Rumor Has it Fox’s Marvel Characters Will Join MCU in Phase 4

The most recent news about Fox's Marvel Movie Universe winding down involves them prolonging the inevitable. The studio bumped the release of both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants back by several months, in what felt like a desperate attempt to wrap things up before the rights revert to Marvel and the characters can join the MCU.

Well, a new rumor is swirling that suggests this is the exact plan that Fox has, with X-Men: Dark Phoenix marking the end of the Fox era. According to Bleeding Cool, some high level Fox execs gave a talk recently wherein they divulged that Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has been "hoovering up" mutant characters to add to the MCU in its upcoming Phase 4, which kicks off with next summer's sequel to Avengers: Infinity War.

The implications for Dark Phoenix are that it will now bring finality to the current continuity. This is likely why the reshoots are happening, to give the film and the new series of films a proper conclusion. Having brought Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine to a satisfying conclusion last year, I suppose we should give them the benefit of the doubt to wrap this up in similar fashion.

Now, as for where this leaves The New Mutants, don't be surprised if Disney shitcans its theatrical release altogether and sticks it on their new streaming service that starts in 2019. They're gonna want some strong, exclusive content with which to launch their service, and that sort of move seems like the right idea as no one seems to want this movie—which was originally scheduled to be released today, btw.

Either way, the mutants are coming to Disney, along with the Fantastic Four and, yes, even Deadpool. What a time to be alive!