Summary
- Marvel is bringing back old characters post-Avengers: Endgame for nostalgia-based storytelling.
- Dafne Keen has expressed interest in returning as X-23, leaving room for her in sequels.
- Uncertainty lies in the future of Keen's character post-Phase Six reset in the MCU.
If Robert Downey Jr. And Chris Evans have proven anything since supposedly putting the MCU behind them with Avengers: Endgame, it's that Marvel Studios will bring anyone back at any time they feel like. Well, another Marvel star really wants to return for more MCU madness as well.
The post-Endgame MCU landscape certainly hasn't been as fruitful or successful as the pre-Endgame MCU was. There have been critical disasters, box office flops, and behind-the-scenes PR issues that simply were not a problem for Marvel for most of the MCU leading up to Avengers: Endgame. Of course, a lot has changed about the entertainment world since 2008's Iron Man and now Marvel has access to all of the characters formerly under the watch of 20th Century Fox. Some of the Marvel-specific potential that came along with Disney aquiring 20th Century Fox has finally come to pass with The Fantastic Four: First Steps as that film marks the first non-legacy addition of formerly Fox-owned property into the MCU. Other than the First Family, diehard Marvel fans have had to subsist on appearances from mutants of years past as opposed to a new generation of X-Men. A host of them are set to reappear for Avengers: Doomsday and numerous actors who appeared in Fox's X-Men film series have shown up in films like Deadpool & Wolverine and The Marvels.
Marvel Studios Learned The Wrong Lessons From Deadpool & Wolverine And Spider-Man: No Way Home
Why try to build an exciting, cohesive story when you can just play on years and years of nostalgia? It's so much easier to do!
Of course, one of the biggest and best cameos of Deadpool & Wolverine was Dafne Keen returning to the role of Laura Kinney (AKA X-23). During the San Diego Comic-Con, Keen was asked by ScreenRant about what she wanted to see next for X-23 in the MCU, if anything. Keen had quite the answer: "Honestly, anything that brings me back to playing her, I would take. I think she's some of the most fun I've ever had on camera. And, honestly, it's so special to me that the people love her as much as I did. I think I did it when I was so young, I didn't realize how much of an impact it had. Then, after last year, I've really kind of experienced how much impact she had in a way. I think that's really special, and it's always really exciting to me."
Dafne Keen Is Seemingly Quite Keen On Returning To The MCU As X-23
Given that Marvel Studios is seemingly bringing as many actors as they can back for both Avengers: Doomsday and its direct sequel Avengers: Secret Wars, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that Keen's X-23 could return for one or both of those films. The ending of Deadpool & Wolverine set her and Hugh Jackman's Logan—her father of sorts—up to return in the MCU down the line alongside Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool.
"Even when people are speculating completely incorrect things about my future in the MCU, I'm always very excited that people are even thinking of me in that capacity." - Dafne Keen
The more interesting question is what happens to Keen's Laura Kinney post-Phase Six. It recently came out that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige considers the duo of Doomsday and Secret Wars as a reset of the MCU. Does that mean everything that came before will be wiped out? Will some of the current cast of the MCU stick around for the foreseeable future? Are fans finally going to get a full-fledged reboot of the X-Men? If so, where does that leave Dafne Keen?
No one knows for sure, but fans will be sure to keep an eye out for X-23 in the future of the MCU.
- First Film
- Iron Man
- Latest Film
- Marvels
- Cast
- Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Tom Hiddleston, Iman Vellani
- TV Show(s)
- WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk
- Movie(s)
- Iron Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Character(s)
- Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye
Source: ScreenRant