X-Men to Join Disney Empire Early Next Year, Paving Way for MCU Debut

We’re only a few months away from seeing the X-Men join Disney’s immense empire. According to Variety, Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox will be complete on January 1, 2019, marking the start of a new era for Disney.

When the deal was first announced, everyone immediately began thinking about the possibilities. Will the X-Men join the Avengers? Will we finally get a good Fantastic Four movie? Even Disney is chomping at the bit over the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s future prospects.

Variety’s report doesn’t discuss what Disney has planned for Fox, but it’s not hard to imagine what will happen. The acquisition will give Disney even more characters to introduce into the MCU—perhaps Hugh Jackman will reconsider his stance on leaving his role as Wolverine for good.

Notably, the deal will see Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool under the Disney umbrella, a character who is known for crude humor and violence. However, there was a report that claimed Deadpool 2 would be re-introduced into theaters this winter with a tamer MPAA rating. Maybe he can be integrated into the MCU after all.

It will probably be months before we know what Disney has planned for the Marvel characters soon to be in its possession. But Disney will probably want to see a crossover happen sooner rather than later.

That being said, what’s to come of Dark Phoenix and New Mutants?