If there’s one thing we know about Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige it’s that he has a plan in place, everything is calculated and there are very few surprises. It’s why Marvel never has the chaos seen over at DC Films where shit changes from day to day. So if you’re Feige and suddenly the X-Men have been dropped into your lap, what are you supposed to do? While fans have been speculating for months that they’ll appear sooner rather than later, perhaps at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Feige tells io9 they may not fit into Marvel’s plans for a very long time…
“It’ll be a while. It’s all just beginning and the five-year plan that we’ve been working on, we were working on before any of [the Fox sale] was set. So, really, it’s much more, for us, less about specifics of when and where [the X-Men will appear] right now and more just the comfort factor and how nice it is that they’re home. That they’re all back. But it will be a very long time.”
So don’t expect Wolverine to be sharing a beer with Hawkeye anytime soon. Again, this is a case of Feige with a clear-headed view of the future. The next two X-Men movies are already set, Dark Phoenix and New Mutants. Those troubled productions will likely be the final time we see the X-Men before Feige decides how to retool/reboot them, and that’s going to take time and distance.
Of course, it could be a totally different story with Deadpool, who remains incredibly popular, and the Fantastic Four who are in desperate need of a reboot ASAP. We may see Marvel find a place for them rather quickly.
