How to Integrate the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU

With the development that Disney has acquired a good portion of Fox’s assets, Marvel fans can rejoice because the X-Men and the Fantastic Four can now be added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  We can see everything we’ve wanted – Wolverine on the Avengers, Doom as the next big bad guy, Kitty Pryde and the Thing as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.  There are a ton of things that have done well in the comics that they can now do.

But what’s the best way to incorporate them into an existing universe?

Simple – Avengers 4.  We all know that Thanos’ arc as the villain will last 2 movies and he’s going to control the Infinity Gauntlet; using the various gems, he can rewrite the MCU.  It’s been the expected out for getting new actors into the existing roles.  It could also be the way to say mutants have always been around.

When the history is rewritten, mutants can be what they were trying to turn the Inhumans into – a more natural way of acquiring powers.  We don’t need to see an origin; we know all about mutants from the Fox movies.  We can have an established X-Men team in current continuity.  Marvel can go back and fill in the gaps about the formation of the team and various mutants can pop in and out.  The X-Men franchise has been through this, and Marvel has done it with Captain America: The First Avenger and will be doing it again with Captain Marvel.

The same thing can be done with the Fantastic Four, if they want; the other option there is having the Fantastic Four be created out of the time ripple.  Reed leads his team into space right as Thanos changes time; the ripple effect causes the explorers to gain their powers.  They come back to earth to become the team we’ve seen in the comics.  This allows for a back story that fits with the universe and can be shown in a flashback (a la Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Civil War scenes).

One other FF story detail that can be taken care of is the Baxter Building.  What if a science conglomerate purchased Avengers Tower from Tony Stark to use it for a think tank?  What if that think tank sent 4 scientists to space?  There is the introduction of the Baxter building

The trickier thing is Deadpool; since he’s rated R, he doesn’t quite fit with the tone of the MCU.  Rather than ratcheting him back, they can either do a standalone series with him (keep his movies out of the MCU proper, which Wade would have fun with), or they leave him as a rated-R property and don’t promote other characters in the movie.  One of the biggest problems they could have would be promoting a Spider-Man/Deadpool team up in a movie, but making it rated R so kids can’t see it; they want to see Spider-Man.  (Now, my kids want to see Deadpool too, but they will not be allowed to until they get closer to 16)

There is speculation that the MCU could start an imprint for R rated movies – Marvel Knights.  The one-time comic imprint dealt with more adult themed books; it’s very possible that they could use this for standalone movies in the MCU like Deadpool, Logan, and movies more in line with their Netflix shows.

What are your thoughts on the MCU having a full library of characters?  What’s the best way to introduce mutants and the Fantastic Four?  Post your thoughts in the comments.