After finishing the Infinity Saga, Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay directors Joe and Anthony Russo have their eyes on a new possible MCU project: the X-Men.
The brothers, who started their Marvel career with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and whose recent projects include Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, recently held an AMA on the the Marvel Studios subreddit. The thread garnered almost 5000 comments and questions, with one notable inquiry coming from user ethanplem: "Which superhero's movie that is not currently in the mcu would you guys most want to direct in the future?"
Their response? "We've always loved us some Wolverine."
The pair's aspiration would seem impossible a couple of years ago. Though Disney had acquired rights to Marvel properties, Fox still held the keys to the X-Men, is it had since the early 2000s. In Fox's films, Hugh Jackman brought the violent Canadian mutant to life, topping the box office and making both Jackman and Wolverine a household name. Fox even spun the character off into a series of standalone films -- 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2013's The Wolverine, and 2017's Logan.
With Jackman's Wolverine dead at the end of Logan, it seemed any chances for a revival of the character had disappeared. But Disney's acquisition of Fox has completely changed the game. Previously inaccessible properties are now available to the House of Mouse, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
Marvel Studios decided to strike while the adamantium was hot at their presentation at Comic-Con International in San Diego, with president Kevin Feige announcing that yes, the studio will develop movies about the mutants. Though it may be a while before MCU fans get to see the franchise's take on the X-Men, especially given Fox's Dark Phoenix film that opened earlier this year, interest from Joe and Anthony Russo could bring the franchise's biggest directors to one of the most popular comic book characters ever.