With the announcement of Kevin Feige as CCO of Marvel Entertainment, reports have surfaced about internal feelings towards the TV division of the MCU. For every Daredevil or first half of Luke Cage: Season 1, there was Inhumans and the first half of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In between those shows were a wide spectrum of quality but unfortunately for Marvel TV fans, Kevin Feige was underwhelmed with the adaptations of many characters.
While he reportedly loved the Netflix incarnations of Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Frank Castle/The Punisher, he didn’t enjoy the TV version of Robbie Reyes or anything about the Inhumans series. Now under one roof, there’s reason to believe that Inhumans and Mutants aka the X-Men will receive reboots around the same time.
Building Their Shared Foundations With ‘The Eternals’
According to Feige himself at SDCC 2019, Mutants are coming to the MCU. The most obvious lead-in would be the Eternals movie, since their origins with the Celestials overlap with the origins for the X-Gene. According to the comics, the Celestials created multiple branches of humanity alongside the Eternals. One of these was the expansion of human potential in the form of the X-Gene, which later developed fully into the “homo superior” race. With The Eternals, the MCU can create the canon foundation for why humanity is able to develop superhuman abilities or mutations.
This can also help either directly or indirectly with making a new foundation for Inhumans within the MCU. Like how the mutants were created by the Celestials via the X-Gene, the Inhumans were byproducts of genetic manipulation from the Kree. These genetic experiments, conducted on X-Gene possessing humans, means humanity shown in The Eternals can be an ancestor to both Mutants and Inhumans.
The Infinity Gauntlet’s Energy Unlocking Mutant X-Genes
While the origins from the Celestials and Kree genetically manipulating early humanity are interesting, unfortunately that doesn’t help explain why they’re appearing in the present day MCU. A popular theory for Mutants resides with Scarlet Witch. Appearing initially in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the cosmic energies of the Mind Stone activated the abilities of both Wanda and her brother. Guardians of the Galaxy also established that the Celestials used Infinity Stones for multiple functions. With this established, the Celestials may have used Infinity Stones to augment humanity and create beings such as the Eternals. In this case, possibly Infinity Stone energy can unlock latent X-Genes like it did for Scarlet Witch. The perfect set-up for this explanation resides with the Infinity Gauntlet being used three times on Earth:
- Thanos snapping his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War
- Hulk snapping his fingers in Avengers: Endgame
- Iron Man snapping his fingers in Avengers: Endgame
With three separate releases of Infinity Stone energy across the universe, concentrated on Earth, it seems likely that could awaken latent genes.
‘Captain Marvel 2’ Can Explore Inhumans
In Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was established that the Kree had sleeper agents and top-secret activities on Earth. The Kree also led Carol Danvers to believe they enhanced her from a normal human to a superhuman, so the capability of enhancing humans into Inhumans shouldn’t be a shock. In fact, it would be an interesting exploration through the Captain Marvel 2 and beyond, especially with interest towards Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. Having the Captain Marvel franchise explore the Kree’s involvement in creating Inhumanity would provide a tangible reason for Kamala Khan to be Ms. Marvel and connected to Carol, since otherwise it wouldn’t make sense with Carol not a public hero.
As well, the theme of genetic engineering and augmentation can be carried over from Inhumans to other Kree-Skrull characters such as the Super-Skrull. This would be very interesting since there are multiple races across the cosmic MCU that have Inhuman spin-offs besides humanity. This could be a way to explore Inhumanity and their origins with the Kree while also being very different from the failed TV show.
Overall, the reboot of the Mutants and Inhumans are expected to take the MCU to new heights, as cosmic characters are further explored, and popular characters rejoin the Marvel roster. It’s worth noting Kevin Feige is a massive Inhumans fan and already has actors in mind for roles such as Black Bolt and Maximus. As mentioned above, the cleanest way to introduce both concepts to audiences resides with the Celestials and their genetic manipulation of early humanity.
What did you think of the Mutants and Inhumans joining the MCU? Leave your comments down below and feel free to follow me at @JBaldera27 on Twitter!
