In just two weeks, 20th Century Fox will bring one part of theX-Men universeto a close withLogan, which marksHugh Jackman’s final performance as the iconic Wolverine. The cast and crew are starting to do press for the movie, withPatrick Stewartthrowing down the gauntlet, and throwing some shade, at another superhero team,The Avengers. During a recent interview,Patrick Stewartwas asked, if there should come a day where theX-Menhave to square off againstThe Avengersin a fight, who would win? Without hesitation, the actor had this to say.
“X-Menversus? I don’t know whoThe Avengersare. Of course, I do. There’s no contest. Bring onFamke Janssen,James Marsden,Ian McKellen. We’ll sort them out.”
While his brief statement toComicBook.comwas meant as somewhat of a joke,Patrick Stewartdoes have a point. The mutant abilities possessed by any number of theX-Menwould likely be more than enough to take down any ofThe Avengers, if push came to shove between these superhero teams. The powers of justFamke Janssen’s Jean Grey,James Marsden’s Cyclops andIan McKellen’s Magneto alone may be enough to take down all of the Avengers in this hypothetical battle, but even if that is the case, we’ll likely never see it happen on the big screen.
For the past few years, Marvel Studios has been trying to re-acquire the rights to various characters they had licensed out before the formation of Marvel Studios, with characters likeBlade,Ghost RiderandDaredevilcoming back to Marvel, with the studio even coming up with a joint deal to share the rights toSpider-Manwith Sony Pictures. As for theX-Men franchise,Avengers: Infinity WardirectorJoe Russorecently revealed that, as far as he knows, there is no discussion to bring theX-Menback to Marvel Studios.
“As far as we know, right now there isn’t talk regarding theX-Men. I don’t know if behind-the-scenes there were conversations or if there are conversations happening but we certainly haven’t heard of any.”
20th Century Fox has held the rights to theX-Menfranchise ever since the 2000 blockbusterX-Menhit theaters. Along with a mysterious newX-Menmovie believed to start shooting this year under the direction ofBryan Singer, 20th Century Fox is also developingThe New Mutantswith writer-directorJosh Boone,Gambitwith starChanning TatumandX-Forcewith writer-directorJeff Wadlow. Still, there very well could come a day where theX-Menmutants andAvengersheroes do square off on the silver screen, just don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.
