The recent show at the box office has been far from impressive for Marvel Studios, with The Marvels becoming the latest big-budget project to misfire, having grossed just $164.2 million globally so far. As President Kevin Feige conjures ways to fight the trend of superhero fatigue, there are only two suggestions that are providing MCU fans any real excitement.
One is the idea of fallen Avengers like Iron Man and Black Widow returning to the mix, and the other is the inclusion of X-Men in the MCU battleground. The director of The Marvels had a fight with Feige for the latter.
Why The Marvels Director Fought With MCU Boss Kevin Feige
In The Marvels, Brie Larson‘s Captain America is joined by Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau in the fight against Kree-leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) to save the universe. The trio did manage to save the universe – albeit with one potential casualty that we won’t spoil for you – but the performance of the female-fronted film has left question marks on the future of another stand-alone movie on Carol Danvers.
There is always more than one reason for any movie to bomb at the box office, and in the case of The Marvels, one of the reasons might be director Nia DaCosta not getting what she wanted when it came to deciding the amount of X-Men in the film.
Apart from Vellani’s character being confirmed as a Mutant, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast (Hank McCoy) also made an appearance in the post-credits scene. However, DaCosta wanted more Mutants in her movie but had to eventually accept a no from Kevin Feige. She revealed during an interview with AP Entertainment:
“Okay, so Kevin and I, it’s one of our fights. I really wanted- [laughs] I really was pushing so much X-Men. And he was like, ‘We have to just be very calm about this and be measured adults,’ which is why he’s the boss, you know what I mean?”
Regardless, the talented filmmaker admitted Feige knows better than her. She also suggested she was happy at least she got to include a couple of Mutants.
When Will Marvel Fans Properly Get To See X-Men in MCU?
Ever since Disney retained the rights to the characters from the X-Men in 2019, fans have been anticipating their introduction in the MCU. In recent years, Marvel writers have managed to sneak in several references and Easter Eggs connecting Mutants with the MCU. In the aforementioned interview, DaCosta also couldn’t hide her excitement about adding Easter Eggs (Hank McCoy) in her movie.
However, the full-blown intertwining of X-Men members is likely to only happen in the first half of 2024 with Deadpool 3, which is set to feature both Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) – the two most high-profile Mutants. Director Shawn Levy has been adamant that his film will not disregard the X-Men’s intricate history with 20th Century Fox Studios, as such, it won’t be far-fetched to expect more X-Men characters and plenty of Easter Eggs in the upcoming movie.
Further, in September, it was reported by Deadline that Disney is looking to set up writer meetings for pitches on the first new X-Men movie produced by Marvel Studios. We can’t say anything definite about the fallen Avengers, but it’s clear X-Men are coming to the shared universe in a big way, sooner than later.
Read more: Before Madame Web, Sony Reportedly Almost Hired Kevin Feige as a Producer for Venom-Verse
