Marvel confirms an end is near for the MCU franchise

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a staple of the Hollywood landscape for nearly two decades. It all began with Iron Man in 2008, which was a phenomenon in and of itself, but it grew into something so exponentially large that few could have predicted the levels of box office success that Marvel Studios would go on to achieve. It was unprecedented, but it was doable - but only by Marvel.

The Avengers changed the game for the franchise, with the billion-dollar performance setting a new standard for superhero movies that the MCU itself would go on to outdo multiple times. But even with those levels of success, an end of an era came about when Avengers: Endgame - which temporarily became the highest-grossing movie of all time - brought about an end to the Infinity Saga, concluding the franchise's 11-year story. After that, the Multiverse Saga began.

Now, it appears that the end is nigh for it too.

Marvel confirms the Multiverse Saga will end after Avengers: Secret Wars

In a new interview with Screen Rant, Marvel Studios' Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum spoke about the Multiverse Saga, the titles that still coming out from it, and whether or not it will end after 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars. In doing so, he appeared to confirm that the Multiverse Saga will end with the game-changing title, much like fans had theorized.

He even referred to it as an "amazing culmination" to the MCU's current saga, saying:

"I think that's [what] Secret Wars is going to be an amazing culmination to the saga. I think it's going to make the journey feel like it was a worthwhile."

Fans had predicted that the Multiverse Saga might come to an end with Avengers: Secret Wars as it's the second of two major Avengers movies (the other being Avengers: Doomsday) that are coming out within a year of each other. The last time we saw that was with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which brought about the end of the Infinity Saga.

The thing that had them second-guessing that theory was the fact that a number of projects that were confirmed to be Multiverse Saga titles early on have yet to release. There have been cancellation rumors, but those that are still on the horizon will now likely come out after Avengers: Secret Wars, leaving audiences wondering if the saga would continue after that or if these projects would now be a part of the next one.

On that note, it's important to remember that every era ends at some point, and we've already seen that happen with Marvel too. The Infinity Saga was legendary and it will no doubt remain the prime of the MCU forever, but the story carried on with a new chapter afterwards in the Infinity Saga. The same will happen when the Multiverse Saga concludes.

The Mutants Saga might be the MCU's next chapter

As for where the MCU could go after the Multiverse Saga, it appears that we might already have that answer. While this current era has changed so much for the MCU, one of the more subtle pieces of storytelling throughout has been the slow movement towards including the mutants.

From the mentons of the mutant gene in Ms. Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to the returns of former X-Men movie cast members, there have been a number of nods and references to both the mutants and the X-Men over the past few years that, though subtle, have been consistent, and they undoubtedly had fans sitting up and pointing at the screen like they were that Leonardo DiCaprio meme.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige even acknowledged the trend towards Mutants in the MCU in an interview with The Playlist, suggesting that the Mutants Era could very well be next:

""...now that we have characters from the ‘X-Men’ world, the Mutants—we haven’t had access to before... So, this is the beginning of that, and every [movie] post ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ will be the Mutant era coming into the MCU.""

It's true that the release of Deadpool and Wolverine has paved the way for the mutants' arrival in the MCU full-time. That movie may have been the 34th installment in the MCU, but it was also the final chapter in Fox's X-Men film series, serving as a farewell to the franchise that turned the X-Men into cinematic superstars. And with that, it was the MCU's first real acknowledgement of the X-Men as an entity (previous Easter Eggs aside).

With the Multiverse Saga having some real ups and downs as it attempted to figure out how to continue the MCU story without some of its biggest heroes (after half of the original six Avengers were retired after Avengers: Endgame), it would make sense to pivot to the X-Men going forward. Like the Avengers, they are among the most popular of Marvel's heroes and bringing in new cinematic heavyweights to take over from the previous ones sounds like the logical next step to make.

Whatever the future holds for the MCU after the Multiverse Saga, it will be bright for them - especially if the mutants are a part of it.