It's Officially The End Of An Era For The MCU's Avengers

It's officially the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers. Somehow, it's already been seven years since Avengers: Endgame premiered in cinemas, forever changing the franchise's power hierarchy and narrative threads. Tony Stark nobly sacrificed himself, Captain America retired (sort of), and Thor went back to the stars. That's nothing compared to what's about to happen, however.

The end of the Infinity Saga ushered in the beginning of the Multiverse Saga, as the MCU attempted to broaden its horizons across timelines, universes, and magical dimensions. While the franchise's approach to the multiverse saga has been a mixed bag, to say the least, every moment, from the MCU's first official streaming series, WandaVision, to the long-awaited introduction of the new Fantastic Four, has led to this saga's epic, two-part final — Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Perhaps even more exciting than the inclusion of one of Marvel Comics' most iconic villains, Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, is the official, plot-relevant return of Fox's original live-action X-Men. Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier, Kelsey Grammer's Beast, Ian McKellen's Magneto, Allan Cumming's Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, and James Marsden's Cyclops have all been confirmed to reprise their roles in some capacity, as the Avengers and Co. prepare for the multiversal fight of their lives.

Their casting is, of course, a relatively obvious attempt to feed the audience's nostalgia, though in this case, it makes sense. As mutants slowly but surely become an official part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's lore, there's no better team to remind audiences why the world fell in love with the X-Men in the first place, both on the page and on the screen. It's time for the Avengers to step aside. There's a not-so-new supergroup in town, and they're primed to lead the MCU into a new era.

The X-Men Are Reclaiming Their Spot In Marvel's Hierarchy

The mainline MCU has been experimenting with X-Men mythology for a while, with Ms. Marvel's superpowered origins being mutant-related, Deadpool and Wolverine's billion-dollar buddy-cop team-up, Namor's introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Stewart's Professor X rooting around in Wanda Maximoff's mind in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Combined with the upcoming return of Fox's OG X-Men in Doomsday, it's clear that the mutants are fighting their way back to the top of the Marvel pyramid.

They're everywhere and better than ever; the second season of Disney+'s X-Men '97 series, a sequel to the original X-Men: The Animated Series, will premiere on July 1 and currently boasts a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critics' score, even higher than season 1's Certified Fresh 99% Tomatometer score (work has already begun on season 4). Even Channing Tatum's Gambit, an unused relic of Fox's developmental dreams, will have a part to play in Avengers: Doomsday after his brief appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Clearly, this is the X-Men's time to shine. The MCU has cleverly been honoring the sub-franchise's storied past while sowing the seeds for the mutants' MCU-616 future. After all, the X-Men's story and characters are certainly big enough to lead a new, more grounded, multiphase narrative saga, especially following Secret Wars' potential soft "reset" of the franchise.

The MCU Has Already Set Up The Mutant Saga

If the MCU's Secret Wars is anything like its 2015 comic book namesake, the multiverse will be destroyed and reborn, offering Kevin Feige's flagship franchise a chance to "prune," as Loki's TVA would say, its most complex story branches and start anew. This would be the perfect opportunity to say goodbye to Fox's X-Men once and for all and introduce a new crop of mutants, younger variants who can grow and change as the MCU grows and changes, too.

Last year, Marvel Studios' president reportedly revealed that he had a 10-year plan for the X-Men (via Wall Street Journal). In another interview, he explained that "[The X-Men] have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different and who feel Other and who feel like they don’t belong. That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going." The X-Men's most prevalent narrative themes will help the MCU's future output feel more grounded, something that's been missing from the Multiverse Saga. Even a seismic, Avengers vs. X-Men-level event would feel more character-focused than a multiversal war.

Marvel has already announced that it's developing a new X-Men reboot film, with Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier at the helm. Given Thunderbolts*' acclaimed, character-driven, messy group dynamic storytelling, the director seems to be the perfect candidate to launch this era of the X-Men. Plot details are, of course, tightly under wraps. Still, Schreier did tell ScreenRant that they were intent on creating something "new":

"I think really just what we've been talking about more than anything is how do we make it feel new, and how do we go places that feel like we're succeeding [our predecessors]?"

No matter how the mutants' story might progress in the MCU, it certainly feels like the Avengers will no longer be the franchise's sole leading supergroup, even if they'll always have a role to play. The introduction of the X-Men could provide the Marvel Cinematic Universe with some much-needed narrative focus in what may one day, hopefully, become known as "The Mutant Saga."

Avengers: Doomsday will premiere in cinemas on December 18, 2026.

TV Show(s)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Inhumans, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Secret Invasion, Marvel's Echo, Agatha All Along, Ironheart, Daredevil: Born Again, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Cast

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton, Paul Rudd, Tom Holland, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Brie Larson, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Simu Liu, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Ma Dong-seok, Brian Tyree Henry, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Lia McHugh, Jonathan Majors

Upcoming Films

Blade, Avengers: Doomsday (2026), Avengers: Secret Wars