10 Essential Marvel Heroes Not Yet Used In The MCU

With the release of Marvel's Ant Man & The Wasp, there have been a total of twenty films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe combined with twelve television series. That makes for a lot of characters, which is something Marvel has never been hurting for.

Even with dozens of characters already seen, there are plenty more lurking in the background. Knowing this, the real question is: who hasn't Marvel tapped to join the MCU?

Where are the classics? What happened to the teams sold off during the nineties to other distributors and will they finally make an appearance in the MCU now that Disney has purchased just about every media empire on the planet?

With the Disney/Marvel media empire expanding at unprecedented rates, it's high time some of Marvel's greatest heroes make their return...

There have already been 11 movies in the X-Men film franchise, but not a single one took place in the MCU. That's an important distinction and while the first X-Men movie arguably launched an era of successful comic book film adaptations, it was produced and distributed outside of Marvel's influence.

This was done thanks to Marvel's near bankruptcy back in the nineties when they had to sell off the film rights to many of their characters. Now that Disney purchased Fox, Marvel is getting back their merry band of mutants and the plethora of characters that go with it.

Nobody really knows what Marvel's plans are for Phase 4 of the MCU, but with the return of these characters, it seems inevitable the whole team of X-Men could take the place of the Avengers... or work alongside them as they have in the comics for so many years.

It's impossible to say if this will happen in the future, but it stands to reason Marvel won't sit some of their best (and most profitable) characters on the sidelines when they regain their rights. Deadpool and Wolverine aren't the kinds of guys content to sit out a fight.