A lot of people assumed that Marvel Studios could just stick in cameos of the X-Men or Fantastic into a film like Avengers: Endgame very easily with the merger with Fox in the process of completion and without consequences or legal issues. However, that was recently debunked by Joe Russo while speaking with ComicBook who said: “it would not have been logistically possible”.

Well, it might have even been legally possible either.

The film’s screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, who have to clear characters with Marvel/Disney legal teams before adding them to their scripts. During their recent spoiler-filled interview with TheNewYorkTimes, they reveal that they first couldn’t legally use the characters and if they were that they’d be essentially rebooting characters ahead of the release of Dark Phoenix in June.

NYT: Could you have used any of the characters that Disney obtained from the Fox acquisition, like the X-Men or Fantastic Four?

MCFEELY: Legally, not allowed to.

MARKUS: I guess it’s done now but it wasn’t done then. They still have an “X-Men” movie [“Dark Phoenix,” due in June]. You can’t reboot them before they’re done. “Sorry to completely screw you.”

Despite the merger was in the process of completion, there were rules established that neither 21st Century Fox or Disney could work together during the merger process, which would mean that couldn’t add the characters during the post-production/reshoots. Also, once the merger was completed in mid-March there wasn’t any room to add cameos for timing sake and also they’d be rebooting the characters for the MCU. A giant middle finger to Dark Phoenix which hasn’t even released yet, there are so many reasons why it didn’t come together.

There is also the problem of casting actors for future films without directors and would be only cast if they were able to shoot some random button scene for another movie. That logic seems really sketchy given that these actors would be committing to 10-year contracts and Marvel isn’t likely going to dismiss a good actor because they couldn’t make a shoot for a post-credit scene, which didn’t even happen in Endgame.

Kevin Feige also recently said that the X-Men currently aren’t part of the five-year plan, and would suggest the X-Men a little further away than fans anticipated. Rolling out the mutants slowly would mean that fans will need some patience.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES