Months after its final episode, Marvel fans are still talking about Marvel Studios' debut Disney+ series WandaVision.
In addition to racking up award nominations and wins, WandaVision dominated pop culture conversation during its 9-episode run due to its decade-hopping episodic format, television tributes, and the fact it was a mystery to not just viewers but both Wanda and Vision themselves.
Arguably the most puzzling twist of the entire series was the appearance of Evan Peters as Pietro (aka Quicksilver) - a version most had assumed to be from Fox's X-Men franchise as opposed to the MCU's.
Since Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, fans have wondered if and how the X-Men would crossover into the MCU; but it's safe to say that few anticipated Evans WandaVision cameo to be the first; and apparently, the same goes for a former X-Men director and producer.
WandaVision's X-Men Cameo Surprised X-Men Producer
Simon Kinberg, who produced every X-Men movie beginning with X-Men: First Class and who directed X-Men: Dark Phoenix, told Screen Rant that he learned about Evan Peters' head-scratching Quicksilver cameo from his kids, saying, "they saw it and they immediately texted me...:"
"No, I did not know it was going to happen in advance actually, which was wild. And I did see it in real time. In fact, I didn't even see it in real time. I was late to it by a day or two, but obviously. I have Twitter and I also have two sons who were hardcore X-Men and Marvel fans, and they saw it and they immediately texted me and they were like, 'Dad, did you see?'"
In 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played the MCU's version of Quicksilver, who also happened to be Wanda Maximoff's twin brother. However, his character sacrificed himself at the end of the film, contributing to Wanda's lifetime of grief.
Around this same time period, Evan Peters was playing Fox's version of Quicksilver in films like X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse before Disney's acquisition of the studio and its IPs.
The fact Peters appeared claiming to be Marvel's version of Pietro puzzled and surprised both Wanda and the show's audience; and much like the average viewer, Kinberg also experienced the struggle of having the cameo spoiled for him, saying that he "saw it blowing up on Twitter:"
"And I was like, 'No, I haven't seen the ep, thanks for spoiling it.' And then I saw it blowing up on Twitter and then I was like, okay, well, immediately, obviously you have to go and watch it."
The MCU's Future Plans for X-Men
When it comes to new Marvel Studios projects, the level of security and speculation is akin to that of a government facility or Area 51. While members of various Marvel casts have commented on this fact before, the fact that even Kinberg was in the dark about Peters' cameo is yet another example of Marvel's commitment to secrecy.
His admission also shows that Marvel Studios is in full control of Fox's X-Men which is now being labeled as "Marvel Legacy" in whatever way they see fit.
Whether more "Marvel Legacy" X-Men will appear in future projects or Marvel will introduce their own version of the comic book mutants is still in question. After all, WandaVision ended with Peters' Pietro revealed to be a Westview resident named Ralph Boehner and not Quicksilver at all.
Fortunately, it looks like fans won't have to wait long for the answers now that the MCU is fully committed to the multiverse, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rumored to include Wanda battling X-Men.
And if Evan Peters doesn't return to the MCU as Quicksilver, maybe he could still have a future in the MCU, possibly reprising his role as Ralph Boehner in Agatha Harkness' spin-off series.
All episodes of WandaVision are streaming on Disney+.
