How The X-Men Need To Be Introduced To The MCU

By Chris Snellgrove | Published

Since Disney first bought 20th Century Fox, it was inevitable that the X-Men were going to be brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That much is assured: it is going to happen at some point and will be about as big as it gets for the MCU.

Resetting Reality In Marvel?

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However, there is one big problem with this. It seems downright impossible to introduce an entire group of super-powerful mutants into this established world without explaining why we haven’t heard of mutants like Wolverine or Magneto before.

Fortunately, the recent Krakoan era of X-Men comics gave a retcon to longtime mutant ally Moira McTaggart in which she can reset reality, and this provides the perfect way to both introduce the X-Men into the MCU and give that universe a much-needed reset.

Krakoa In Marvel

If you haven’t read any X-Men comics for a long time, you might be surprised by what has happened in the last few years.

Mutants from around the world now live on the mutant island of Krakoa. Through the combined powers of Mr. Sinister, Charles Xavier, and others, the mutants can now cheat death: when they die, their consciousness can be telepathically placed into a clone body.

This has completely changed the status quo in Marvel’s comics because the mutants now have their own highly influential sovereign nation…instead of being hunted and feared, mutant heroes and former villains alike have teamed up to become major global movers and shakers.

Marvel’s Moira McTaggart

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While this change to the X-Men comics seemed very sudden to readers, it turns out that it was years in the making.

Legendary comic writer Jonathan Hickman introduced a wild retcon in which X-Men ally Moira McTaggart was secretly a mutant rather than a human, and she has the craziest superpower of all.

Whenever she dies, the universe effectively resets when she has been born again. This means she has spent entire lifetimes trying to help mutants thrive, and she uses her wealth of knowledge to help Charles Xavier and Magneto turn Krakoa into a kind of mutant heaven on Earth.

Moira And The X-Men

Eventually, Moira has her inevitable heel turn and things go sideways for the X-Men. But we’re more interested in how her reality-resetting powers can naturally bring mutants into the MCU.

Previously, fans had speculated that the X-Men would be introduced into the MCU via multiverse shenanigans, but that would make their long-awaited introduction a disappointment.

Be honest: would it really make for more captivating Marvel films if every single familiar mutant was just a transplant from another multiverse, such as the Charles Xavier we saw in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness?

A Whole New Marvel Universe

In the recent X-Men comics, the beauty of Moira McTaggart’s powers is that she doesn’t create alternate realities; instead, she simply resets the one she is in.

It would be very easy for the first X-Men film to introduce the idea that in the MCU as we know it, mutants have been lying low out of fear that organizations like SHIELD would either hunt them down or forcibly draft them.

When Moira dies, it resets the entire universe, so all we need is an extended flashback explaining how her death has given birth to a new MCU.

How To Bring The X-Men To Marvel

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The primary benefit of this is, of course, that it will introduce the X-Men to the MCU, but we also think this would be the perfect way for Marvel to give their flagship cinematic universe a much-needed reboot.

There have been strong rumors that Marvel will do this with the Secret Wars movie and that some sort of powerful force like Dr. Doom or The Beyonder will be responsible for reshaping the MCU. 

But given all the controversy surrounding Jonathan Majors’ multiversal Kang the Conqueror, we wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel ditched the cosmic force angle and embraced Moira, giving them a comics-accurate way of bringing in the X-Men and reinvigorating a film franchise that has gone stale.

Rebooting All Of Marvel

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Certainly, the Krakoan era has reinvigorated the various X-Men comics in recent years and brought countless loyal readers back to the fold.

It may be wishful thinking on our part, but we can only hope that Disney takes its cue from these stories and uses Moira to knock out two birds with one Infinity Stone. Introduce the X-Men and reboot the MCU.

But if they’d rather troll comic fans and introduce our comic heroes by having Scarlet Witch say “yes, more mutants” to reset reality, we wouldn’t hold it against them.

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