Kevin Feige announces new “Mutant Era” for MCU ahead of Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine opens up the door for more X-Men adventures in the MCU, and Kevin Feige has just confirmed that plans are already in motion.

During a press conference for the upcoming Marvel movie, President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige confirmed that the Mutants would have a much larger part to play in the MCU going forward – and fans may not have to wait until the end of Phase 6, either.

“Now that we have characters from the X-Men world, the Mutants—we haven’t had access to before,” Feige said [via The Playlist]. “So, this is the beginning of that, and every [movie] post Deadpool & Wolverine will be the Mutant era coming into the MCU.”

This very much sounds like the wider X-Men universe will start to seep into the MCU almost immediately. Disney bought the rights to the X-Men in 2019 during the acquisition deal of 21st Century Fox, so this has been a long time coming.

The insight changes almost everything, since it’s now possible that we might see X-Men characters begin to pop up in new movies, such as Fantastic Four, Blade, and Spider-Man 4.

Feige also spoke about the possibility of producing more R-rated movies going forward.

While he maintained that the MCU wouldn’t become an R-rated franchise, it’s very possible that the reception to Deadpool & Wolverine (not to mention the box office earnings) might just turn Marvel into a more adult-skewing studio.

“Every [Marvel] film is important, and there’s nothing better than a great movie for a Cinematic Universe,” he said.

“I think a lot of people talk about the R-rating and, ‘Is every movie going to be R-rated after this?’ [And the answer is] of course not. But I hope every movie after this embraces its tonality the way the way Deadpool & Wolverine and the way this team does.”

More R-rated movies and the X-Men? Sounds like the new MCU might be a real shift in tradition if Deadpool & Wolverine is as successful as everyone is predicting.

Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26. For more, check out our guides to every Deadpool cameo we know about. You can also find out what we learned at the sneak peak event, and check out our suspects for who’s playing Lady Deadpool.