Spider-Man has left the MCU most unexpectedly, but Marvel has plenty on its plate without him. After all, the studio just got its hands on a few valuable possessions following Disney’s Fox acquisition. Marvel has confirmed that X-Men and Fantastic Four projects are in the works, though they remain mysterious for now.
But Marvel just revealed that it had its sights on the mutants and Peter Parker ever since it kicked off this cinematic universe with Iron Man all those years ago. That’s because Marvel actually filmed a credits scene for Iron Man that made specific references to both. Sadly, that scene couldn’t be shown because the X-Men belonged to Fox at the time, and Sony owned Spider-Man. That has changed, however, and you can watch that scene right now.
Let’s start with the official Iron Man credits scene that introduced Nick Fury in 2008:
Kevin Feige happened to have won the first-ever Stan Lee World Builder Award at the 45th Annual Saturn Awards a few days ago, but the Marvel studio head wasn’t there in person to get his award. He recorded a message thanking everyone who made it possible, including Stan Lee and the fans who have embraced the MCU since its inception.
As a thank you, Feige showed a different version of the same scene, in which Fury mentions gamma rays, radioactive bug bites, and even mutants — explicit references to the Hulk, Spider-Man, and the X-Men — in the brief speech he gives to Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGo-BgE8M0
The scene will be included in the Infinity Saga boxed set that will launch in the near future, alongside other scenes that were never shown before to the public.
Separately, the first X-Men rumors are here, with a couple of reports revealing that Marvel is considering a massive Avengers vs. X-Men film in the future, as well as a couple of radical changes to two of the most iconic mutants. These films, however, will arrive in Phase 5 or 6, as Phase 4 has no standalone X-Men or Avengers films.
