Namor's Wakanda Forever Origin Story Could Hint Magneto Will Join The MCU
The introduction of Namor's (Tenoch Huerta) brand-new origin story has unleashed a vast array of different possible storylines for the MCU's future. Namor the Sub-Mariner, who was first introduced by Bill Everett in 1939, has a connection to many powerful groups of the Marvel Comics (via Marvel.com). A member of the Invaders, the Avengers, the Illuminati, and the X-Men, there's no shortage of stories that his introduction could segue into.
Fans have been increasingly vocal over the past several years about their desire for the X-Men to join the MCU, and with Namor being a mutant, the desire is stronger than ever. While Evan Peters had a hilarious reaction to his "WandaVision" character not being a mutant or Quicksilver, many viewers were disappointed in the fake-out. Fans were excited to see Professor X aka Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) alive and well as part of Earth-818's Illuminati, but that joy faded when the character was quickly made obsolete.
With Namor, we learn that he is a mutant who possibly gained his mutant powers because he was just a fetus when his mother drank the herbs to allow the Talokan to breathe underwater. With "Deadpool" back under Disney and Marvel Studios' control, and Wade Wilson aka Deadpool's (Ryan Reynolds) mutant powers having also been triggered through experimentation, a storyline concerning The Ultimate Marvel Weapon X and Magneto now seems within the realms of possibility.
Could there be an Ultimate Marvel Magneto storyline?
The Ultimate Marvel comic books reimagines our favorite superheroes and villains in modern times, in alternate universes. Known as Earth-1610, one of the biggest changes had to do with mutants' origin stories. In the Ultimate Origins series, we learn alternate beginnings for some of our favorite mutants and superheroes. In Ultimate Origins #3, Erik Lensherr aka Magneto is the child of Weapon X scientists. Weapon X claimed responsibility for creating mutants, claiming they had created the mutant genome. A mutant himself, Magneto kills his mother for the pain she's inflicted on others and releases James Howlett aka Wolverine, known as Mutant Zero, from captivity. 10 years later, Magneto meets Charles Xavier, and the two begin sharing their ideas for creating a safe place for mutants to live.
In Ultimate Origins #5, Nick Fury and a team break into Weapon X and discover Dr. Malcolm Colcord and other scientists "creating" mutants. Fury kills him, along with everyone in the building, saying, "If the world ever finds out what went on in this place ... If mutants ever find out ... If the world ever finds out that man invented mutants ... The entire Earth will burn." This opens the door to a particular Ultimate Marvel storyline involving the X-Men that may not seem as far-fetched for the MCU anymore: the idea that humans created mutants.
The mutants in the MCU could be redefined
The Ultimate Comics storyline is a departure from previous "X-Men" films and comics, with the insinuation that mutants are not the next stage of human evolution, but are mostly created by humans. This makes mutants similar to Steve Rogers, the Hulk, and even John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," just with different reactions when their mutant genome is triggered. This would also be a way to establish why — in the 14 years since "Iron Man" — we haven't seen mutants yet.
Fans have concerns about changing Magneto's Holocaust survivor history, and some have suggested solutions. U/pachakutiqoulson wrote on a Marvel Studios subreddit that "Magneto could be young and have no connection to the Holocaust other than as a source of anger, we could have something like Killmonger's line about his ancestors jumping from ships, but related to Magneto's heritage and the Holocaust." There are ways to update the character while keeping a link to his Judaism and the Holocaust.
Project X was used as a storyline in the 20th Century Fox "X-Men" films, but it's also not uncommon for Marvel to change names, such as swapping Talokan for Atlantis, so Project X could always be renamed. Using the Ultimate Marvel storyline concerning Magneto as a child whose parents are working for Project X — who created the mutant genome — puts a unique spin on the angle, and would create a refreshing new take for an "X-Men" reboot.