Kevin Feige Announces New 'Era of Mutants' for MCU Ahead of Deadpool and Wolverine

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

During a press conference for the next Marvel movie, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that mutants will have a much bigger role 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 them before,” Feige said (via The Playlist). “So this is the beginning of that, and every[movie]after Deadpool and Wolverine will be the era of the Mutants coming into the MCU.”

It seems 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 as part of the 21st Century Fox acquisition deal, so this has been a long time coming.

This discovery changes almost everything, as it is now possible that we will see X-Men characters start appearing in new films, such as Fantastic Four, Blade and Spider-Man 4.

Feige also discussed the possibility of producing more R-rated films in the future.

While he has maintained that the MCU will not become an R-rated franchise, it’s very possible that the reception to Deadpool and Wolverine (not to mention the box office receipts) could transform Marvel into a more adult-oriented studio.

“Every (Marvel) movie 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 wonder, ‘Will every movie after this be R-rated?’ (And the answer is) of course not. But I hope every movie after this takes that tone like Deadpool & Wolverine and that team do.”

More R-rated movies And The X-Men? It seems like the new MCU could represent a real change of tradition if Deadpool & Wolverine is the success everyone predicts.

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 preview event and check out our suspects for who will play Lady Deadpool.