Forget Assembling The Avengers!

It's time to Merge the Mutants! Okay, so that's not actually a catch phrase...anywhere. 

I just really wanted it to alliterate.  

If you're at all a Marvel fan, you're loving the revitalization of the X-Men as they are poised to full on join the MCU.  And my goodness, does the MCU need the new blood, even if it is mutant blood.

It isn't a stretch to say that the most recent run of Marvel movies and tv shows have amounted to a big, collective shrug in the fan community.  We still pay to see them, generally, and for the most part they're still making money.  Still, the honeymoon is most definitely over.

But.

Not all that long ago, Disney bought a little outfit called 20th Century Fox.  As part of that deal, they got a HUGE chunk of the Marvel Comics universe that had been sold off to 20th Century during a fire sale at a time when Marvel Comics was almost driven out of business by poor sales.  Selling the cinematic rights to the mutant and Fantastic Four catalogue meant that even though Disney owned Marvel, they couldn't include beloved Marvel Comics characters like the X-Men and Silver Surfer in the MCU.  

Wisely, Marvel has only introduced these characters in dribs and drabs in brief cameos and post-credits scenes.  Until now.

As a group, I've rarely seen comic fandom as united in their hopeful anticipation as they seem to be for the MCU debut of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

   

Let's fuckin' go.

Jackman's tour de force in Logan was thought to be the character's swan song.  Jackman himself repeatedly said as much.

Somehow, Ryan Reynolds convinced him to pop the claws this one last time.  At least, I think it'll be the last.  What do I know?

What I do know is that if ANY film will get me to set foot in a theatre again, this one would be it.  Dang, but this does look awesome.

I mentioned the X-Men, not just their poster boy.  The classic 90s cartoon has also come of retirement and it's been glorious.  X-Men 97 brought back enough familiar voices and used a few of the more beloved comic book story lines to craft a worthy successor to the best loved animated version of the X-Men.  There's talk that the rebooted cartoon may even find its way into the canon of the MCU itself.  

Finally, there's a huge "cast photo" from Marvel Comics celebrating the 700th issue of The Uncanny X-Men, even if it's getting published as X-Men #35 thanks to the current vogue of rebooting from #1 every few years.

This:

 

I truly hope you can see this full sized.

I would pay good money to have that as wallpaper in my den.  Like, floor to ceiling, all the way around the room.

Could the Uncanny X-Men be poised to swoop in and save the MCU?

And it's not "Merge the Mutants".  I have the line!  Say it with me (it only works out loud and only if you pronounce "the" as "thee"!):

Uncan The X-Men!