New fan art sees Janelle Monae becoming Storm in the MCU, and teaming up with Black Panther. Thanks to Disney’s merger with Fox, characters from the X-Men comic books are now available to be used in the MCU. But what plans does Disney even have for the X-Men as the studio moves forward into the MCU’s Phase 4?

Of course, 2019 did see the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, a total box office flop that directly led to Disney suffering a huge loss in the year’s third fiscal quarter. Following on that major disaster, it’s no surprise that Disney is in no rush to announce new X-Men related projects – and indeed, pausing the X-Men franchise is probably the best move after the Dark Phoenix debacle. As of now, the only X-Men related property set to hit screens is the oft-delayed New Mutants, but there’s a strong possibility that the movie will never actually get a theatrical release and will instead go straight to Disney+.

Related: Ryan Reynolds Crashes Hugh Jackman's Original X-Men Cast Reunion

With Disney holding off on any big X-Men plans for the time being, fans are left to imagine what might happen to their favorite characters in the MCU. One such fan, artist Yadvender Singh Rana, has indeed weighed in with his own idea which sees Monae taking over the role of Storm and teaming up with Chadwick Boseman’s T-Challa. See his striking art in the space below:

Storm of course was played by Halle Berry in the original run of X-Men films, then was played by Alexandra Shipp in the most recent movies, including Dark Phoenix. But with the X-Men franchise headed for a full reboot (at some point), Storm will no doubt be recast, and fans have pushed Monae to the front of the line to become the character (with others like Beyonce and KiKi Layne also getting some mention). Monae of course is not only a respected actress thanks to roles in movies like Moonlight and Hidden Figures, she’s also an acclaimed musician with 8 Grammy nominations to her name.

No doubt, Monae would be a strong choice to play Storm when and if the MCU ever introduces the X-Men. The idea of teaming up Storm with Black Panther is of course a natural one, as Storm also hails from Africa, but it also bears mentioning that the world of Black Panther is already populated with a number of strong female characters and doesn’t necessarily need another one. Also, there’s the issue of how the powers of the X-Men will fit with the world of the MCU. Of course, the MCU has already featured versions of X-Men characters thanks to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who blended reasonably well with that cinematic universe. It’s also worth mentioning that Storm never was used all that well in the other X-Men movies, and indeed has long been an under-served character in the series. Perhaps injecting Storm into the world of Black Panther would actually be a good way to give the character something more meaningful to do in the future.

More: What The MCU's X-Men Team SHOULD Be (Not Repeating First Class)

Source: Yadvender Singh Rana/Instagram