Questionable leaks from late 2019 said that Marvel was working on a future Avengers vs. X-Men project, with Hugh Jackman returning to his beloved Wolverine role. This was long before Marvel announced the titles of Avengers 5 and Avengers 6. It was several years before we learned that Jackman would return as Wolverine in Deadpool 3 as well.
Separately, rumors about Marvel’s X-Men said the MCU won’t get its mutants until after Avengers: Secret Wars. In turn, the latter could be a story spanning two movies.
Along the way, Jonathan Majors was fired, which threw a wrench in the Avengers 5 plans.
That’s all you need to know before reading one of the most exciting Avengers rumors in a long time: Avengers 5 might be about a confrontation between the Avengers and the X-Men rather than a fight against Kang. You should know that big spoilers might follow below before proceeding with this text.
The MCU doesn’t have its own mutants
I still think that Kang can be the big villain of the upcoming Avengers stories. But I also see how Kang could still be a problem for Marvel. Also, I won’t lie; an Avengers vs. X-Men story would be all the more exciting than Kang. The Avengers might see the X-Men as a threat before they’d all have to work together in Secret Wars.
I’m speculating here, but only because Deadpool 3 will feature plenty of X-Men, not just Wolverine. Moreover, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will join the MCU’s main reality, and he’s a mutant. As for Earth-616, we don’t really have mutants here except for Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani). There’s not an X-Men designator in place in this reality.
Should the X-Men arrive on this Earth from the multiverse, the Avengers would have to engage them. But let’s dial back the speculation and look at what happened in the world of MCU rumors in recent days.
Big changes for Avengers 5
First, we heard that Michael Waldron has left the Avengers 5 project. The writer penned other MCU projects that tie directly into the big Multiverse Saga storyline. These are Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Then the real bombshell dropped: Anthony and Joe Russo would direct Avengers 5 and Secret Wars. The Hollywood Reporter was one of the sources reporting on the Russos’ return to Avengers movies. Here’s a tidbit from that report that teases the title change for Avengers 5:
The fifth Avengers movie was previously titled Avengers: Kang Dynasty, and was to star Jonathan Majors as time-traveling villain Kang. But Marvel cut ties with the actor after he was convicted of assault and harassment in December. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton was once attached to direct Kang Dynasty, but he departed a month before Majors’ conviction. The feature is expected to get a new name and a new focus.
There’s nothing about the X-Men in this, however.
X-Men teasers
There’s no doubt about it. Deadpool 3 will somehow kickstart the arrival of the mutants in the MCU. I still have no idea how it’ll happen, but Wade Wilson will probably stay in this reality. The same might happen with Wolverine, as Hugh Jackman might appear in Avengers 5 and Avengers 6.
But that’s not a guarantee that Avengers 5 will be about the X-Men in any way. However, The Hollywood Reporter’s story about the Russos ignited speculation online, with some people wondering whether the upcoming Avengers 5 movie will be about the mutants.
One insider answered questions about an Avengers vs. X-Men story, teasing that’s what Avengers 5 might be all about. That’s Alex Perez, who is often accurate about MCU developments.
In a pair of posts on X, Perez indicated that Marvel will make all the appropriate announcements next week at Comic-Con. That is, the X-Men will apparently be a part of the Avengers 5 story. He also teased that next week, it will all make sense. I expect that’s about the story of Deadpool 3, not the Comic-Con presentation Marvel will host on July 27th.
While none of this is confirmed, next week can’t get here soon enough. First, Deadpool & Wolverine will hit theaters. Then, Marvel will take the stage at Comic-Con 2024 to detail its plans for the final phases of the Multiverse Saga.
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