So Disney is buying Fox. Disney owns Marvel. Fox holds the movie rights to the X-Men. So now the X-Men can show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right?

Not so fast, Quicksilver (who already exists in both universes, so maybe that wasn’t the best joke to make right now). The deal isn’t done yet, and even once it is, any mutant-related shenanigans in the MCU could still be a ways off. At least that’s what Marvel Grand Poobah Kevin Feige told Vulture, who would presumably know a thing or two about how close we are to seeing the X-Men team up with the Avengers.

Describing the details of the merger as “above my pay grade,” Feige said he read about the Disney/Fox deal in the press, just like fans. He didn’t even get an email! And the secrecy has continued since then. Here’s Feige:

The truth of the matter as I understand it is the deal has to be figured out ... There’s been no communication. We’re not thinking about it. We’re focusing on everything we’ve already announced. If and when the deal actually happens, we’ll start to think more about it. Until then, we have a lot to do.

If you were holding out hope for an X-Men appearance in Avengers 4, this isn’t exactly great news. That film was shot at the same time as Avengers: Infinity War, and it comes out in a little under 18 months, in May of 2019. That leaves precious little time to iron out corporate specifics, then iron out story specifics, do some reshoots, and so on. Frankly, it seems almost impossible at this point.

On the plus side, these Avengers sequels already have something like 75 Marvel characters in them anyway. I’m not sure you could fit the X-Men in there anyway.

Gallery - How Many Marvel Movie Easter Eggs Do You Know?

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