Deadpool & Wolverine may have just opened up millions of new possibilities for the MCU, thanks to Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson bringing back the X-Men (Wolverine) to the cinematic world. With Logan, a fan favorite, finally making his MCU debut alongside The Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm, fans are now looking forward to the entry of the X-Men, who have long entertained MCU audiences.

Even though it was thought that Hugh Jackman’s final Marvel film would be Logan, in which he died, Deadpool & Wolverine brought him back to reprise the role (hopefully not until he is 90). Similarly, many have speculated that the X-Men are not far off making their own cameo in the MCU, including a specific fan theory that caught our interest.

Release Date July 26, 2024 Cast Ryan Reynolds , Hugh Jackman , Emma Corrin , Morena Baccarin , Rob Delaney , Leslie Uggams , Karan Soni , Matthew Macfadyen , Brianna Hildebrand , Shioli Kutsuna , Stefan Kapicic , Lewis Tan , Randal Reeder , Jennifer Garner , Aaron Stanford , Billy Clements , Ollie Palmer , Chris Hemsworth , Rob McElhenney Runtime 127 Minutes Expand

Fan Theory Suggests Wolverine Is the Reason for X-Men’s Absence in the MCU

Deadpool & Wolverine sheds some light on the X-Men’s absence, but it never explains why they aren’t now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, the greater part of the film focuses on the chemistry between Wade and Logan, partly touching on their respective backgrounds. In this regard, the movie’s version of Logan apparently let down his entire world and the TVA considers him to be the worst Wolverine in the entire multiverse. Certainly, there must be an appropriate explanation behind his tragic reputation, right?

From the beginning of the film, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is shown to be a distressed alcoholic who drinks away his sorrows and hates to be bothered, although everything changes at the conclusion. Since his background wasn’t revealed clearly, it led to an influx of fan theories, one of which was highly sensible. According to a theory posted on Reddit by user yoyofro25, Wolverine may have killed the X-Men after being coerced by someone like Cassandra Nova, and while this completely contradicts what the recent MCU film has conveyed, there may be an underlying plotline that we are unaware of.

In Deadpool & Wolverine, when Wolverine finally meets X-23 and has a one-on-one conversation with her, he tells her exactly what happened in his universe. According to him, Wolverine had no intention of being part of the X-Men and, while he was on his own, the mutant hunters slaughtered the X-Men, leaving him with lifelong regret. From Logan’s perspective, he could have saved them if he hadn’t gone off on his own, and based on what the film demonstrated, he never had the opportunity to fix his world. Having said that, Wolverine has been directly involved in the massacre of the X-Men several times in the comics, partly due to the influence of others.

Related X-Men: All the Movies in Chronological Order The X-Men movies have a complicated time travel mythology, but this is the chronological order to navigate the series’ confusing continuity.

Other Interesting Theories That Make Sense

We mentioned before that Wolverine may have been influenced by someone like Cassandra Nova, but what if she is the true mastermind behind the disappearance of X-Men from the MCU? Even though she was exiled to the Void at an early age, Cassandra had Doctor Strange’s Sling Ring in her possession, which allowed her to wander effortlessly across all universes.

Furthermore, among those who worked for her were, Juggernaut and Sabretooth, both former members of the X-Men who detested the current members. So, it’s plausible that Cassandra may have tricked Wolverine into killing the X-Men and then brainwashed him into believing mutant hunters were to blame.

In other versions of the Old Man Logan comics, Mysterio tricks Wolverine into killing the mutants, leading the latter to believe that he’s saving them from danger. These specific occurrences provide us with a clear understanding of Wolverine’s actions and the role he could play in the MCU moving forward. That being said, the X-Men may still appear in the MCU, albeit it would take at least a few years.

How the X-Men Could Still Appear in the MCU

If it were before the introduction of the Multiverse concept, we wouldn’t have had many ways to see X-Men in the MCU, but Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, despite being an underwhelming addition to the franchise, established an ample number of possibilities for any Marvel character to become relevant. As a result, the incursions seen in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels may result in the emergence of the X-Men.

Related The 15 Scariest Villains in the X-Men Movies As the Fox era of the X-Men films comes to a close, here’s a look at 15 of the scariest and most formidable villains we got to see in it.

For instance, the X-Men’s Earth may collide with Earth-616, destroying their world and forcing the mutants to reside in the main MCU world. While this seems like the most reasonable approach to introducing the X-Men to the MCU, there is a different possibility. A new X-Men stand-alone film is now in development, featuring new cast members who may play similar roles in the MCU once they are introduced. However, the film may take at least a couple of years before it is released, so we shouldn’t expect to see it anytime soon.

So, like Deadpool x Wolverine, Marvel must step up their game to make X-Men’s inclusion in the long-running cinematic universe more appealing. Hopefully, Avengers: Secret Wars, which is set to be the next big thing in the MCU, will kick off the long-awaited incorporation of the X-Men, as well as Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Stream Deadpool & Wolverine on Disney+ starting November 12.