Marvel Movies Outside Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe Are Now “Marvel Legacy” Titles On Disney+
Now that the films of 20th Century Fox fall under The Walt Disney Company banner, Marvel movies from theX-MenandFantastic Fourfranchises have been making their way towards Disney+. Longtime fans of the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe know that those movies have nothing to do with the likes ofThe Avengersand all the individual franchises that make up the superhero team. But for the uninitiated, Disney+ has made it easier to differentiate between the different Marvel movies.
In the Disney+ app, if you navigate to the page with all of the various Marvel Comics-based titles, there’s now a category called “Marvel Legacy,” which features all the Marvel movies on Disney+ that don’t take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This feels similar to the way Disney started to differentiate between the new era of canonicalStar Warsadventures and all those that came before by classifying the old books, comics, and more asnon-canonStar Wars Legends. But thankfully, this rebranding isn’t quite so drastic.
As of now, the “Marvel Legacy” category only includesX-Men,X2: X-Men United,X-Men: Days of Future Past,X-Men: Apocalypse, and both theFantastic Fourfrom 2005 and the reboot ofFantastic Fourfrom 2015. Presumably the rest of theX-Menmovies will arrive at some point, likely after whatever previously existing deals for streaming, cable or broadcast rights have expired. Though one has to wonder if Disney will ever want to bring total duds likeDaredevilandElektrato the streaming service.
The Marvel Legacy branding (brought to our attention byScreenRant) is likely for those who are totally clueless about whether every single Marvel movie is connected to the others. But then again, unless they have the category explained to them like this, how will they know? Perhaps you’ll just have to be the good friend who explains to them how this all works. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people out there who have no knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Superheroes may be everywhere, but they’re not for everyone. But one day, a friend might get curious, and that’s your time to shine.
Since Disney is now in possession of theX-MenandFantastic Fourcharacters, the Marvel Legacy name will be helpful for when there are even more versions of the characters we’ve already seen on the big screen. The originalX-MenandFantastic Fourmovies from 20th Century Fox won’t be part of the MCU, but at some point, there will be new versions of those characters who do exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so a line must be drawn between them.
Thankfully, the Marvel Legacy rebranding doesn’t have nearly as much heavy-lifting to do. Unlike the Star Wars Legends rebranding, the Marvel Legacy name doesn’t have to undo decades of storytelling in multiple mediums. It just designates that certain Marvel movies don’t matter in the overall continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, that could end up getting infinitely more confusing now thatSpider-Man 3is on the vergeof bringing outside Marvel movie franchises into the MCU.
