The era of the Mutant Saga is here

But quite what it will entail is still surrounded in mystery

Before you proceed, be warned: this article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend hitting the big screen for the best Spider-Man experience so far.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe always had a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ option in the X-Men. When the franchise was still finding its feet, there were legal hurdles to overcome. Marvel had sold the rights to its characters left and right and even got to the point where it couldn’t legally use the word “mutant” in its movies.

Which is why they used “enhanced” instead. Lame, but lawsuit-friendly.

Then the MCU exploded into a behemoth of a franchise, the largest movie franchise that ever was and probably ever will be, grossing around $36 billion from movies alone. Bucketfuls of money tend to solve a lot of problems.

When Marvel solidified its partnerships and regained access to the X-Men, it kept the reboot in its back pocket to break out once things went bad. And things went pretty bad after Avengers: Endgame.

The smash hit marked the end of the Infinity Saga and was supposed to be followed by the Multiverse Saga, with Kang the Conqueror taking up the mantle of the overarching villain across movies and series.

It did not go well.

The MCU flooded Disney+ with shows and cranked out multiple tentpole films, since in the eyes of executives more content equals more money. What they failed to understand was that quantity very much affects quality, and the MCU kept losing viewers as fewer people showed up for its cinematic releases.

Everyone started talking about superhero fatigue and how moviegoers were sick of the MCU. They were partially right. People weren’t sick of superhero movies. They were sick of bad and mediocre superhero movies.

Adding to that, Jonathan Majors, the actor portraying Kang, was convicted in 2023 following an assault case. Not a good look.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so MCU head Kevin Feige decided to move away from Kang and usher in a new age: the age of the rebooted X-Men.

Enter the Mutant Saga.

Brand New Day introduces the first major member of the X-Men, powerful telepath Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink of Stranger Things fame. The movie ended with Spider-Man and Jean parting as friends, with her taking a bus somewhere up north.

Right after the movie dropped, Feige announced the casting of Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, another major player in X-Men mythology. With the Jean Grey reveal, it was only a matter of time before news about the rest of the team dropped. As of the time of writing, Heartstopper star Kit Connor has been cast as Cyclops, the group’s traditional leader.

So, what does introducing the X-Men mean for the MCU?

For starters, a slate of movies stretching far into the future.

Both Sadie Sink and Kit Connor are in their early twenties, a sign that this time around the X-Men could be more faithful to their origins: wayward youngsters, hated by the world and hunted by authorities, who find refuge at Charles Xavier’s school for mutants.

Also closer to the comics is the apparent handling of Cyclops. In the source material, he is one of the main focal points of the X-Men, but that never really came through in Fox’s original films.

Now things look different.

There is, however, one major hurdle in bringing in the X-Men: Magneto and Xavier are traditionally older characters, meaning they should have been around for the major events that have already transpired in the MCU.

Where were they when Thanos snapped half the universe away? Is it possible that the world’s strongest mutant and greatest telepath simply sat idle?

If Jean Grey exists in the current timeline, the MCU can get away with saying younger mutants are only beginning to discover their powers. That excuse doesn’t work quite as well with Magneto and Xavier.

My pet theory is this: since the upcoming Doomsday and Secret Wars will deal with incursions and the destruction of universes throughout the Multiverse, Xavier and Magneto could come from a world that was destroyed.

Once here, they continue their legendary rivalry: Xavier as the voice of reason and coexistence, Magneto determined to destroy anyone he believes threatens mutantkind.

Until we know for sure, here’s to a brand new day for the MCU.