Deadpool blows on his guns with the original X-Men cast in the background

Kevin Feige’s cryptic comments about the MCU’s X-Men may have dropped a clue about Deadpool & Wolverine‘s involvement in the birth of Marvel Studios’ version of the mutants. Five years after Fox’s final X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine revisits the X-Men movies’ characters through the eyes of Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Apart from the two titular heroes, Deadpool & Wolverine‘s packed cast includes supporting roles and cameos by several X-Men actors, some of them returning two full decades after their first appearance.

Throughout the years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced characters that seemed impossible to include in a Marvel Studios project just a few years before. Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher, and the Fantastic Four are now key MCU characters with their own projects in the Multiverse Saga. Before the X-Men get the same treatment, Deadpool & Wolverine will give closure to Fox’s X-Men franchise, annexing its many timelines into the MCU multiverse and acknowledging the existence of mutants in it. But Deadpool & Wolverine could also go one step beyond.

Deadpool & Wolverine May Actually Begin The MCU’s Mutant Saga

Deadpool & Wolverine Might Influence The Birth Of The MCU’s X-Men

Deadpool and Wolverine arrive in the TVA headquarters-2

Speaking to EW three weeks before Deadpool & Wolverine‘s release, Kevin Feige remained tight-lipped about the MCU’s first X-Men movie, saying that “July 26 is really when it all starts, when Deadpool & Wolverine comes out.” While Feige’s response could be read as a diplomatic refusal to provide information about the project, it could also be a hint towards Deadpool & Wolverine‘s plot. Taken literally, Kevin Feige’s comment suggests that Deadpool & Wolverine kickstarts the MCU’s X-Men story, possibly tying the titular heroes’ multiversal adventure to the birth of the MCU’s mutants.

Deadpool & Wolverine could continue to push the Multiverse Saga’s overarching story forward and lay the foundations for the next saga with a first glimpse at the MCU’s mutants

As of the middle of Phase 5, the Multiverse Saga still isn’t as neatly structured as the Infinity Saga was during Phase 2. There isn’t a clear villain set up for Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars, and no Avengers team has come together since Avengers: Endgame. Therefore, it’s still too early to start developing any Phase 7 storylines. However, Deadpool & Wolverine could continue to push the Multiverse Saga’s overarching story forward and lay the foundations for the next saga with a first glimpse at the MCU’s mutants — a set-up that could then be paid off a few years down the line.

How Deadpool & Wolverine Can Introduce The MCU’s Mutants

Deadpool And Wolverine May Accidentally Create The MCU’s Mutants

A split image of Deadpool in Deadpool and Wolverine with the X-Men in Fox's X-Men The Last Stand

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s plot is undeniably ambitious. From bringing back Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine after his apparent retirement in Logan to connecting Fox’s many X-Men timelines with the rest of the MCU, Deadpool & Wolverine has a lot to pack in two hours and seven minutes. Yet, movies like Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home accomplished even more than they were expected to. Likewise, Deadpool & Wolverine could deliver a few surprises, among which could be the introduction of the MCU’s X-Gene and the birth of the MCU’s mutantkind.

Deadpool’s mission to protect the Sacred Timeline could involve a bit of retconning. Matthew Macfadyen’s TVA agent Paradox might ask Deadpool to change some of the events in one or more X-Men and MCU timelines, causing some characters to travel between timelines or causing the MCU’s Earth-616 to have had the X-Gene all along. Otherwise, Deadpool’s volatile personality could lead him to disobey the TVA’s orders, and Wade could end up escaping to the MCU’s main timeline accompanied not only by Hugh Jackman’s new Wolverine variant, but also by several other mutants who can awaken or identify the X-Gene in Earth-616.

Deadpool & Wolverine’s Direct Influence On The MCU’s Mutants Would Be The Best Homage To Fox’s Franchise

The MCU’s Mutants May Not Leave Fox’s X-Men Franchise Behind

Deadpool Logan Xmen dark phoenix

By itself, Deadpool & Wolverine is a celebration of Fox’s X-Men franchise and a passing of the torch from its characters to the MCU’s mutants. But the X-Men movies’ influence can go further than that. If Deadpool & Wolverine directly lays the basis for the MCU’s own mutants, then Fox’s X-Men movie franchise would live on three decades after its inception. The original X-Men cast likely won’t be part of the MCU’s new X-Men, but their existence in a different universe could be key to the introduction of the X-Gene within the MCU’s main timeline.A narrative link between Fox’s X-Men franchise and the MCU’s X-Men would also help Marvel Studios avoid the sudden appearance of MCU-born mutants. In the source material, mutantkind has been present on Earth for millennia, and several mutants have taken part in important historical events. In Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine could retcon the MCU’s Earth-616 to provide it with its own version of the X-Gene from the beginning, thus making Fox’s X-Men characters directly responsible for the rise of mutants in the MCU.