New book hints Disney may be retconning the MCU now that it owns the X-Men screen rights

Now that Disney owns the screen rights to the X-Men, the studio can start folding Marvel's famous mutants into the confines of the MCU. While most of us are waiting to see some trace of them in the movies, it's actually a new book that possibly lays the groundwork for their big screen reboot. In its section on "Human Enhancement," The Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of the Avengers and Beyond seems to imply that Wanada and Pietro Maximoff may have been mutants all along.

When Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) made their MCU debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron — after a brief appearance in the Captain America: Winter Soldier mid-credits scene — Fox still owned the rights to the X-Men. As such, Disney could not use the words "mutant" or "X-gene" when referring to the super-powered siblings. Instead, their powers were explained by their exposure to the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter, while HYDRA's Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) referred to them by another 'M' word: "Miracles."

But now, according to a memo written by Strucker himself, the Maximoffs were chosen as test subjects due to the fact that they had the "appropriate genetic markers [that] make them conducive for human trial volunteers." In a subsequent post-mortem, Dr. List (Henry Goodman) ponders why Wanda and Pietro proved to be such a success where "other subjects failed and perished." He theorizes that it has something to do with their "shared abhorrence for Tony Stark and all that he represents," ...but what if they were mutants waiting for their powers to be unlocked? 

Credit: Marvel Studios/Disney

Screen Rant also notes that the Marvel Studios Visual Dictionary from 2018 states: Whether it altered her or merely unlocked something latent inside Wanda, the Infinity Stone on Loki's scepter bestowed incredible powers of the mind." The outlet goes on to say that the term "latent" is often used in the comics to describe a mutant's burgeoning abilities.

All this circumstancial evidence seems to point to one unassailable conclusion: Disney is subtly retconning the MCU's continuity as though it were a long-running comic book. It's rather ingenious if true — a way to inconspicuously set the stage for new versions of Charles Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and the rest of the gang. Who knows? We might even get an X-Men reference in the WandaVision TV series coming to Disney+ in December. How cool would that be?

The Wakanda Files is now on sale from Epic Ink. You can pick up a copy on Amazon right here.