Sorry, Fox Superheroes Won't Join The MCU In Phase 4

After the huge Fox and Disney deal was announced, many people had one particular question: how soon until Fox's Marvel characters like X-Men and Deadpool find their way into the MCU? Now we have an answer: not for a while.

The Disney-Fox deal is happening, but don't expect to see Fox's Marvel characters like the X-Men and Deadpool popping up in the MCU anytime soon. Fans had hoped that maybe, just maybe, the Fox Marvel characters would find their way into Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently confirmed (to The Playlist) that's highly unlikely:

"No, because any of that deal would take a while to get going and years from whenever and if ever it happens. So, certainly it won't impact the five movies we've announced, and it probably wouldn't impact anything for a handful of years after that. Because really, we're not thinking about that. We're thinking of delivering on what we promised. Any movie, especially for any characters we don't have the rights to yet until someone tells us we do, would be even further after that."

This sounds like Phase 5 is the earliest we can expect the Fox-owned characters popping up in the MCU. You've waited this long, you can wait a little longer, right? And while we'll have to wait for characters like the X-Men to arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that doesn't mean Kevin Feige doesn't have a general idea about how it might eventually happen.

Speaking with ComingSoon, Feige once again confirmed it will be a while before official plans get underway. At the same time, Feige also says that the Thor movies could be a blueprint for how to bring the X-Men into the MCU:

"We're not working on it in any way, shape or form. We've got five films on the docket we've already announced that are taking a big percent of our time. But I will say to your very good question that if you look back to Phase 1 and after "Iron Man" was released and we announced our upcoming films, one of which was "Thor," people said, "How in the WORLD can you bring in a Norse god who flies with a hammer into the world you've established of Tony Stark and Stark Industries?" That was sort of the reason we made the "Thor" film the way we did, was to ease character into a world together, even though they might not understand each other and might have trouble getting along at first, that's the fun of it. But tonally there's always a way, and as you said the comics have been navigating it quite well for half a century."

But wait, there's more! While Fox owns a large amount of Marvel characters, there are some stragglers. Namor the Sub-Mariner, for instance, resides with Universal Pictures. Could that character find his way into the MCU eventually as well? Kevin Feige tells IGN that the Namor situation is a lot more complicated, and they don't have any concrete plans as of now:

"It is [a complicated situation]. I think there's a way to probably figure it out but it does have — it's not as a clean or clear as the majority of the other characters."

In short: you can expect to see Deadpool, the X-Men and other Fox Marvel characters show up in the MCU in the not-too-distant future, but don't hold your breath waiting for Namor.