Deadpool & Wolverine is very much a raunchy love letter to the Twentieth Century Fox Marvel Universe. It contains appearances from characters from the 2005 Fantastic Four, 2003’s Daredevil, and more. Not to mention, ancillary mutant characters that never actually got to appear in an X-Men film. Yes, we’re talkin’ about you, Channing Tatum as Gambit. But with that heartfelt goodbye for the bygone era of Fox films, where were the actual main X-Men? Aside from stock footage in the credits, we never see a single one of them. Could it be that their conspicuous absence is an indication that we’re bound to still see them one more time?
There Were No A-List Fox X-Men Living in the Void in Deadpool & Wolverine
In Deadpool & Wolverine, there are many characters from the X-Men movies populating the Void, under the thumb of Cassandra Nova. There’s Juggernaut, Azazel from X-Men: First Class, and Lady Deathstrike from X2. Perhaps most notably, Pyro from X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. But Logan actually name-drops Charles Xavier several times, not to mention Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, and Beast. So it’s rather shocking none of them came back to put a period on the end of their 25-year sentence. Because if Kevin Feige felt the need to give Aaron Standford’s Pyro and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra a proper ending, surely he must feel the same way about the cast of X-Men. Especially as 2000’s X-Men was his very first Marvel screen credit.
The Original X-Men Actors Could Play All-New Variants in Secret Wars
Our prevailing theory is that Deadpool & Wolverine is indeed the fond farewell to Earth-10005 (the newly designated timeline of the Fox X-Men films), but not the last we’ll see of the original cast of the X-Men films. After all, why bring back Kelsey Grammer as Beast/Hank McCoy at the end of The Marvels, in a scene inside the X-Mansion no less, if you’re never going to pay that off? We suspect the original X-Men actors will return, as variants in yet another unexplored timeline with mutants in them. It’s just that these mutants will look very familiar, as their original actors will play them once more.
The Original X-Men Actors Might Still Play Their Original Versions
However, the Fox X-Men timeline that Wade and Logan saved from pruning by the Time-Ripper, Earth-10005, might still be the same one these X-Men from The Marvels come from. We’re going to have to do a bit of mutant math here. The “restored” happier timeline of Days of Future Past takes place in 2023. We also know the “Westchester Incident,” where an elder Charles Xavier accidentally killed 600 people, including most of the X-Men, takes place in 2028. One year later, in 2029, the events of Logan occur. There is some wiggle room for those very same X-Men to appear.
The Confusing Timeline of X-Men’s Earth-10005
Deadpool & Wolverine takes place in 2024. Meaning that Earth-10005’s version of the X-Men are all alive and happy right now. It also means that this world has two Wolverines running around. There’s the one hanging with Deadpool and friends, and the one currently with the X-Men who will eventually die in Logan. So while we might see the X-Men of Earth-10005 in Secret Wars, it would mean they won’t suffer the events of Logan, undoing that movie. We know, these X-Men timelines are super confusing. So, it is probably easier for everyone involved to go with a brand-new timeline. But it is possible Kevin Feige simply uses Earth-10005 and calls it a day.
Classic X-Men Actors Have All Hinted at a Return
Aside from the return of Grammer as Beast, there’s other evidence to suggest that the MCU has plans for the original X-Men cast for one last go-round. Patrick Stewart has hinted toward yes when asked about coming back as Professor X. Now, he wasn’t in Deadpool & Wolverine, but that doesn’t mean he won’t return for something else coming down the line. Other actors being very evasive when asked about a potential X-Men return include James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry. Now we know that their possible return was not for Deadpool & Wolverine. So we have to assume something else is in the works.
We feel that Avengers: Secret Wars is the only logical place for these characters to return for their final farewell. If Battleword is composed of the leftovers of other realities, as in the Secret Wars comics, then one of those must be a reality with the X-Men in it. If Hugh Jackman returns as Logan, he should make his true last stand with his original X-Men teammates. We’re talking Patrick Stewart as Xavier, James Marsden as Cyclops, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, and Kelsey Grammer as Beast. Heck, why not throw in Channing Tatum as Gambit, and complete the X-Men; The Animated Series roster in live-action? Of course, just like Logan, they’d have to all finally wear something that’s a semblance of their classic comic book costumes. That alone will be worth the price of admission.