Mutants are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are, to quote Thanos, "inevitable." With the X-Men and Fantastic Four officially in Disney’s catalogue, it’s only a matter of time before the likes of Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine share scenes with Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange.

Related: No More Mutants: How Those Three Words Changed the Marvel Universe

As exciting as that sounds, finding a way to introduce these iconic characters to Marvel’s 11-year old universe is going to be tricky. But as we’ve seen from previous movies in the MCU, producer Kevin Feige and his band of creators are very good at retrofitting characters and storylines to further expand Marvel’s cinematic timeline. Here are 10 ways we think producers could make it seem like mutants, not necessarily the X-Men, were always in this universe.

10 Wolverine Meets Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow)

The upcoming Black Widow (prequel) film is bound to have Natasha Romanoff working all sorts of secret missions in Russia and beyond. This opens up the possibility of her hunting down and dealing with targets from other secret organizations. Particularly, Weapon X.

Related: Future Marvel Studios Films Potentially Revealed by Private Facebook Pages

Since the MCU will be embarking on non-linear storytelling from here, movies like Black Widow will be perfect for retrofitting characters into Marvel’s cinematic timeline. A mission to hunt the Wolverine, whose trail goes cold, a run-in with Omega Red in the Russian tundra, and a mutant showdown in Budapest are all clever ways to tell us that mutants have always been a part of this universe.

9 Other Mutants In 'Age Of Ultron' Experiments

Wanda during Hydra experiments

While they were never branded as such, the closest thing we’ve seen to mutants in the MCU are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, who are both results of Hydra experimentation. Baron Von Strucker, the man who commanded the experiments, has a long and complicated history with the likes of Logan and the Red Skull in the comics. So who’s to say he wasn’t trying to replicate the mutant gene by using the Mind Stone in Age Of Ultron?

Related: 10 Things About Hydra You Never Knew

Or better yet, who’s to say Wanda and Pietro weren’t mutants to begin with. Maybe Baron was only trying to invoke their dormant powers? Hydra’s history with genome hacking is as dark as their network is wide, so saying Baron had laboratories all over the world to weaponize identified mutants wouldn’t be too far of a stretch.

8 The Eternals Were The First Cosmic Mutants

The Eternals is Marvel Studios’ latest foray into uncharted territory. The cosmic epic deals with a group of characters deemed to be the first superhumans in the known universe. And because it’s supposedly a prequel set thousands of years in the past, The Eternals would be a good way to explain the many subsets of superhuman beings in the cosmos - one of them being mutants, of course.

If say, the mutant gene and its powers were then made dormant by these celestial characters, only to be awakened again thousands of years in the future, that would set the stage for an Eternals sequel. It would also act as a segue into the dawn of a new X-Men saga.

7 The Snap Caused Evolution To Speed Up… and the Savage Land

Spider-Man: Far From Home briefly explained the effects of The Snap (or The Blip as it’s affectionately called). But what if it did more than just dust trillions of lifeforms and then bring them back? Tampering with the pillars of reality is the perfect opportunity to explain a “jump” in the human evolutionary process.

What if, during the act of bringing everyone back, the Stones didn’t restore them exactly as they were, but sped up a genome that should have only come into effect centuries later? A glitch in the space-time continuum could also explain the re-existence of dinosaurs and humanoid Pteranodons, making it the perfect introduction to the much-anticipated Savage Land!

6 Ego Created Mutants On Earth

Ego, better known as Peter Quill’s dirtbag of a dad, knew a thing or two about sowing his wild oats all over the universe. Peter Quill is a result of all that cross-breeding, which is what imbued him with godlike power in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2.

Related: Old Man Quill’s Dark Twist Drastically Changes the Guardians of the Galaxy

While Ego did say he tracked (and killed) all of his children, Ego’s actions may have also created powered beings on Earth and beyond who aren’t as overtly powerful as Quill, but superhuman nonetheless. It may not be the ideal introduction to mutants that we want, but it’s a chance to tie them into the larger MCU mythology.

5 En Sabah Nur Is A Kree God

Known as the first mutant in recorded history, En Sabah Nur could easily pass as a Kree warlord, deity, or full-blown God. Their rituals and attire (see Ronan the Accuser) share a striking resemblance, and the “first mutant's” cybernetic physique could explain the Kree’s bond with technology-driven intelligence i.e. the Supreme Being.

The Kree also have a history with Earth that spans centuries, meaning En Sabah Nur as an ancient messianic figure would make perfect sense, and so would tying the rise of mutants in the world to his invocation by Kree sects on Earth. If there’s one villain who could rival, if not surpass, Thanos and serve as an Avengers-level threat in the years to come, it’s definitely Apocalypse.

4 Weapon X Is America’s Answer To Hydra

It’s no secret that pop culture is oftentimes influenced by current affairs and politics, which is why labeling Weapon X, the clandestine government research facility, as America’s answer to the looming threat of Russia’s Hydra-backed ‘Winter Soldier’ program during the Cold War would make perfect sense. Granted, Weapon X is originally Canadian, but the MCU has taken creative liberties with its source material before.

Related: Wolverine & Captain America Just Uncovered Marvel’s Biggest Conspiracy

Better yet, the new line of comics called Weapon Plus stitches the super-soldier origins of Wolverine, Deadpool, Winter Soldier, and Captain America together in a twisted series of events. This makes it even more plausible that Weapon X’s existence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be explained with ease.

3 Mutants In The Multiverse

The Tesseract in it's case in the MCU

Sony Pictures, a counterpart and ally to the MCU, dared to explore the idea of a multiverse in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse with spectacular results, earning the film an Oscar in the process. It’s only a matter of time before the MCU ventures into multiple different worlds, opening up hundreds of storytelling possibilities in the process.

One of those stories could be the existence of mutants on an alternate world. It would explain the absence of the X-Men during Earth’s peril, especially at the hands of Thanos. And it would also allow the MCU to import familiar actors from Fox’s X-Men saga to reprise their roles… Although the latter seems highly unlikely at the moment.

2 Omega Red Inspired Whiplash’s Weapons

What if Anton Vanko, Ivan Vanko’s (Whiplash) father, was inspired by the legendary Russian mercenary, Omega Red, when designing his own reactor-powered whips? Red himself was a subject of human experimentation: His body altered with retractable carbonadium tentacles that could electrocute and sap the life-force out of his victims.

Related: The 10 Most Powerful Members Of The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants, Ranked

In the comics, Omega Red serves the Soviet government until they decide he’s too unpredictable and can’t be controlled. They put him in cryogenic suspended animation until they can figure out a way to tame their rabid weapon. Following that beat, the MCU could introduce Omega Red as another super soldier “out of time." Only this time, they’ll make a grave mistake by awakening him.

1 The Tesseract Activated The Mutant Gene

The cast of X-Men Days Of Future Past

The Tesseract, the Space Stone itself, has been a central part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a while now. It was the obsession of the Red Skull, it was what Loki was always after, and it turned Carol Danvers into one of the most powerful people in the known cosmos.

The Tesseract clearly radiates unimaginable energy. And after being on Earth for thousands of years, it wouldn’t be surprising if the cube slowly but surely altered life on this planet in a significant way. Hence, mutantkind. It would be quite epic if the same energy that powers Captain Marvel also spearheaded the mutant genome, making the X-Men a result of one of the Infinity Stones.

Next: How Weapon Plus Rewrites Weapon X's Marvel History