The MCU is growing rapidly as Marvel is coming up with project after project this year. In fact, this is going to be the case every year from here on out. They are rapidly introducing new characters with every new movie and series (Yelena Belova, Shang-Chi, Photon, US Agent, Sylvie, Kang, Kate Bishop, Blade, Dane Whitman, and the Eternals). And there are many others confirmed to come in (Moon Knight, Ironheart, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Namor, Nova, and the Fantastic Four). But even with all these new names, we still don’t have a proper announcement for the mutants. Yes, Kevin Feige did say that Deadpool 3, and an MCU Mutants movie are in development. But when and how will Marvel bring them into the mix?
Well, I’ve got a theory, and it suggests that mutants can only join the MCU through the Multiverse! But, there’s a catch…
Right off the bat, Marvel has been teasing the Multiverse in Phase 4. WandaVision gave us a small tease for it while Loki actually gave birth to MCU’s real multiverse. Even Shang-Chi turned out to be a multiverse movie. And now we’ve got projects like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange 2, and Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 that will continue to explore this concept even further. And I believe that one result of this multiverse exploration will be the mutants. They have to come through the multiverse because Marvel seems to have disproven all other theories!
Debunked Theories
1. The Snaps
So far, every theory that we have thought of regarding the mutants has been denied by Marvel. As Rocket confirmed, the snaps that happened on Earth, and at the Garden emitted massive proportions of cosmic energy. So, many presumed that the X-Gene could have been awakened among the people of Earth through those snaps. But if that were the case, then we would have begun to see a bunch of mutants in the MCU already. So, this mutant theory has been debunked.
2. Existence Throughout History
In another theory, people presumed that the mutants could have simply existed on Earth in secret, and they would have been in the shadows until now. But this story trope has been given to the Eternals. So, it cannot be repeated with the Muties. Furthermore, the Eternals didn’t even give us any reference to the X-Gene, or someone like En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse. So clearly, mutants haven’t been on Earth till now.
3. Super Soldier Experiments
For theory 3, certain fans suggested that the MCU could follow The Ultimates storyline where all mutants were created by super soldier experiments. The MCU could have been inspired by this as it could tie everything to Captain America, and the history of super soldier experiments teased by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The theory suggests that all of the failed super soldier experiments could have altered the genes of the test subjects. And then, their children could have been born with the X-Gene. But since we haven’t seen any mutant till now, and The Ultimates is a very controversial storyline, it would be safe to say that Marvel will not use this narrative either.
4. The Fox Universe
Many people believe that just like No Way Home is connecting to the past Spider-Man Universes and the SPUMC, the MCU could simply connect with the Fox Universe as well. Ultimately, that would allow easy access to the mutants. Deadpool could continue his story after Deadpool 2, and the rest of the mutants could either be retained or recast according to what the creatives like. But, let me tell you that this theory has also been debunked by the MCU already!
Marvel cannot even think of touching the Fox Universe like they are playing with the Raimi-verse and the TASM-verse. There are two major reasons for this. The first is that the Fox Universe has a lot of baggage! There were some great X-Men movies, and there were some that were pure trash! So, Kevin Feige surely won’t want any of that baggage. He is someone who likes to do his own thing. And, he’d do exactly that because of the second reason, which is – A connection with Fox’s universe will create a giant plot hole.
The Time Travel Plot hole
You see, time travel works differently in the MCU, as compared to most of the other films. The Fox Universe follows the traditional rules of mutable time travel where changing the past would change the future. A person could get erased from existence or he could even manifest new memories. History was changed in Days of Future Past, so the X-Men were able to change the future. Cable came back to the past in order to create a future where his daughter lives. He did exactly that, and his daughter continued to exist in the same timeline (not a different one), as indicated by the change in the Teddy bear that Cable was carrying with him.
As for the MCU, it follows a totally different means of time travel where changing the past does not change the future. It creates a new timeline altogether. This is the branch theory that Marvel expanded in the Loki series. Because two universes cannot have two different ways of following time travel, the MCU cannot use anything related to the Fox Universe. So, the only way left for them is to use the Multiverse created in Loki.
Theory: How MCU Mutants Will Arrive
The MCU has no choice but to bring mutants from an alternate universe, that’s not the Fox Universe. This way, Deadpool 3 will be a soft reboot. And the likes of Logan, Charles, and other big mutants can be recast. Something big is definitely going to happen in No Way Home which will cause major changes to SPUMC, allowing Adrian Toomes, JJJ, Peter Parker and some other MCU characters to appear in movies like Morbius. So similarly, the MCU could get entangled with another Universe at the end of No Way Home, or perhaps Doctor Strange 2. That’s how mutants from a new timeline/universe could appear in the MCU, or certain MCU characters could jump to that mutant Universe!
You’re all welcome to share some other theories in the comments section.
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