The future of the X-Men on the big screen

[Maestroneto]

Armor would far more likely be used as the audience surrogate than Jubilee because she’s not a dated character whose powers are problematic.

[anyajenkins]

Weren’t armor’s powers based on something with ‘her ancestors’ (at least in whedon’s astonishing they were) How is that less problematic than fireworks that aren’t actually fireworks...

[SkywalkerX]

I would start the MCU X-films with a classic line-up. Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine and Kitty as the main team with Professor X, Jean and Beast as supporting characters. The X-Men have been around for several years, with the original team (the comic O5) having just recently disbanded and off to live theirs lives (minus Cyke).

There doesn't need to be some convoluted explanation for mutants (Infinity Stones, Multiverses, etc) as others have suggested. Just as there was a time in the comics where mutants weren't public knowledge, maybe at this point in the MCU mutants are just beginning to surface in the public eye. I would keep the number of mutants relatively small, so they don't take over the MCU. And perhaps people like Xavier have been working to keep mutants a secret for their own protection.

I haven't decided who I would want as the main antagonist in the first film. But I would keep it relatively small scale. The film could climax with some event that inadvertently outs the X-men/mutants to the world, leading to public anti-mutant sentiments and hysteria in subsequent films.

Sentinels would be a cool villain for the first film (ala how XTAS and Ultimate X-Men began) but I don't think it would make sense unless the world was aware of mutants already.

I'd introduce Rogue as part of Mystique's Brotherhood in film 2 and have her defect to the X-Men by the end. Sequels could have rotating cast of characters to include othe characters like Jean, Beast, Psylocke, Iceman, Bishop, etc. in the main team.

Only hint at Magneto and save him for a 3rd or 4th film. Use characters that were unused/under-utilized in the Fox films, like the Morlocks, Selene, the Hellfire Club, the Purifiers, Mojo, the Sentinels.

[CRaymond]

The idea that Li Huanteng is problematic is understandable but ultimately only a hurdle. Fireworks is the artistry of her powerset, not the utility. Teaching that difference and how to properly express her gift as art sounds to me like a character arc.

That said, I still want Ororo, Kurt, Piotr, Logan, and Jubilation as my MCUXM.

[Maestro 216]

Armor would far more likely be used as the audience surrogate than Jubilee because she’s not a dated character whose powers are problematic.

Armor would be a good one to use in the MCU

[bladeofdarkness]

Weren’t armor’s powers based on something with ‘her ancestors’ (at least in whedon’s astonishing they were) How is that less problematic than fireworks that aren’t actually fireworks...

Because they don't actually need to bother explaining the nature of how her powers work - Glowing energy armor works really well as a superpower without also giving it a backstory.

[Jokerz79]

Because they don't actually need to bother explaining the nature of how her powers work - Glowing energy armor works really well as a superpower without also giving it a backstory.

Outside of Logan or Laura due to them having metal claws added to them no mutant needs their powers explained or have a backstory it's why Stan did the X-Men he was tired of backstories.

[bladeofdarkness]

Outside of Logan or Laura due to them having metal claws added to them no mutant needs their powers explained or have a backstory it's why Stan did the X-Men he was tired of backstories.

That's kinda true - all Mutant superheroes have a backstory explaining the source of their power.

"Mutant".

That's basically it.

[Zero Hunter]

I said in another post I would start the team with a somewhat original lineup of Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Beast but then add in Colossus and Polaris. I would really play up Lorna as the POV character just arriving at the school and having no knowledge of who her father really is (though Charles would know). A major event would happen that would force the mutants out of the shadows and into the limelight. I think someone like Proteus being the first threat would work well and really scare the hell of normal humans. At the end of the movie we would see Professor X using Cerebro and finding more mutants with quick flashes of Storm, Nightcrawler, and Sunfire popping up. He would also get a very vague sense of a mutant in Canada but would only really be able to sense the anger and fury.

Movie 2 would start with Marvel Girl and Beast having graduated and left the school (Beast to go work at Brand while Jean needing space after her and Scott broke up) and Colossus having left to help care for his family for a bit after the death of his older brother. Storm, Sunfire, and Thunderbird would have joined the team in the year or so time between movies. The main threat would be a new group of mutant zealots led by Exodus called the Acolytes who serve so mystery mutant leader called Magneto who we would not see until the end of the movie. The big struggle in the movie would be both teams trying to recruit Wolverine to their cause.

I might even slip in a Wolverine movie inbetween those two that starts with Logan already having been infused with his adamantium by Weapon X and living as a wild man in the Canada wilds his memories fractured (he would get flashes of his past here and there but still very jumbled not even remembering his real name). He would be tracked down by James Hudson and his prototype Alpha Flight team (Shaman, Snowbird, Northstar, and Box) and slowly brought back to his senses by Hudson and his wife Heather who he would develop a deep bound with. He would take up the name Wolverine and join the team to fight the magical monsters called Wendigos.

[MentalManipulator]

After Dark Phoenix I think Magneto, Jean, Professor and Mystique need a rest. I love those characteras but they should stay out or in a much smaller role for now.

Let's bring Wolverine in the black Widow movie, Storm in BP2, Kitty in Spider-Man 3, etc...

The first team i would like it to be : Cyclops, Storm, Kitty, Wolverine, Iceman and Psylocke. Apart from Wolverine, they all had small roles and/or were heavily out of character in the Fox franchise. I see Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine at their 30's. Iceman (gay) and Psylocke (British) in their mid 20's. Kitty (or Armor, or Jubilee)in her late teens as the audience's POV character discovering the team.

The Marauders, The Reavers, The Morlocks or the Hellfire Club could be cool villains to start.

Professor X is the mentor but Cyclops and Storm should be the co-leaders. Like Fury brought the Avengers together but Iron Man and Captain America are the ones making the decisions.

By the end of the movie we could recruit Gambit and Rogue.

[phoenixzero23]

To be honest i would like the animated series line up. It is a solid and versatile cast.

[U.N. Owen]

If the MCU treats the X-Mansion like a school, then actually fill it with characters comic fans might recognize. The original X-Men Trilogy did a great job of introducing us to Kitty Pryde, albeit played by three different actresses, as students in the school. The original trilogy also gave us our first live action appearance of the Stepford Cuckoos even if they were just blond triplets in the background of The Last Stand. I never really appreciated this until Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix gave us a bunch of no names.

[OblivionX33]

If the MCU treats the X-Mansion like a school, then actually fill it with characters comic fans might recognize. The original X-Men Trilogy did a great job of introducing us to Kitty Pryde, albeit played by three different actresses, as students in the school. The original trilogy also gave us our first live action appearance of the Stepford Cuckoos even if they were just blond triplets in the background of The Last Stand. I never really appreciated this until Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix gave us a bunch of no names.

Then the bar is pretty low.

Should be easy to leap over.

[WebLurker]

False equivalence.

These characters are so minor even comic book fans will have a hard time knowing them. And second, they're not stepping on anyone else.

Unlike Mystique, who is a well known X-Men villain and always has been. Not just in the comics and cartoons, but Fox themselves spent three movies showing us that she is a cold blooded killer. And now she's a hero and best mutant ever who inspires Jean and Storm?! You are comparing this crap to Killian?!

Three movies that didn't "actually" happen, meaning that the version of the character as we saw in Dark Phoenix was only influenced by the stuff that happened in the First Class trilogy. I'd also argue that she was a more rounded character as a result then what we got with the "truer to the text" villain of the originals. Besides, the movies aren't the comics; if they can go down paths not trodden and find new ways to explore the character, what's wrong with them going for it? It's not like the comics version is suddenly going to become a hero or anything.

[johnnyjam2233]

Marvel has done a great job with what they've done so far. they've taken from both the 616 and the Ultimate Marvel Universe and made just about everyone happy so far. I was only able to jump into the 616 Marvel by reading the Ultimates, and I think the Mark Millars the ultimates run is one of the best runs ever written. I never read any 616 fantastic Four other then the Ultmate FF, and I hope they keep with that idea. Not Doctor Doom tho. He needs to be fully 616 version. As for the Ult. X-Men tho. I was so excited about Grant Morrison taking the reigns, because I was a MONSTER fan of what he had done with the JLA, and was so psyched about him going to the X-Men. I hate his X-Men run tho. I am one of a select few to feel this way tho. I know it's considered one of the classic X-Men runs, but at the time I walked into my comic shop and complained to the store owner. The owner was on my side tho. He told me about a new thing going on. Ultimate Comics. Spider-Man by Bendis, who I was loving on Daredevil, and some guy name Mark Miller who the store owner loved because of his work on the Authority, and a mini-series by Top Cow named "Wanted" anyway. He handed me a free book with the first 3 issues of Ult. X-men for free, and said "I'll see you tomorrow when you come in and but the only other 2 issues that are out." I went home, read them, and went back the next day and bought the other 2 issues. I was sold on what Millar was doing with modernizing my X-Men. This was before 911. Magneto was no longer the "I want to rule the world" villain. He was sending in Bin Laden type videos and attacking Parliament. He was a terrorist. Then issue 6 comes out and 911 happens, and while Prof. Xavier is telling George Bush Jr. to beware Magneto, I'm watching Oliver North on T.V. talking about Bin Laden being the worst person alive, and then Magneto attacks the White House, and has a naked George Bush on the front lawn of the White House while holding a burning flag in his hand. It was serial what Mark Millar was doing, because it was happening for real at the time. That's what I look forward to in what ever Marvel kicks out for their X-Men movies in the future.