Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo teased Avengers: Infinity War might actually have a X-Men connection with Wolverine.
The directors were doing an interview with Games Radar who asked them, “Which [heroes] would the directors have loved to have seen make an appearance?”
Joe Russo decided to take that question and open it up, “Let’s open it up to favourite Marvel characters.” He would continue, “It would probably be Wolverine.”
Games Radar would then discuss the Fox/Disney merger and that Wolverine might be showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sooner rather than later. Anthony Russo chimed in the, “Yeah, maybe one day…” But Joe Russo added, “We could be close.”
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We’ve long suspected that Disney and Fox already had a deal to incorporate the X-Men and possibly the Fantastic Four franchises into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige previously announced the Skrulls would be the main villain for the upcoming Captain Marvel movie that is taking place in the 1990s. Interestingly enough the biggest rumor about Jessica Chastain’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix villain is that she will play the Skrull Empress Veranke. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is also set in the 1990s.
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has also confirmed that the Skrulls as a whole are co-owned by both Disney and Fox.
Some specific Skrulls are at Fox. But the Skrulls as a whole are co-owned. https://t.co/2hJYkskLZ3
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 6, 2016
There’s also the undisclosed details of the deal that James Gunn and Marvel Studios worked out to use Ego the Living Planet for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The only real details we have of that deal are from Deadpool writers Paul Wernick and Rheet Reese. Wernick revealed:
Kurt Russell[’s Ego, the Living Planet] in the new Guardians movie was the character that Fox swapped with Marvel to [change] Negasonic Teenage Warhead powers.
Gunn confirmed the swap on Twitter.
Haha yes that’s true. I don’t think Fox knew what a big piece of the cosmic universe puzzle he was going to be (and I had no backup ?). https://t.co/Z19dDwvKgV
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 14, 2016
Fox and Marvel have also been collaborating on a number of television shows. Marvel TV is working with FX on Legion and The Gifted just finished their first season on Fox. It’s not too far out of the realm of possibility to see the X-Men and the Fantastic Four show up in Avengers: Infinity War. There’s even a hint that the Silver Surfer might show up.
But this theory got even sweeter when Fox pushed back the release date of X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The film was originally scheduled to release on November 2, 2018. However, Fox recently pushed it back to February 14, 2019. Captain Marvel is expected to come out just a month after X-Men: Dark Phoenix on March 6, 2019. It’s too much of a coincidence for both movies to use the same villains in films set in the same time period. And now the Russo brothers are teasing a potential Wolverine appearance!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Thanos does some reality manipulating with the Infinity Gauntlet to incorporate the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Avengers: Infinity War.