers of The Mask (the comic) that explained the mentality behind comic book adaptations at the time. It was basically that Hollywood believed the audience would only accept one fantastical element in a movie. That’s why The Mask the movie didn’t have a villain from the comics named Walter; he was deemed too much for the audience to accept when they already had to accept the Mask. In terms of the X-Men, they had mutants, so that had to be it. That’s why Juggernaut was a mutant instead of being powered by the Cyttorak Stone, and why Phoenix was another stage of Jean’s mutation rather than a cosmic force. The MCU blew that away when they introduced all different facets of the Marvel Universe to the same series, which is why you finally started to see them expand later on in Dark Phoenix (which, unfortunately, kinda sucked). They could finally do some of these more fantastical X-Men stories right. But I agree, the time has probably passed.
Love reading the comments from First Class. The clip “Rage and Serenity” where Professor X plucks a loving memory, so Erik can go to the next level with his power is on par with the ways of The Force.
I haven’t seen First Class in a long time, so I had to watch the clip on YouTube. It’s fantastic, and a great way of commenting on the warring sides of Magneto’s personality without breaking the narrative or making it stick out too much, and wrapping it into his friendship with Charles. I never thought anyone would be half as good as Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, but these two turned out to be excellent.
If Disney had the bravery (and imagination), they would set the X-Men in the same time frame as the FF. Roughly 20-30ish years after WW2, a vengeful Magneto in his 40s or so.
That would be very cool. It would be a way to detach it from what’s going on in the MCU now, so they aren’t burdened down with the All New All Different crap, the multiverse, the Snap aftermath, and all that. They could almost start fresh.
During era of first Iron-Man and First Captain America, I wanted so badly for X-Men and Mutants, but it’s just been too long and I have seen no indication that Marvel has recovered. DeadPool/Wolverine is a good gimmick, and I really liked what the other studio did with casting for X-men, but they still lacked the touch and feel that MCU had when it started.
For a while, I thought we were finally gonna get it, but then, something happened, time went by, and I realized the window had closed. Don’t expect to ever see it done right in my lifetime which is a shame because I really respect Hugh Jackman, McAvoy, Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKlennan for their efforts. They gave us great acting and one thing I enjoy is reading fan comments on the scenes and clips videos.
Also, one thing I like about the Mutant fans is they kept trying. I liked The Gifted and some other shows, but the original MCU was highest level. In fact, I remember it being said that, at one time, like half of the top 10 movies in gross were from Marvel.
My buddies were all into Star Wars, but my thing was definitely mutants for being outcasts and punks and underground and stealth flying under the radar. They had gifts, but kept them secret. It’s interesting that both Mutants and The Force from Star Wars both have that neglected component of exploring their higher powers in the films.
I think about all the story lines they could have done. The Brood. Prometheus. The one major event comic that blew me away as a kid was the Kulan Gath evil Wizard where he crucified Spider-Man. We never got to see Selena the Black Queen. The other one was when Selena was hunting Rachel Summers. So many stories they could have done. It’s also time to move on from the Phoenix saga, which has been butchered and berated to death.
Still, Logan gave us The Reavers and Pierce. They tried different things without that real Marvel magic or Marvel glue, but they did create, so I give them credit.