WARNING: Spoilers ahead for S.W.O.R.D. #8!
The X-Men are one of the biggest properties yet to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but recent developments in the comics may have shown how the team could make its MCU debut. With the mutants of Arakko now living on Mars – not to mention Cyclops and his family making their home on the Earth’s moon – mutants have more freedom than ever. And it’s highly possible that freedom could translate to their big-screen introduction.
For years, fans have been clamoring to see their favorite X-Men fighting on the silver screen alongside the Avengers. Now, with Phase 4 opening the MCU up to endless possibilities, the time when heroes like Wolverine, Cyclops, and the others will first appear is fast approaching. And comics like S.W.O.R.D. #8 by Al Ewing and Guiu Vilanova could be showing fans how.
S.W.O.R.D. #8 gives readers a glimpse of Storm’s new life as the Regent of Arakko, while also setting up the differences between this more militaristic branch of mutantdom and the more traditionally heroic Earth-born X-Men of Krakoa. While Storm faces multiple challengers for her position of power, including the infamous Tarn the Uncaring, it’s clear that she’s ultimately the right mutant for the job. Though Storm is the focus of the issue, the Arakki society presents an interesting possibility for the X-Men's inevitable return to the silver screen – the X-Men could already be living on Mars.
If Marvel Studios were to set up their interpretation of mutants in that fashion, it could account for where they’ve been for the entirety of the MCU’s history without having to go through the trouble of introducing mutations as an entirely new phenomenon. It could easily be explained that a character like Professor X or Emma Frost used their powers to telepathically mask the existence of mutants and cover their tracks before leaving the Earth.
For years, the MCU pushed the Inhumans into roles typically filled by mutants. Hated and feared, these characters all but adopted the X-Men’s identity as a persecuted superpowered society. Clearly, Marvel Studios isn’t opposed to playing around with character’s comic book origins, and since they’ve already swapped the Inhumans for the X-Men in one regard, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them switch around the two groups’ bases. After all, the Inhumans spent years living on the Blue Area of the Moon in the Marvel Comics, so it’s more than possible that the X-Men could be introduced into the MCU as having already colonized an otherworldly locale like Mars.
However the X-Men eventually make it into the MCU, fans will certainly be expecting something different from what they’ve seen before. With Marvel Comics’ mutants currently evolving into the dominant power in the solar system, it would certainly be an interesting take to see translated to the big screen. Either way, the X-Men can’t come to the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon enough.