The X-Men cinematic universe grows by one when FX’s Legion launches early next year, producer Bryan Singer finally confirmed. While earlier talk has been muddled, with Legion being called stand-alone, implied to be in-universe with the films, and even mentioned in a Marvel.com roundup of new MCU characters (relating it to Marvel Studios’ output of films and TV series), Singer made it much more clear at the Edinburgh Television Festival.
“[Legion is] part of the X-Men universe, but when you watch it, you wouldn’t have to label it, it could exist entirely on its own,” Singer said of the show. That seems to jive with at least two of the three things mentioned above – it can stand-alone, but it does technically live in the same timeline as the films.
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Of course, that opens up other questions, as the films don’t seem to have their own major timeline issues; thanks to the soft reboot of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the timeline of the future was drastically changed, bringing characters back to life, and seemingly erasing the events of the critically and fan-reviled films X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Origins – Wolverine (giving us that second chance at Deadpool we were all hoping for). For the unfamiliar, the character known as Legion is David Haller, and he’s the illegitimate son of Professor Charles Xavier, played in the films by Sir Patrick Stewart and later by James McAvoy.
Singer also said there is still a second X-Men TV series in the works, though their first effort, Hellfire, died on the vine. The second series “will relate to future X-Men movies and has a really ambitious and fun and very unique storyline,” he teased. He didn’t reveal anything else about where in the timeline that particular series will fit, however.
As for and X-Men/MCU crossover, Singer didn’t address it. The most recent rumors all revolved around Legion, as the series is being jointly produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel TV, with head of Marvel TV Jeph Loeb listed as an executive producer, and frequently talking about the show. That sparked rumors that perhaps there was some crossover to the world of Marvel Studios. Coupled with Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talking about the “multiverse” that film would introduce, and the aforementioned Marvel.com listing of Legion as a “new MCU character to watch,” fans started to speculate and get excited that a character-sharing deal, much like Sony and Marvel have put together for Spider-Man, could be in the works.
Sadly for those fans, Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo told Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis that those rumors don’t hold any salt, saying, “As far as we know, right now there isn’t talk regarding the X-Men. I don’t know if behind-the-scenes there were conversations or if there are conversations happening but we certainly haven’t heard of any.”
For now, fans can be happy knowing Legion exists alongside the X-Men movies, and keep hoping for the future.
h/t THR
