Warning! Spoilers ahead for X-Men #21
In the latest issue of Marvel Comics' X-Men, the Hellfire Gala is underway and the MCU version of the team just got a major tease during the festivities. Being the first annual event held on the mutant island nation of Krakoa, important figures from all over the world have been invited such as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, and more Marvel heroes fans would expect to be invited. However, the X-Men have also invited all sorts of real-life guests to be featured mingling at the party, and one, in particular, is none other than Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Cyclops even gets the chance to make a pitch for the X-Men's future in the MCU.
The X-Men's Hellfire Gala has been teased for quite a while in the comics, being held in order for Krakoa to foster a new era of peace with nations and peoples from all over the world. Furthermore, it's also a chance for the island's first official team of X-Men to be revealed, having being elected by all of mutantkind on the island (plus one member of the new X-Men whom fans got to vote for). While the massive evening of extravagance has been featured across all of Marvel's recent X-Men titles, X-Men #21 from writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Sara Pichelli, Nick Dragotta, Russell Dauterman, and Lucas Werneck is clearly the centerpiece issue for the party.
While the debut of the new team of X-Men is very impressive, spotting the real-life guests at the Hellfire Gala is a real treat for fans as well, featuring the likes of Patton Oswalt, George R.R. Martin, Eminem, Michael B. Jordan, and many more. However, one of the biggest guest reveals is Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios himself, seen grabbing drinks at the bar with Scott Summers' Cyclops. Feige asks Scott a very important and exciting question - "what's your story?" - that opens the door for a potential tease for the X-Men's MCU future.
Sure enough, Scott shares his story, beginning with his belief in the original dream for mutants held by Professor Charles Xavier: "I was blind. Blind to how the world worked... and then I met a man who taught me to see — see how things really were." However, he then speaks to how the world is a killer of dreams, and to the growing realization as he got older that Xavier wasn't perfect, as well as the fact that Xavier's was not the only dream there could be. Now, the X-Men of Krakoa are fighting for dreams held by all of mutankind as it's evolved and grown over time.
Interestingly enough, this seems like the perfect foundation and meta-pitch for the MCU X-Men that should be making a debut in the near future now that Disney and Marvel Studios have acquired 20th Century Fox and the rights to the X-Men franchise. Scott's story is one that carries the focus away from Xavier being the X-Men's leader in the past and more on himself leading in the present, which could certainly be a fresh take for the on-screen X-Men when they debut in the MCU. Perhaps Xavier's school is already in their past, and the dreams of mutantkind have begun their evolution into the future?
In any case, it's certainly exciting and a fairly big deal that Kevin Feige is featured in this issue of X-Men. Not only did his producing career begin with FOX's X-Men franchise, but he's also a massive lover of the comics himself, so becoming a canon character in the Marvel Universe must be just as exciting for Feige on a personal level as it is for fans. Regardless, fingers are crossed that Cyclops' pitch carries some weight when the X-Men eventually make their MCU debut.