The MCU Needs to Avoid This Mistake in Their X-Men Reboot

The Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon reboot the X-Men franchise--but must avoid a massive mistake that the Fox movies made over and over again.


The Marvel Cinematic Universe is coming closer and closer to debuting its brand-new rendition of the X-Men. While Fox's X-Men franchise achieved great success in its two-decade long run, many Marvel fans are looking forward to the MCU's fresh take on mutants, who can now finally interact with other popular superheroes in the franchise. Marvel Studios hasn't officially announced when its new X-Men team will debut, but the chances of such occurring before the end of the Multiverse Saga seem especially high--and anticipation couldn't be higher.


Deadpool and Wolverine are officially teaming up in Deadpool 3, reuniting audiences with the very best of the Fox X-Men franchise one last time before the MCU's upcoming reboot. Many rumors have also put forth notions of other Fox X-Men characters like Jean Grey, Professor X, and Magneto, appearing in the sequel, perhaps setting up their roles in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, while the upcoming film, set to hit theaters sometime in 2024, is incredibly exciting, it also brings up some of the biggest flaws with the long-running superhero series. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe's imminent X-Men reboot, there is one crucial mistake that the franchise must avoid at all costs--or risk falling into the same pitfalls as its beloved yet deeply flawed predecessor.


The MCU Needs To Use Different X-Men


As the MCU seeks to establish its X-Men, it must take care not to focus on only a handful of mutants, as the Fox franchise all too often did. From the very beginning, the MCU has been a franchise that allowed lesser-known and even completely obscure Marvel Comics characters to shine on the big screen. This allowed relatively unknown characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Shang-Chi to become fan-favorite characters and even lead their very own film franchises. With plenty of room for movies and series revolving around the X-Men characters, the MCU must make sure to focus on putting a wide variety of mutants in the spotlight, not just the same handful over and over again.


The MCU has already begun introducing mutants, showing that things could very well play out differently in the upcoming reboot. So far, Kamala Khan and Namor the Sub-Mariner have been confirmed as mutants, which seems to imply that the MCU is interested in bringing new mutant characters to the screen for the very first time. While Marvel Studios has remained characteristically quiet regarding its plans for the mutants in upcoming titles, it would do well to employ a mix of recognizable and unrecognizable characters in its first wave of X-Men projects. As such, audiences can see new adaptations of their favorite characters while also getting a glimpse at brand-new characters and storylines that may prove to be highlights in this new and exciting age of Marvel movies.


Fox's X-Men Suffered From Using The Same Characters Again And Again


Fox's X-Men movies took notes from Marvel Comics when it came to casting its main team. Mutants like Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Jean Grey, Storm, and Cyclops all proved to be some of the most popular characters in Marvel Comics and became the main characters in the live-action film franchise. While this was a great move to kick off the franchise, it quickly became clear that Fox was largely disinterested in fleshing out more mutants from the comics. The studio continued to cycle through different stories involving the same characters over and over again, eventually growing rather stale in so doing. While many mutants appeared throughout the films, few outside of the core six ever had any meaningful roles therein. Even the soft reboot that occurred in X-Men: First Class tended to focus on the same characters as the originals, with only a few exceptions.


As a result of this trend, many X-Men characters were completely forgotten by the films, or relegated to supporting roles that didn't do justice to their long history in Marvel Comics. Even highly popular characters from the comics, including Nightcrawler, Archangel, Gambit, Rogue, and Iceman, received little attention from the films. As it went on, the franchise clearly began showing signs of strain as it continued to force the same characters into each and every story. Stories became so tired, in fact, that the final X-Men film, Dark Phoenix, covered the exact same ground as The Last Stand. Clearly, an obsessive focus on the same cast of characters worked against the X-Men franchise, leaving out many integral characters and putting undue strain on the others.


Which Lesser-Known Mutant Will The MCU Include?


The MCU can adopt several different strategies in its X-Men reboot in order to expand its cast. First and foremost, the franchise can strive to take characters who were underutilized in the X-Men films and give them better storylines. Characters like Iceman, who happens to be an Omega-level mutant, had memorable roles in Fox's franchise but could have been used a far greater extent. As such, certain mutants who never got their time in the spotlight in the previous film franchise can finally do so in the upcoming reboot. Chief among these characters would be Emma Frost, Psylocke, Archangel, Colossus, and Nightcrawler.


Conversely, the MCU can take to adapting characters that even comics fans may not immediately recognize. Relatively minor characters like Glob Herman, Dazzler, Forge, Polaris, and Nate Grey all deserve to have their stories told--and the MCU would be the perfect place to do so. Time and time again, Marvel has given obscure characters their own movies, often to great success. Doing so with the mutants would better flesh out the X-Men corner of the MCU while providing new storytelling opportunities that would help the upcoming reboot feel fresh and exciting. While characters like Wolverine, Storm, and Professor X can still play key roles in the upcoming reboot, they are also certainly capable of sharing the spotlight with mutants who haven't yet had their day in the sun.


The MCU's forthcoming X-Men reboot is certainly exciting, but the franchise must be careful not to make the mistake of using the same mutants over and over again while ignoring scores of underutilized characters. Marvel has a unique opportunity to seize a second chance at adapting the X-Men and can't afford to miss the mark again.

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