While 20th Century Fox's upcoming summer blockbuster Dark Phoenix will be a part of the studio's long-running X-Men film series, the film's recently-released second trailer features what appears to be a direct nod to Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Towards the very end of the trailer, several mutants including Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler and Beast, among others, can be seen being held captive on a transport after apparently being detained by a members of a specialized task force. According to the patches on their uniforms, this task force is called the "MCU" (which presumably stands for something to the effect of Mutant Containment Unit or Mutant Control Unit.)

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While this could just simply be a coincidence, it's also rather easy to see this as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Disney is currently in the process of acquiring 20th Century Fox, thus opening the door for the Fox-owned Marvel properties, namely the X-Men (and the Fantastic Four), to be added to Marvel Studios' lineup as they build towards the future of their franchise.

In turn, the sight of "MCU" troops making off with Fox's mutants carries with it some fairly obvious symbolism. On that note, however, it is worth mentioning that what exactly the Disney-Fox merger has in store for Fox's X-Men franchise is still up in the air. In addition to Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, both of which are scheduled to be released later this year, the studio reportedly still has multiple mutant-themed projects in the works. All the while, Disney has plans for its own X-Men franchise to be spearheaded by Kevin Feige.

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At this time, fans will simply have to continued to wait and see what happens when the merger is finalized. At any rate, however, this apparent easter egg in Dark Phoenix makes for a rather interesting nod to viewers who are in the know regarding behind-the-scenes happenings.

Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and Jessica Chastain. The film opens on June 7.