Marvel Studios has a massive opportunity with the X-Men franchise, one that can essentially give them a second universe within the MCU itself.
Marvel Studios has a massive opportunity once the X-Men become fully established in the MCU, essentially giving them a whole new universe to work with within the greater universe of heroes. As seen in the comics, the X-Men and the world of mutants have just as much crossover potential as any others heroes like Spider-Man or the Avengers. However, they’ve recently had a unique and more separate existence, something Marvel Studios could greatly make use of for the on-screen X-Men.
In the Marvel Universe seen in the comics, the sheer number of mutants and those who have been in various iterations of the X-Men team is huge. By securing the rights to the franchise after Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios should never feel as though they’re running out of characters to bring to the big screen. Similarly, establishing mutants can breathe new life into the MCU, giving them the opportunity to change how audiences view crossover films such as Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame.
X-Men & Mutants Deserve Their Own Section Of The MCU
More often than not, X-Men titles make up a much larger portion of Marvel Comics’ publishing output than any other hero or team week by week. This is due to the great number of popular characters under the X-banner which can easily sustain multiple books simultaneously. Likewise, most of the various X-Men series are connected with each other yet largely separate from the world of the Avengers or heroes in New York, having narratives that feel more isolated. That being said, the primary X-Men team and its heroes have had plenty of crossovers with other non-mutant heroes when crises arise.
Treating the on-screen X-Men the same way has a lot of value. The world of mutants can be so expansive that Marvel Studios could and should see the X-Men franchise as its own universe within the MCU. It would be very interesting to see a space created that’s similar to the plan Marvel had with Netflix for its ground-level heroes. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage all had their own series with little to no connection to the greater MCU, while also crossing over with each other for the bigger Defenders event.
Marvel’s X-Men Universe Could Be Even Better For MCU Crossovers
While this isn’t to say that mutants or X-Men wouldn’t be connected to the MCU, there should be room to go big and give mutantkind the space it deserves. Furthermore, the debut of the X-Men should mean that not every major crossover is an Avengers film. Mutant characters could have their own individual origins in films and series with X-Men films being the crossovers that bring them all together. Marvel Studios can then have even bigger blockbusters that bring the Avengers and X-Men together, raising the stakes even higher with a new level of crossover potential.
X-Men comics are largely separate yet just as expansive within the greater Marvel Universe. The same can be true for future MCU X-Men projects. Marvel Studios has already started to bring the concept of mutants to the MCU with characters such as Ms. Marvel and Namor, so hopefully, there’s been due consideration to give the X-Men franchise the space it deserves ahead of their imminent arrival.