The future of the X-Men on the big screen

[Purplevit]

With dead Thunderbird mentioned line up is just X-Men Apocalypse again. They only changed Quicksilver to Sunfire. I don't like that rumoured line-up and half of team are Summer/Grey. Not fresh.

[MentalManipulator]

I'm seeing a (decidedly sketchy) rumor flying around on Facebook that the initial team in the new X-Men movies will be: Cyclops, Havok, Marvel Girl, Storm, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird and Sunfire. Also, seeing some stuff about them being students at the school who go on missions with the Professor.

Now, take all this with a boulder of salt, but it isn't a terrible line-up. I could do without Havok and the whole thing could use another woman. But Thunderbird and Sunfire are interesting choices. I've said before that it was always a bad look that the second team of X-Men had three people of color on it and then promptly got rid of two of them. They never even got to be developed past that initial hostility that pretty much the entire team besides Banshee seemed to be sporting in those early issues. And if they're going with a younger student team, then I'm okay with that too. Despite the flubbing of the idea in X-Men: Apocalypse and how boring the concept was initially with the O5, I've always liked the whole teen X-Men concept. And it's pretty much always been part of the X-Men brand, just usually shunted off to a spinoff comic like New Mutants or Generation X.

So, if this comes to pass, I'm okay with it. I still kind of want Jubilee in the new X-Men movies, though.

I would definitely swap Havok for another X-Woman. I love the rumored inclusion of Jean and Storm but the X-Men always need more ladies in their line-up. Rogue, Betsy, Kitty or Jubes would be perfect.

Havok has similar powers to Cyclops and would be yet another white, blond, straight dude to the MCU....ugh! If they want a white dude, they should at least put Iceman in there. Gay, funny and has more unique powers.

[HaydnC95]

It's an okay line-up, but I'd prefer if they replaced Havok with Iceman, or keep Havok and just add Polaris as well.

[whitecrown]

I would definitely swap Havok for another X-Woman. I love Jean and Storm but the X-Men always need more ladies in their line-up. Rogue, Betsy, Kitty or Jubes would be perfect.

Havok has similar powers to Cyclops and would be yet another white, blond, straight dude to the MCU....ugh! If they want a white dude, they should at least put Iceman in there. Gay, funny and has more unique powers.

Havok was a surprise for me as well but I'm guessing they included him because they want to establish the Summers bloodline and that's really emphasized if you have two brothers and not just one. Otherwise, he really doesn't bring anything to the table. He's not a must-have like Scott, Jean, and Ororo. He's not racially diverse like Thunderbird or Sunfire. And he's not "mutant diverse" like Nightcrawler.

If I had to pick another X-Woman, I'd go with Lorna, assuming they don't have a role for her planned as a member of the Brotherhood. Rogue should be introduced as a Brotherhood character first before joining the team. Kitty or Jubilee could work if they want a POV character but I'm not sure if that would work with the Krakoa and Weapon X storyline. I'd kill to see Betsy in the MCU from the start though. They could reuse that Claremont retcon with Sage and establish that Betsy was one of the first mutants that Xavier met but he kept her as a spy instead of as an X-Man, since Betsy also has psychic powers and the Hellfire Club connections like Sage. But I think maybe Marvel will want to introduce Betsy in a Captain Britain or Excalibur film instead.

If Havok could only be replaced with a male character (because let's face it, the MCU has only recently become comfortable with two female characters on a superhero team after only allowing one per team for the longest time so three women might be too much for them), I'd pick Bobby as well. More unique powers and he's also gay.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Havok was a surprise for me as well but I'm guessing they included him because they want to establish the Summers bloodline and that's really emphasized if you have two brothers and not just one. Otherwise, he really doesn't bring anything to the table. He's not a must-have like Scott, Jean, and Ororo. He's not racially diverse like Thunderbird or Sunfire. And he's not "mutant diverse" like Nightcrawler.

If I had to pick another X-Woman, I'd go with Lorna, assuming they don't have a role for her planned as a member of the Brotherhood. Rogue should be introduced as a Brotherhood character first before joining the team. Kitty or Jubilee could work if they want a POV character but I'm not sure if that would work with the Krakoa and Weapon X storyline. I'd kill to see Betsy in the MCU from the start though. They could reuse that Claremont retcon with Sage and establish that Betsy was one of the first mutants that Xavier met but he kept her as a spy instead of as an X-Man, since Betsy also has psychic powers and the Hellfire Club connections like Sage. But I think maybe Marvel will want to introduce Betsy in a Captain Britain or Excalibur film instead.

If Havok could only be replaced with a male character (because let's face it, the MCU has only recently become comfortable with two female characters on a superhero team after only allowing one per team for the longest time so three women might be too much for them), I'd pick Bobby as well. More unique powers and he's also gay.

Alex might be there to join the Brotherhood, he's done that in the past. Lead his own Brotherhood which tried to assassinate J. Jonah Jameson on a plane, by sheering the roof off and left Cyclops to die in mid-air (Havok teleported out of the free fall they were in). Plus, he might hook up with Polaris if she's in the Brotherhood.

I agree, I'd prefer another woman on the team over him.

They could save Excalibur and New X-men (Surge's class) for tv shows on Disney+.

[whitecrown]

Alex might be there to join the Brotherhood, he's done that in the past. Lead his own Brotherhood which tried to assassinate J. Jonah Jameson on a plane, by sheering the roof off and left Cyclops to die in mid-air (Havok teleported out of the free fall they were in). Plus, he might hook up with Polaris if she's in the Brotherhood.

I agree, I'd prefer another woman on the team over him.

They could save Excalibur and New X-men (Surge's class) for tv shows on Disney+.

That's a good point about Alex maybe defecting. It would cause strife between the brothers and I wouldn't be surprised if they try to make Storm a more capable leader than Scott (we need a female leader in the MCU now since Carol isn't really leading a team) so that would definitely explain why Scott isn't doing a well enough job.

Marvel's apparently had interest in a Captain Britain film since their Phase One MCU days and I think they're introducing that new all-British superhero team in the comics so I don't think it's impossible for there to be a Captain Britain or Excalibur film on the big screen. Especially if they use a racially diverse team since Britain is hardly all white.

[HaydnC95]

Probably a controversial opinion, but if they did include Brian and Betsy I would like them both to be played by Asian actors, since they are meant to be twins. I think doing away with the whole body swapping thing would be better as it's pretty convoluted in the comics so it's easier if Betsy was Japanese the whole time, and that is by far the most popular version of the character. Plus it will undoubtedly also cause a lot of controversy.

Although he is Malaysian, Henry Golding would be my choice for Brian. A Captain Britain/Excalibur movie should definitely be diverse with it's casting.

[GodfatherIV]

Probably a controversial opinion, but if they did include Brian and Betsy I would like them both to be played by Asian actors, since they are meant to be twins. I think doing away with the whole body swapping thing would be better as it's pretty convoluted in the comics so it's easier if Betsy was Japanese the whole time, and that is by far the most popular version of the character. Plus it will undoubtedly also cause a lot of controversy.

Although he is Malaysian, Henry Golding would be my choice for Brian. A Captain Britain/Excalibur movie should definitely be diverse with it's casting.

Not too bad of an idea to make Betsy Japanese they should habe done that in the comics too

[davetvs]

Probably a controversial opinion, but if they did include Brian and Betsy I would like them both to be played by Asian actors, since they are meant to be twins. I think doing away with the whole body swapping thing would be better as it's pretty convoluted in the comics so it's easier if Betsy was Japanese the whole time, and that is by far the most popular version of the character. Plus it will undoubtedly also cause a lot of controversy.

Although he is Malaysian, Henry Golding would be my choice for Brian. A Captain Britain/Excalibur movie should definitely be diverse with it's casting.

I think they should keep Brian and Betsy as far from Asian as possible; Marvel already made and doubled down on that mistake for far too long. There are plenty of Asian mutants they have to choose from already, most of whom could use the push. I expect the MCU X-Men to (physically) match the characters pretty closely to show how much more Marvel cares about the characters as they were designed.

[CRaymond]

I think they should keep Brian and Betsy as far from Asian as possible; Marvel already made and doubled down on that mistake for far too long. There are plenty of Asian mutants they have to choose from already, most of whom could use the push. I expect the MCU X-Men to (physically) match the characters pretty closely to show how much more Marvel cares about the characters as they were designed.

Psylocke is their highest profile Asian character. She can be Kwannon.

Betsy and Brian don’t need to exist in the MCU. I’m willing to bet that neither a Captain Britain nor Excaliber are priorities for Feige.

[AdamFTF]

I'd bet dollars to donuts that if Betsy Braddock ever makes it to the big screen, it will be in her current form as Captain Britain. The whole change starting with her being returned to her original body to her becoming Captain Britain felt like an attempt to simplify her but also make her more powerful. Like, I'm pretty sure there isn't anything in the works, but it's like Marvel did it so they could nudge her out in front of the studio like "See, we have another Captain who's also a badass woman. Pretty cool, huh? Would make a good movie. Wink! Wink!"

[CRaymond]

If that was the goal, we’d have had a mini series dedicated to her assumption of the role. Not that MCU isn’t known for its liberties, but Captain Betsy’s turn in recent Excalibur is hardly a redefinition of her or the title. It’s more like Apocalypse and his X-cellent Friends.

[Ferro]

Probably a controversial opinion, but if they did include Brian and Betsy I would like them both to be played by Asian actors, since they are meant to be twins. I think doing away with the whole body swapping thing would be better as it's pretty convoluted in the comics so it's easier if Betsy was Japanese the whole time, and that is by far the most popular version of the character. Plus it will undoubtedly also cause a lot of controversy.

Although he is Malaysian, Henry Golding would be my choice for Brian. A Captain Britain/Excalibur movie should definitely be diverse with it's casting.

yeah no, don't further validate a racist storyline because putting a white woman into an asian body is a story that needs to be scrubbed off the face of the earth, not brought to live action.
and captain brittain is certaintly more high value than antman and guardians and the eternals, never say never.
Betsy's turn to captain brittain is pretty visible on current online circles and she's comfirmed as a center piece of marvel's major event in 2020 since empyre is being swept aside.
Her chances aren't that small

[Steel Inquisitor]

yeah no, don't further validate a racist storyline because putting a white woman into an asian body is a story that needs to be scrubbed off the face of the earth, not brought to live action.

Haydn wasn't proposing to adapt that storyline from the comics, simply casting both roles with Asian actors from the beginning.

and captain brittain is certaintly more high value than antman and guardians and the eternals, never say never.

If Brian was more valued by Marvel he'd have gotten a movie before they did. He hasn't even made an appearance. Ant-man was originally in production to be in Phase 1.

Betsy's turn to captain brittain is pretty visible on current online circles and she's comfirmed as a center piece of marvel's major event in 2020 since empyre is being swept aside.
Her chances aren't that small

Agreed.

[Ferro]

Haydn wasn't proposing to adapt that storyline from the comics, simply casting both roles with Asian actors from the beginning.



If Brian was more valued by Marvel he'd have gotten a movie before they did. He hasn't even made an appearance. Ant-man was originally in production to be in Phase 1.



Agreed.

Hence making the very racist storyline that turned betsy into a dragon lady stereotype as the main one, like it was the correct idea that deserves to be further developed when it's origin is so virulently racist that even marvel has tried to move past it.
Asian betsy braddock will forever be related to the body switch and all its terrible implications, the right answer is to cast kwannon as her own character and betsy as she was in the 80's.