X-Men producer discusses bringing mutants into the MCU

The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Eternals — they’re all a part of the grand, all-encompassing Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yet, the MCU is still without one of Marvel’s most popular teams: the X-Men. Now that Disney has bought 20th Century Fox (and thus secured the screen rights to the X-Men), it’s only a matter of time before Marvel Studios brings them in, but the logistics of introducing them are pretty complicated. However, according to X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, fans should put their trust in Marvel President and multiverse mastermind Kevin Feige.

Simon Kinberg knows more about the X-Men than almost anyone. He worked as a producer on most of the Fox-made movies. Clearly, he knows what it takes to bring mutants to the big screen, but even he hasn’t a clue how one would go about bringing such an enormous crop of characters into the MCU. “The honest answer is, I have no idea,” Kinberg told IGN.

While Kinberg doesn’t have the answers, he knows who does: Kevin Feige, who built the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the ground up, smashing records at every turn.

"And the other answer is, Kevin [Feige] knows what he is doing with the MCU. I would argue he’s the greatest producer in the history of cinema. Truly. I mean, if you look at it pound for pound in terms of quality and in terms of obviously commercial success, there’s no question the latter is true. So I don’t know."

Will Marvel recast the X-Men?

When it comes to the X-Men, one of the biggest questions is whether Marvel Studios will cast a brand new batch of actors or whether they’ll bring back the cast from Fox’s franchise. Kinberg sounds keen to see the original actors reprise their roles, but is also open to seeing some fresh faces:

"I love those actors. I love them as human beings, and I love them as the characters. So obviously, there’s a part of me that would be incredibly nostalgic and would be excited to see them. And certainly, I can’t imagine another person playing Wolverine, but I also couldn’t imagine another person playing James Bond. And I think that there’s an aspect of some of these characters where it’s like, there are a lot of great Hamlets over time. And I think even Hugh felt that with the end of Logan."

I think every fan would be apprehensive seeing someone else playing Wolverine. Hugh Jackman made that role his own. It would be like an actor trying to play Tony Stark after Robert Downey Jr.

Currently, the MCU has crossed over with Fox’s X-Men movies once…although fans were let down in the end. The “crossover” came in the Disney+ series WandaVision, where actor Evan Peters returned to play the mutant Quicksilver, who he also played in X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019). However, it turned out that Peters’ character was just a regular resident of Westview named Ralph Bohner.

How would you like to see the X-Men enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Classic actors or a new cast? I’m sure Kevin Feige already has it all worked out. Let’s hope he also knows how to introduce the Fantastic Four, too!

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