In the upcoming movies “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars”, the X-Men will lend their powers to save the multiverse, but this exciting comeback also raises some challenging continuity issues. The X-Men series, which began with 2000’s “X-Men” and lasted over two decades before concluding in 2020’s “The New Mutants”, was once the most prominent superhero ensemble. It played a significant role in igniting the modern superhero film trend. However, this ended until 2024 when “Deadpool & Wolverine” brought back Hugh Jackman as Logan, marking the start of the Fox X-Men franchise’s unexpected revival.
In the unveiling of Marvel Studios’ two-part blockbuster series titled “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars“, an impressive ensemble of actors reprising their roles from both the established MCU and earlier Marvel movie universes is expected. Notably, significant figures from the Fox X-Men cast are returning to their characters. For fans who cherish the X-Men series, this integration into “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars” is a thrilling prospect. However, the return of these characters poses a significant question about continuity, which ironically, the characters from the films “Deadpool” and “Wolverine” can be credited for raising.
Deadpool & Wolverine Was Presented as a Goodbye to Fox-Marvel (at First)
After Hugh Jackman announced his comeback as Wolverine in Deadpool, the film became increasingly distinct from typical Marvel Studios productions. By the time it hit theaters, labeling Deadpool as an MCU movie seemed almost misleading, with the Time Variance Authority being its only real connection to the franchise. Instead, Deadpool feels more like a heartfelt tribute to Fox’s Marvel characters (and to some extent New Line Cinema’s with Wesley Snipes reprising his role as Blade). It even brings Channing Tatum’s long-awaited Gambit character to life for the first time, and Tatum’s Gambit is also confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday.
The movie Deadpool & Wolverine features a touching photo album-style tribute to various Fox productions based on Marvel Comics, including the criticized 2015 film Fant4stic, accompanied by Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”. Although it didn’t bring back every actor or character from pre-MCU Marvel movies, this tribute served as a fond farewell to many Marvel superhero properties that Fox introduced to the big screen before the MCU started. However, with the cast lists for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars making that goodbye more intricate, it’s become a bittersweet memory of an era that laid the groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe we know today.
Avengers: Doomsday & Avengers: Secret Wars Have Huge Fox-Marvel Casts (but From Which X-Men Universe?)
Marvel Studios is bringing together an unprecedented number of superheroes from “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which could make this the largest cast ever seen in a superhero movie (though it’s not yet certain if Tobey Maguire’s or Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men will be reprising their roles). The X-Men franchise, specifically, is poised for a significant resurgence as part of the “Doomsday”/”Secret Wars” narrative, with many original cast members returning.
However, this brings up questions about how “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars” will handle the canonicity of the X-Men franchise, given that characters like Blade, Elektra, X-23, Gambit, Deadpool, and Wolverine were all erased from their original universes by the Time Variance Authority’s agent, Mr. Paradox, and sent to an afterlife realm known as the Void, effectively wiping out their individual realities.
The film suggests that Blade, Elektra, and Gambit’s timelines have been reinstated (Hunter B-15 replying “I’ll see what I can do” to Wade’s request), but the X-Men series is a complicated matter due to its numerous retcons and continuity issues. This complexity arises from efforts to reconcile these retcons, as seen in movies like X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Logan initially occupied an ambiguous position in the X-Men universe’s timeline, but Deadpool & Wolverine seemed to establish a connection to the Deadpool series’ timeline. However, this too has issues due to the retcons and multiple timelines within the X-Men franchise, and the unclear nature of Deadpool & Wolverine leaves questions about whether all X-Men films fit into the timeline of Logan, especially considering the divergent continuities in movies like Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, both released after Logan. This confusion raises many questions about the Doomsday–Secret Wars story and the X-Men cast’s return in those stories.
How Are the X-Men Being Utilized in the Secret Wars Story (& What Is It Treating As Canon?)
In the context of the X-Men film series, the potential return of characters from previous movies like Doomsday and Secret Wars could be the most confusing for fans due to their complex timelines. For instance, Logan (Wolverine) had a standalone finale in his own movie, which was later integrated into Deadpool’s timeline. However, there are still lingering questions about continuity with movies like Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants after Logan. On the other hand, bringing back Hugh Jackman as Wolverine might be simpler, given that his character in Deadpool 2 is a multiverse variant separate from the Fox X-Men franchise. Additionally, Deadpool’s casual attitude and ability to break the fourth wall make continuity less of an issue in his movies, unlike Doomsday and Secret Wars.
A possible rewording could be: The X-Men cast may find an easy return through a strategy similar to Jackman’s comeback in Deadpool and Wolverine, where they are depicted as characters from another reality rather than the complicated Fox-Marvel universe. This could provide an interesting plot twist, bringing Jackman’s Wolverine together with a surviving group of X-Men from another world for one final adventure with his found family. Similarly, Doomsday and Secret Wars might address the McAvoy vs Stewart timeline issues in the Fox X-Men cast, offering some clarity on their involvement in the story. However, meddling with the multiverse often leads to complications, and the multiverse-spanning adventure of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars may struggle to determine which universe the X-Men originate from, the sequence of events that led to their existence, who their main character is, and why the TVA has not intervened in it – a challenge perhaps even greater than resolving the abrupt end of the Fox-Marvel collaboration in Deadpool and Wolverine.
You can stream Deadpool and Wolverine together on Disney+, while Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will hit the big screen on December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027, respectively.
Stream Deadpool & Wolverine on Disney+ now, and mark your calendars for the theater releases of Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (December 17, 2027).
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2025-06-29 18:10