Kevin Feige Reveals If X-Men and Fantastic Four Changed Plans for Marvel’s Multiverse

The closing events of Loki officially opened up the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, a land of infinite possibilities when it comes to storytelling. Now that Disney owns the live-action film rights to characters in the X-Men and Fantastic Four stables, the MCU—or MCM, as we’re talking—could pull all sorts of tricks using the concept of a multiverse. While the acquisition of 20th Century Fox opened up certain opportunities, Kevin Feige remains adamant the merger didn’t change Marvel Studios’ multiversal storytelling plans.

“You know, I think we first mentioned it, or the Ancient One mentions it in Doctor Strange 1 when she’s taking Stephen Strange through that mind-warping journey. It was always one of the most powerful storytelling tools in the comics,” Feige told Collider while on the press tour for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

He added, “One you have to wield carefully because it can get overwhelming, but now also one with the 20-plus history of the movies there are enough characters we can start playing with it that way. We mention it, obviously, as part of Mysterio’s ruse in Far From Home. I think the toys that were added to that toybox increased with that Fox acquisition, but it didn’t change the timetable on when we were introducing the idea of the multiverse.”

Some fans thought we were going to see an inkling of the multiversal storytelling when Evan Peters was cast in WandaVision, considering the actor previously played Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver in Fox’s X-Men franchise. That ultimately ended up as a red herring, but fans remain hopeful one of those multiversal stories could include a similar crossover.

One of the first times we may see it, in fact, is when Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock arrives in the movies. Feige also confirmed the actor’s return as the Man Without Fear, potentially signaling a crossover between Netflix’s DefendersVerse and the MCU, depending on what executives decide regarding the rules of continuity.

The next Marvel movie is Spider-Man: No Way Home, currently set for release on December 17th. What other Spidey-family characters do you think will end up appearing in the upcoming feature? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!