First appearance books are always a great speculation source.  There has been a flurry of market movement lately for Avengers Annual #10 which features the first appearances of Rouge and Madeline Pryor, whom are both typically associated with the X-men.  Why have these characters made first appearances in an Avengers title...and an Annual to boot?  We are going to investigate this book and see: 1. What was Marvel thinking and 2. If we will see this thought process again in the movies? (If you're into the whole brevity thing and care to answer those questions without reading further:  1. Cross promotion and merchandising  2. Of course!)

Thanks to crossovers like Avengers Annual #10, we will eventually be treated to crossover events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) like Civil War and Infinity War.  Rouge is an interesting character for the MCU because she could help bridge a very important gap, that may be needed.  Rouge initially battled, and ultimately absorbed, the powers and personality of Carol Danvers (a name that is getting some heavy speculation value due to the upcoming Captain Marvel and Avengers: End Game).

Much like Rouge was used as the macguffin in the initial X-men movie (also as an aside: it has been nearly 20 years since the first X-men...Marvel has come a long way, while Fox's X-men offerings have gone stale) we could see her used again as a device to fold in the X-men portion of the MCU.  It might fit right in with whatever Marvel has going and maybe what they have planned down the line.  In some ways, I hope Marvel as learned from the introduction of Spider-Man into the MCU because it felt rushed and incomplete, and Marvel is just catching up with his input now.  Fingers crossed any plans to integrate the X-men are slow, well thought out, and fresh.

Although Fox has been working with a group of young stars to try and reboot their X-men franchise, I believe we can agree that something totally different is needed.  Should Marvel add X-men into the MCU, it needs to try a new trajectory with the characters and make it fan friendlier than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (we all love Hugh...but I want a hunched over wrecking ball of an animal as Wolverine, or do that Hobbit camera trick).  The only downsides to a Marvel take-over of the X-men would be the need to PG-13 down the team for kids AND the fact that we would probably need to have Magneto as the antagonist...again.

Rouge in the MCU or not, it seems like Avengers Annual #10 is a good pick-up for any collector.  Fair Market Value (FMV) sits at $550 and copies on the market are selling for anywhere between the high $300's to as high as FMV.  With prices a bit under the FMV and speculation about Captain Marvel yet to be revealed, it seems like this book has a ton of potential for a future bump in value.  Strike while this book is overlooked and copies are rampant on the market.  Newsstand copies exists as well...and you know my saying by now...ceteris paribus newsstand-us, I guess.

Do you feel that the X-men will be integrated into the MCU?  Who would you like to see in the role of Rouge?  Wolverine?  Fell free to drop your comments and join in the speculation!