How Deadpool 3 Can Setup The MCU’s X-Men

Fans have waited for the X-Men to officially join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s possible that Deadpool 3 can set up their potentially imminent arrival. While no one at Marvel Studios has confirmed when the X-Men will be joining the MCU, to not utilize such a beloved corner of the franchise seems borderline impossible. With Deadpool 3 on the way, the film could lay the foundation and implement several in-world connections ahead of the X-Men’s debut. 

Disney officially acquired 20th Century Fox and renamed it 20th Century Studios. The acquisition meant that Marvel characters like Deadpool and the X-Men could be folded into the MCU. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently confirmed that Deadpool 3 will indeed be a part of the MCU and not some standalone film. While that’s very exciting news on its own, Deadpool’s association with the X-Men has already been established in the first two films. The Merc with a Mouth even went so far as to poke fun at Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and teamed up with X-Men members Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Cable. Deadpool 3 could take his built-in relationships even further by introducing more of the X-Men’s members and villains. 

In the comics, Deadpool has a closer relationship with the X-Men than with the Avengers. That makes the character’s film a bridge of sorts for the beloved mutants to crossover into the MCU. With Deadpool 3 presumably being released first, there are a tremendous amount of storylines writers Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin and Wendy Molyneux can draw from the comics that would cleverly foretell the X-Men’s transition into a new movie universe with ease. Depending on whether the plot of Deadpool 2 will be a factor, Deadpool 3 could further explore the Essex Corporation, a company that owned an abusive orphanage in the second film. 

Fans of the X-Men are well aware that the name of the business is a reference to Nathaniel Essex, a Victorian scientist who goes on to become the nefarious villain known as Mister Sinister. In the comics, the character’s goals are to evolve humans into perfect, powerful beings. That leads him to experiment on genetics, often combining human DNA with that of mutants. The appearance of the Essex Corporation in Deadpool 2 was supposed to connect with the arrival of Mister Sinister in Logan, but it was a storyline that never panned out. That could change in Deadpool 3. 

If the Marvel Studios team were to finally introduce a live-action Mister Sinister, his appearance could signal the X-men’s eventual arrival while seamlessly segueing from Deadpool 2 and Deadpool 3. Mister Sinister is a major villain that will most likely have implemented a plan that is unbeknownst to the Merc with a Mouth and one that could go beyond Deadpool 3. If he’s working in the shadows, then his plans could theoretically rollover into the MCU’s first X-Men film. What the plot of Deadpool 3 is about is anyone’s guess right now, but the film and the character’s connections to the mutants leaves the door wide open for the X-Men to pop in at any point in the future.