Marvel is brainstorming "fun ideas" on how to introduce X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU

MCU X-Men — Image credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

It’s been pretty much radio silence on the Fantastic Four and X-Men front ever since Disney bought out Fox earlier this year. Well, now Kevin Feige has opened up slightly about Marvel Studios’ opening gambit when it comes to using these newly-owned characters and describing the process behind how they’ll make a mark in any new Marvel movies. Spoiler: Pen has barely been put to paper – but there’s plenty of reasons to get excited.

To the surprise of no one, Marvel is currently in the early planning stages of introducing the new Fox characters into the MCU. That’s just good business sense, but it’s still refreshing to hear Kevin Feige tell Fandango that “It's still early days, but it's been a fun exercise… Every development meeting starts with cool ideas and fun ideas, and our wheels are always turning in terms of what if... What if we did this? What if we did that?”

Using Captain America: Civil War as a touchstone, Feige outlines a few possibilities on how they will debut, “Yeah, maybe [Fox characters will appear in non-standalone movies first]. You know, oftentimes it just comes down to a specific character in a specific story and a specific way to introduce them.”

Feige continues, "So sometimes, like with Spider-Man and Black Panther, that made sense. Then, other times, with characters like Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Thor, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man... it's fun to introduce them in their own movies first.”

Right now, though, it’s a lot of ifs, buts, and maybes. Feige, however, just sounds happy to have most of Marvel’s heroes back under one roof, “We were one of the few companies that has a lot of characters but didn't have access to a whole bunch of them, and now that we do, it's wonderful. They're back in the sandbox, in the toy chest, and now as ideas come up and as opportunities come up, we can utilize them, which feels really nice.”

Welp. It still sounds like there’s still a lot of planning ahead. These brainstorming sessions will hopefully light a fire under Marvel Studios to help come up with the perfect way of bringing the likes of Human Touch and Wolverine face-to-face with the MCU’s finest. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.

Here's a look at how Marvel Phase 4 is shaping up, even if the X-Men aren't invited to the party just yet.

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.