Image credit: 20th Century Fox

X marks the spot? Here’s how mutants should be introduced in the MCU

Just the mere thought of ‘X-Men in the MCU’ conjures up a whole host of dream scenarios. Wolverine scrapping with Winter Soldier, Magneto as a new Big Bad, the Phoenix Saga being done right – all are realistic possibilities.

But with the mutants joining the Avengers comes a story-shaped roadblock, one that Marvel has to overcome if it wants the X-Men to be a benefit, not a burden, to the MCU’s increasingly complex shared universe of superheroes.

Kevin Feige’s one-word tease of “mutants” at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 may have seemed simple enough. However, introduce them too soon and Marvel could turn off audiences unfamiliar with the source material.

Similarly, staggering things out across several years could risk fans growing increasingly impatient and losing interest in the X-Men.

The solution, though, has been hiding in plain sight. Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 X-Men comic run not only rebooted Xavier’s mutants into a more streamlined timeline, but serve as a successful foundation for a new X-Men story when transferred to the big screen.

How? Say hello to Moira X and her many lives.