When Marvel Studios announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2022, it seemed like the smart call. Everyone knew another Avengers movie was coming, and Kang the Conqueror is a big deal villain in Marvel Comics who certainly, on paper, seems like a new Thanos-level threat. His time travel gimmick seemed to build off the plot device introduced in Avengers: Endgame, and as Marvel dove head first into what it dubbed The Multiverse Saga, Kang and his many variants made sense. With rising star Jonathan Majors set to play Kang, it seemed like Marvel had a winning formula.
Then everything went sideways. Kang made his debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Qunatumania, which was a box office and critical disappointment. One month later, Majors was arrested on domestic assault charges and, after a year-long legal battle, was found guilty, and Marvel Studios fired him from the role on the same day. This has left the status of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty up in the air, as reports now suggest they are calling the film Avengers 5 in the meantime while they rethink what to do. They could recast the role of Kang or pivot into a new direction. The sixth Avengers film, Avengers: Secret Wars, still seems to be in place, but the film before it is in flux.
Marvel Studios might have the answer already, and one that might excite fans and general audiences more than Kang the Conqueror ever could. The MCU might be building to Avengers 5 actually being Avengers vs. X-Men, having a Captain America: Civil War type film where the heroes of the MCU face off against the X-Men characters from the previous 20th Century Fox era films in a multiverse battle, which then leads into Avengers: Secret Wars.
The Groundwork Has Been Laid
When the MCU first launched in 2008 with the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel Studios did not have the rights to use the X-Men due to 20th Century Fox having the film rights to the character. Yet in 2019, when The Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox, they gained the film rights to the X-Men (and Fantastic Four), finally allowing them to be part of the MCU. With a new chapter of the MCU set to dawn, Marvel started laying the groundwork for the X-Men.
In 2022, Marvel Studios had four different projects that teased the X-Men. The first came with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with an appearance by Patrick Stewart reprising his role as a variant of Professor X. Then two months later, in the season finale of Ms. Marvel, the first time the word “mutant” was said in the MCU sacred timeline when it was identified that Ms. Marvel had a mutation. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had a fun joke where the character broke the fourth wall by asking when we were getting the X-Men. Finally, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever identified Namor as a mutant. It was clear that Marvel Studios wanted to tease the involvement of the X-Men.
It is in the MCU’s two latest films where it becomes more clear. The Marvels‘ end credit scene featured Monica Rambeau trapped in another reality, but not just any reality. She is picked up by a variant of her mother, Maria, using the moniker Binary, working alongside the X-Men member Beast, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, who reprised his role from X-Men: The Last Stand. The blue walls of the lab Monica wakes up in are reminiscent of those seen in the Fox X-Men movies.
The next film following The Marvels is Deadpool & Wolverine. That movie sees Deadpool pulled from the Fox X-Men franchise into the MCU by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) introduced in Loki. The film will also see the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Aaron Stanford as Pyro, and likely more cameos. Seeing as how a major section of that film shows the 20th Century Fox logo in a wasteland, it appears that either the various 20th Century Fox characters were pruned into the void or this is the result of an incursion that has destroyed the 20th Century Fox X-Men universe. Obviously, this is a meta-reference to when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox; the previous X-Men film series was stopped in favor of a reboot.
With all this in mind, pitting Earth Mighest Heroes against the mutants is the obvious pick and one that has multiple comic book storylines to draw from.
Comic Book Precedent
Avengers vs. X-Men is a title of a 2012 Marvel event series, and previous events like Civil War, Secret Invasion, Infinity, and even the upcoming Secret Wars have served as the inspiration for MCU films. The event pitted the Avengers against the X-Men in a storyline that saw them fighting over what to do about the Phoenix Force, as the Avengers wanted to destroy it due to its destructive capabilities while the X-Men wanted to use it to restore the mutant population after a devastating event caused their numbers to dwindle. While Marvel has drawn from big events in the past, they have rarely done a one-to-one translation. They often mix elements and change up storylines to make the story fit within their cinematic universe, and Avengers vs. X-Men could be a mix of a few different storylines.
Obviously, the title and central idea of Avengers vs. X-Men, but the multiverse nature of the X-Men allows them to mix the storyline with Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers storyline “Time Runs Out” and issue one of Hickman’s Secret Wars. As the multiverse collapses, the final showdown is between two universes: the main 616 Marvel Comics Universe and the Ultimate Comics Universe. The film could adapt it to where the two final multiverses that are left to fight for survival are the MCU and Fox X-Men films.
Mixing these two storylines together makes for an immediately exciting hook. You certainly get a lot of fun face-offs between characters and exciting action scenes, like Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine finally getting to go head to head with the Hulk or Captain Marvel fighting the Phoenix Force or even Deadpool and She-Hulk having a 4th wall face-off. Then, the film would end with the two realities (and maybe other parts of the multiverse) mixing together in Battleworld for Avengers: Secret Wars.
Avengers vs. X-Men Is A Better Sell To General Audiences
While the status of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga not being as good as the Infinity Saga is a matter of opinion and something that certainly requires a more nuanced discussion, it is safe to say that general audiences are not as excited about the MCU films as they were in the past. This has nothing to do with the new characters not being as good as the original or that nobody wants these new characters, but more in that after sixteen years, it is bound to have audiences’ enthusiasm drop. It does feel like there is a certain “been there, done that” feeling from general audiences with the MCU that they want something new or exciting.
The X-Men are one of the biggest comic book properties in the world, and after 20 years of films, audiences know who they are. While bringing back the old X-Men to fight the Avengers seems on paper to be a lazy move to generate nostalgic audiences (which, to be fair, sort of is), it is also a generally exciting prospect. It offers audiences not only a chance to see some old favorites but also to see pairings and match-ups they never got to see.
It is also an easy sell to general audiences. Kang the Conqueror, the villain from a Marvel movie many people didn’t like but more of him, is certainly a more difficult sell than Avengers fighting X-Men is. Anyone who hears Avengers vs. X-Men knows the pitch and recognizes it as a big deal. That team-up/face-off is similar to the excitement of Spider-Man showing up in the trailer for Captain America: Civil War as it generates audience excitement, and they recognize how big a deal it is. If Marvel wanted to rebound, bringing in the X-Men is certainly a good starting point.
Still Gives Them Room To Introduce Their Own X-Men
Marvel wants to do their own version of the X-Men and mutants within the MCU, as they have dropped hints of their own mutants with Ms. Marvel and Namor. Yet bringing in the Fox X-Men films not only allows Marvel to jump to the fun part right away but also hold off until they need to introduce their own version into the cinematic universe.
One of the biggest obstacles to bringing the X-Men into the MCU is they are an entire subset of people who have been living on Earth with their own history, and the MCU already has a big established continuity with no reference to the X-Men. They might be waiting until after Avengers: Secret Wars to do a soft reboot of the MCU to allow then the X-Men to always exist within the franchise but with a new cast of characters. The X-Men have such a rich, long comic book history that their storylines could easily fill up an entire MCU saga of their own. We wouldn’t be surprised if Phases 7 through 9 are known as Dawn of X or Children of the Atom as the X-Men take center stage.
Avengers vs. X-Men can fill the void left by Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, bring in general audiences with an exciting pitch of two classic superhero teams fighting, set up the Multiverse Saga, and also give the characters a final bow before the MCU recast their own versions of the characters.
The first step to the X-Men and Avengers colliding will take place in Deadpool & Wolverine; watch the trailer below.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
