While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has featured many original elements over the years, from introducing Phil Coulson as Clark Gregg to changing Thanos’ motivation to wipe out half of life in the universe, the franchise of superheroes eventually turns to comic books for the story. inspiration. This includes massive crossovers like The Infinity Gauntlet and Civil war, and now a new Marvel Comics event is being announced that will involve the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals. So it’s possible something similar is happening within the MCU?
What Marvel Comics has in store for the Avengers, X-Men and Eternals
Earlier today, Marvel Comics announced a crossover event called Judgment day arrives in the summer of 2022, and it will see the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals collide in one way or another. Specific plot information is currently being kept under lock and key, but more details will be revealed next week. So far we only have three disturbing quotes from Tony Stark/Iron Man, Irene Adler (aka Destiny, not to be confused with Sherlock Holmes’ character of the same name) and Druig, an Eternal played by Barry Keoghan in the Eternals movie. You can read them below:
“In a broad sense, I’m pro-hubris, but… how the hell do you think we’re going to make a god in a few hours?” -Tony Stark
“There will always be a war. It’s the one thing you can always be sure of. – Irene Adler
“For a million years the Earth was protected from the deviants. But we made a mistake…we ran out. Mutants. -Druig
The X-Men and the Avengers have crossed paths several times in the comics, with one of the most notable shared events being in the 2010s. Avengers vs. X-Men. And while the Eternals haven’t had as much page space over the decades and are usually featured in more standalone stories, they’ve also hung out with the Avengers and X-Men on occasion. But having all three together like this is a big deal, and it will be interesting to see how the consequences of Judgment day affects the wider Marvel Comics universe.
Is this doable in the MCU?
If you had asked me that question half a decade ago, I would have said no. At the time, 20th Century Fox was still a separate film studio and owned the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, hence why those teams have yet to appear in the MCU. However, Disney has since acquired Fox and renamed it 20th Century Studios, so now the X-Men and Fantastic Four are under the Marvel Studios umbrella and will be introduced to the MCU at some point, with Spider-Man: No Coming Home‘s Jon Watts directing the reboot centered around the latter group.
As for the Eternals, their first film was released last November, and while a sequel has yet to be announced, we can expect to see some, if not all, of the MCU’s surviving protagonists again. And while it’s unclear if the Avengers team is technically still active in Phase Four, you can be sure that if a big enough threat emerges, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will come together to defeat it. So, hypothetically speaking, yes, a crossover between the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals is doable in the MCU. Depending on what happened, it has the potential to be as massive as End of Gameif not, more.
What are the odds we actually see this MCU?
First of all, whatever ends up happening in this Judgment day crossover, don’t expect the MCU to deliver a faithful adaptation of the event. Whenever the MCU adapts a Marvel Comics crossover, it often takes great creative liberties with narrative beats; or, in the case of Avengers: Age of Ultron, only has the name. But more generally, I’d say there’s a good chance the MCU versions of the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals will reunite one day, though you shouldn’t expect to see it for long.
The main obstacle to achieving this goal is the fact that, as already mentioned, we have yet to see the X-Men in the MCU. Right now, the MCU movie slate is packed through the summer of 2023, and with movies like Blade, The Fantastic Four and Captain America 4 making steady progress, I’d say the earliest we see an X-Men related movie is 2025. Add a few more years for mutants to settle into that continuity, and any kind of crossover akin to Judgment day probably wouldn’t take place until the late 2020s, if not the early 2030s.
It’s worth mentioning that there have been rumors that the Eternals could play a role in introducing mutants to the MCU. If that were the case, we might be able to see an Eternals/X-Men crossover a bit sooner, if not just unfold it in the X-Men’s first MCU movie. But right now, the pieces just aren’t in place yet for the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals to collide in one setting. Plus, with all the mutliversale madness going on in this superhero franchise and a Secret Wars movie that could possibly be in development, cramming in a crossover like this might seem like overkill.
Eternals can now be streamed by those with a Disney+ subscription, and we’ll keep you posted on news about the X-Men reboot, another Avengers installment, and any other upcoming Marvel movies.
