'Avengers' Theory Explains How 'Endgame' Could Introduce X-Men Into MCU

Earlier this week, the long-talked about merger between Disney and Fox Entertainment became official (to the tune of $71.3 billion), meaning that the door has opened to see many of your favorite Disney characters, including the Avengers, hang out with Fox family favorites like the X-Men. It's a potential alliance that comic book movie fans have long dreamed about, and studio officials are already considering the possibilities.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked specifically about whether Marvel Studios would absorb the X-Men franchise, and if Marvel head Kevin Feige would oversee that. "I think it only makes sense," Iger said. "It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn't be two Marvels."

This, of course, has led to wild fan speculation about how the studio might align the two superhero groups. According to Hindustan Times, one Redditor believes we could see the groups introduced as early as next month, when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters.

According to the theory, Endgame could see the Avengers destroying the Infinity Stones, which will in turn create the mutant gene that all X-Men have. They give an example of this with Captain Marvel and the tesseract, which gave her the powers she currently possesses. The tesseract is now in Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, but if the Avengers take the stones, it could cause a chain reaction like it did with Carol Danvers, and start a mutant gene.

While no one knows for sure how the X-Men will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it likely will be a little while before Disney starts up any new films based on these characters. As of right now, Fox is still releasing the Marvel films Dark Phoenix, which hits theaters on June 7, 2019, and The New Mutants, which has yet to land a definitive release date. Still, it's safe to say that fans are pretty excited to see what could happen if Wolverine and the gang joined forces with Captain Marvel and her fellow Phase 4 MCU characters.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.