The X-Men universe has always managed to feel incredibly distinct from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCEU. Rather than approach its films with the rigid "phase" model innovated by Marvel, 20th Century Fox has approached its projects with a much looser sense of fluidity. It has worked well for the studio in recent years, but it also makes the X-Men films far harder to track. The X-Men universe had remained relatively quiet until recently, and now it seems that we can confirm three highly anticipated mutant stories will hit theaters next year.
A new report from THR confirms that 20th Century Fox is going to lean into its X-Men universe next year with three movies slated to debut in 2018. As of right now, New Mutants is set to debut on April 13, 2018, Deadpool 2 is set for a June 1, 2018 release, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix will debut in the fall on 2018. Few other details have been announced, but it's clear that mutants will now play a significant role in 2018's superhero movies. Still no word on Gambit, however. It seems that we will have to continue waiting for Remy LeBeau to get his own solo movie -- if he ever gets one at all.
One of the most notable changes is the willingness to shift Deadpool 2 to a summer release, as opposed to the February release window of the original film in 2016. This seems to indicate that 20th Century Fox has quite a bit of faith in the highly anticipated sequel to surpass the expectations set by the first movie, and draw in even larger box office numbers.
It will undoubtedly be interesting to see how 20th Century Fox approaches the central X-Men continuity with these newly confirmed release dates. Following the decidedly bland X-Men: Apocalypse, it has become increasingly clear that the studio's current comfort zone lies in more off-kilter projects like Deadpool and Logan. Combine that with the fact that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will have to shoulder the responsibility of making up for X-Men: The Last Stand, and there's no telling how it will pan out.
As of right now, Deadpool 2 is the only one of these projects that has released any footage. Check out the hilarious teaser for the upcoming Deadpool sequel below.
We will keep you posted regarding all of 20th Century Fox's mutant adventures as more information related to these projects becomes available to us. New Mutants will debut in theaters on April 13, 2018, Deadpool 2 will follow it on June 1, 2018, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix will bring up the rear on November 2, 2018.
